Corvettes for Sale: Two-Owner Silver 1954 Corvette Roadster

As hard as it may be to believe nowadays, the 1954 Corvettes weren’t very popular on the sales floor in the beginning.

In fact, some 1,100 of the 3,640 ’54s were still unsold as the ‘55s began to roll off the St. Louis assembly line. Perhaps customers had heard about the “newfangled” small-block V8 that would soon be an optional engine for the third-year Corvette and decided to wait things out.

That wasn’t the case, however, for the owner of this ’54 roadster that’s up for sale on Craigslist out of the Peoria, Illinois area for the best offer over $70,000.

The guy bought the car in 1956 and has held onto it ever since – an amazing streak of 66 years of ownership! Apparently, he didn’t care that the less powerful Blue Flame straight 6 was still under the hood, though the listing says it now has a matching-numbers head, but a non-matching-numbers block.

After making all 300 of the 1953 Corvettes in any color of your liking as long as it was Polo White, Chevy opened up the color palette for the ’54, adding at least Pennant Blue, Sportsman Red, and Black to the lineup. Mike Antonick of the Corvette Black Book says there is a “reasonable probability” that some other colors were also produced, including but not limited to Metallic Green and Metallic Bronze. Paint vendor documentation confirms the intention to offer additional colors, Antonick writes, but production records have not surfaced to positively confirm the actual build.

We say all that to note that this car has been painted silver at some point in its life, perhaps when the seller was undertaking what is described as an “older restoration” in the listing. Regardless of when it was applied, we think the silver looks great on this body style, especially against the white and red dash. Unfortunately, no photos showing the seats or door panels are included.

The seller is the second owner, and it’s said that records and paperwork from 1956 when he made the purchase are included. We’re surprised that records from the original owner aren’t available since the car changed hands so quickly.

We’re sad to say that the second owner has apparently passed away recently because the car is being offered by his estate.

The listing offers an honest assessment of the car, noting that it “runs and drives” but “pulls to right when braking hard” and has “paint issues throughout” and a “solid” frame.

For interested parties, the selling agent offers to let potential buyers “raise it on lift at my shop so you can inspect.”

Source:
craigslist

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