Vintage Corvettes are among the most desirable and iconic old cars for many of us. Even if you are not a Corvette fan, this story in Super Chevy magazine is inspiring, as it shows that there really are still some very special cars hidden away in garages and barns all over America.
The Roman philosopher Seneca said that “Luck Is What Happens When Preparation Meets Opportunity.” And as the psychologist Richard Wiseman said: “Lucky people generate their own good fortune via four basic principles. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.” This does seem to explain why some people get all the luck when it comes to finding hidden long-lost cars.
Jim Wallace is a retired GM engineer who has been very “lucky” when it comes to finding rare and unusual Corvettes. He’s found three rare cars in his lifetime. According to the Super Chevy article, “he came across an original LeMans Blue 1969 L88 stowed away in a building since 1979. It had sat in the same spot untouched for 31 years. Nearly 3 years later, in 2013, Jim Wallace located a second LeMans Blue 1969 L88 Corvette sitting in a barn untouched since 1988.” And then he found the third, which this story is about.
This story is about a 1955 Pennant Blue Corvette – it’s a rare car, as only 700 Corvettes were made that year, and only 45 were this color. The hardtop is not a Chevy product but from an aftermarket manufacturer, but looks very cool on this car. It’s equipped with the 265 cubic inch V-8 that was new for 1955, and the optional Powerglide automatic transmission.
This particular Corvette was owned by another GM engineer, George Cromer, who purchased it as a used car in 1959. He drove it for nine years and then parked it in his garage, where it sat until Jim Wallace met George. It did not take long for Wallace to decide he wanted this amazing find, and a deal was soon struck.
While keeping this car original was an option, its condition was pretty poor after so many years of storage – rodents had a good time with this car. So Wallace decided to send it to D & A Corvette for a complete back-to-factory specifications restoration. Personally, I think that was the right decision for this very rare car.
You can read the full story and see all the pictures at Super Chevy’s website. I love barn find discovery sagas like this one. It’s inspiring to all of us who dream of finding that special car that’s currently hiding in someone’s barn, maybe right around the corner like this Corvette was, just waiting to be uncovered and brought back to life.
Source: barnfinds.com
