Corvettes for Sale: 1957 Corvette With an Interesting Back Story

Knowing the back story about a collector car, especially a Corvette, adds to the aura.

Witness this 1957 Corvette roadster being offered at no reserve on eBay through Sunday evening.

The story goes that a California man saw a 1953 model one day and quickly caught the Corvette bug, vowing to own such a car himself one day.

That day didn’t take very long as the man saved “every extra penny” for years. After landing a job at the GM plant in Van Nuys, California, in 1957, he made friends with the owner of a 1957 Corvette, who decided after six months that it was too much car for him and he just wanted someone to take up payments.

We’re sure the new owner didn’t have to have his arm twisted.

It quickly became his vehicle of choice for visits to Sequoia, the beach, and campgrounds before the kids started arriving in 1959. He then used it as a daily driver to and from work, for errands, and for more dates with his wife.

The car never left the state of California and has been stored indoors for most of its life in Northridge and Reseda. Since the owner became sick in 2004 and ultimately passed away in 2008, the car has been stored in a garage in Reseda until several years ago when it was moved to a family member’s home in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Now it’s in Miami, Florida.

Unfortunately, the family reluctantly needs to sell the car now to pay for his wife’s medical care.

Since the car had been sitting for many years, they cleaned the gas tank, installed a new fuel pump, checked the brakes, and did other routine maintenance.

While the seller admits the car isn’t perfect, he does describe it as a “very nice” Corvette.

This “very solid car” is said to run and drive fine now, with a “strong” 283 V8 engine and two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission, and the red paint and matching red interior are both described as “nice.” It comes with a matching red hardtop but no soft top but does still have the Wonderbar radio.

Out of the 6,339 Corvettes built that year, this one apparently was built early in the model year in October 1956. Other key figures include:

Engine numbers – F1018 FH, seem to be correct
Cylinder head numbers – 37 or possibly 8740997 – we took a bad pic, seem to be correct
Generator number – 1102043 seems to be correct
Distributor number – 1110891 9M14 seems to be correct
Intake manifold number – 3731398 seems to be correct.

If you were in the market for a ’57, how important would the story behind the car to you?

Source:
eBay Motors via Barnfinds.com

Related:
Callaway, Grand Sport, L-71, LT4 and a NO RESERVE 1973 Coupe at 427Stingray.com!
Corvettes for Sale: No Reserve 1972 Corvette Convertible on eBay
Corvettes for Sale: 2005 Corvette Has Turbo 427 Power, Carbon Fiber ZR1 Widebody Kit