After building only 300 Corvettes in 1953, Chevy probably thought good times were on the way when production increased significantly to 3,640 roadsters in 1954.
Unfortunately, that proved just to be wishful thinking as a lot of those second-year cars wound up not being snapped up by customers immediately. In fact, some 1,100 Corvettes from ’54 remained unsold at the beginning of the model switch-over, forcing Chevy to adjust production accordingly for 1955 when just 700 were built.
One of those ’54 Corvettes, however, has survived the past 68 years and is being offered on eBay through Sunday night. So far 29 bids have climbed to $16,000 but failed to meet the reserve.
You might call this a WYSIWYG Corvette as the seller claims “what you see is exactly what’s included” with no extra parts offered.
And there are a lot of missing parts, beginning in the interior where the dash is basically just an empty shell and there are no seats, door panels, carpet, etc.
On the other hand, the seller points out that the car, originally from California, has “a very solid body and chassis.”
The original Blue Flame engine is long gone, replaced by a late model 350 crate motor hooked to a K case 700R4 automatic transmission. No details on how well that engine runs, however, though we are told the car does have a full exhaust and a new aluminum radiator (shown lying in the trunk). The car will also need to be wired and plumbed, he says.
Since the original powertrain is gone, we’d tend to think the bones are there to turn this into a great restomod. Indeed, the seller believes the car offers “a very good start to a little hot rod Corvette.”
Obviously, such a project wouldn’t be a cheap or easy one, but it would definitely be a shame for one of the 3,640 Corvettes made in ’54 to meet its demise now.
Source:
eBay Motors
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Curious as to why this ’54 Corvette is so devoid of trim parts. Even if a solid and complete Corvette in need of a full restoration may not sell for quite as much as you could get by parting it out, you would have to be a very heartless person to completely strip such a Corvette just to net a few extra $$.
I agree with DougR someone sold off a lot of parts or used them to do a rebuild on another corvette!
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