Fresh off its inaugural run of 300 Corvettes for ’53, Chevy really amped up the production more than 10-fold in ’54 and built 3,640 examples of its newfangled fiberglass sports car at its recently renovated St. Louis factory.
Unfortunately, GM badly overestimated the demand for the Corvette, despite lowering the base price by $724, some 20 percent of the MSRP. As a result, more than 1,100 unsold units were left over as the ’55s cranked up production. Can you imagine the insane deals being offered by dealers for these ’54s?
Anyway, all those new ’54s wound up being sold … eventually, including this example spotted on Facebook Marketplace out of Lakeland, Florida, where the owner is asking $50,000 for what he describes as “an unmolested piece of American history.”
Some might argue with that optimistic assessment, considering that last weekend at Mecum Indy, three very nice ’54s sold for $50,000, $57,000, and $97,000 (one of four produced in black).
The seller calls his car “a complete survivor with an amazing story.” He provides a brief video that shows the ’54 circling a parking lot and says that “the only things missing” are the air cleaners and a couple of gauges. He’s already replaced the fuel tank, fuel lines, fuel pump, and tires and rebuilt the carburetors, though oddly he says it still needs a new 6-volt battery, somewhat surprising since he’s already treated the car to several new parts. Why not take the plunge and add a new battery? Obviously, it’ll also need a new paint job and interior, making that $50,000 starting point somewhat debatable considering the aforementioned sales prices at Mecum.
Still, with each passing year, the ’54s become even more of a treasure for collectors, so we’re hopeful someone will take the plunge and restore this one before it’s too late. Could it be you?
Source:
Facebook Marketplace via BarnFinds.com
Related:
[VIDEO] Dennis Collins is Selling Six Recent Corvette Finds on Bring a Trailer
Corvettes for Sale: Rare Shinoda/Mears 1991 Corvette ZR-1 Special Edition on BaT
Corvettes for Sale: Highly Optioned 1994 Corvette Convertible in Admiral Blue Offered on eBay
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A friend of mine step Dad bought a 1954 when coming home from Korea at the end of that conflict. He drove it often to local car shows until passing away about 4, or 5 years ago, still looks really good. True unmolested Survivor ’54 Corvette. He left it to his son and it’s sitting in a garage not being driven.
There was no such thing as numbers matching on a Corvette until 1961.
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