[VIDEO] Custom 1957 Corvette Barn Find Hidden for 57 Years Makes Appearance at a Hot Rod Show

Bill Shelley admits his custom 1957 Corvette is a polarizing vehicle.

He knows not everyone may appreciate the way he and a friend customized the car shortly after Bill had bought it with 3,000 miles on the odometer with about $3,000 he had made from selling a herd of cows.

After years of enjoying the car, Bill parked the Corvette in 1965 after he got married, explaining that his priorities had changed and it was time to take care of his family.

Now 57 years later, he’s finally decided to part with his one-of-a-kind creation, but not to just anybody.

“I had a lot of people want to cut the body off and go back to the old style,” he explains in a YouTube video. “I wouldn’t sell it to somebody like that. I’ve also got a lot of people say, why would a guy like you ruin a beautiful ’57 Corvette and make it that piece of trash you made.”

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, though.

Bill and his friend modified the front fascia into a v-shaped nose, with a stack, quad arrangement of headlights, then used a fish-fin design popular in the late 1950s on the rear end, sort of a toned-down version of the 1959 Cadillac.

Despite its show-car status, Bill wasn’t afraid to use it as a daily driver, even taking it deer hunting. No word on whether a trophy ever made it home in the car’s trunk.

Nowadays, the custom paint and striping are fading, and the interior has been stripped of its door panels and seats.

Now in his 70s, Bill decided to part with his creation “because all it’s gonna do is sit in my garage and get older and older and nobody knows about it.” He says he finds it harder and harder as the years go by for him to get on the ground and work on the car.

“I wanted the car to go to somebody that would appreciate it and would like to put it back the way it was (after he had customized it,” he explains.

Once all the junk piled on top of and inside the car had been cleaned off, the Corvette – an authentic barn find – made its way to the 2022 Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona, California. We’re hoping one day the restored car in all its glory will make that trip again.

Source:
Jerry Heasley / YouTube

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