You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

[TimG]

I believe Dave drove this car from Florida to Bloomington Gold Earthquake '88 back in 1988. I was there to see it.

[olredalert]

Originally Posted by TimG

I believe Dave drove this car from Florida to Bloomington Gold Earthquake '88 back in 1988. I was there to see it.

----Yup, Tim. Dave drove the entire way. As I recall he was worried about quality gas so he had a friend drive a really nice Chevy big-block pickup that had about a 200 gallon extra tank mounted in the bed full of 110. Dave is a believer in driving his rides!....Bill S

[Big Block Bill]

Originally Posted by Lee Stewart

Twin to my High School car back in 1974, only mine had a Hemi and Black interior. I always thought this color looked a lot like my 1968 Rally Green RS Z-28 I bought from Dana Mecum's Spring Classic back in 1993 when he held it at Mecum headquarters in Belvidere Illinois. BOY has he come a LONG way! Congratulations to him, great Guy.

Bill

[Lee Stewart]

Originally Posted by Big Block Bill

Twin to my High School car back in 1974, only mine had a Hemi and Black interior. I always thought this color looked a lot like my 1968 Rally Green RS Z-28 I bought from Dana Mecum's Spring Classic back in 1993 when he held it at Mecum headquarters in Belvidere Illinois. BOY has he come a LONG way! Congratulations to him, great Guy.

Bill

It might be the same Bill. Plymouth introduced their "Performance Colors" in 1969:

[Lee Stewart]

Amgwert, along with other founders of the National Corvette Restorers Society, had already tracked down VIN 003 and sent it to Lloyd Miller's shop in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for a full restoration. That led another 1953 Corvette owner to send his car to Miller's shop about 20 years ago.

It was #1, and no one knew it, and it's history between Chevrolet selling it, and it's arrival at Miller's shop is unknown.

Petersen and Amgwert examined the about 20 years ago, and couldn't reconcile what they saw with any production 1953 Corvette.

Because those alterations didn't make any sense at the time, Petersen figured the car was an anomaly, likely a later production car, and nearly forgot about it. Miller and the owner of the car nearly forgot about it because the owner lost interest and de-prioritized the Corvette's restoration. Miller pushed it to the back of his shop and the two lost touch.

With the work orders seemingly confirming that the car in Miller's shop was 3950 all along, however, Petersen arranged for another viewing, and reached out to the owner, initially just to help "get the car moving along," Petersen said. "The car deserves to be finished up, so let's get to work on it and see if we can prove what it is." His conversations with the owner eventually turned to buying the car and, with a title in hand, he retrieved the Corvette earlier this month.

While emptying out the parts stuffed in the Corvette's trunk, he happened to look under one of the flaps on the bottom of one of the cardboard boxes and found a door jamb VIN plate with a serial number ending in 001.

[Lee Stewart]

[Lee Stewart]

[Lee Stewart]

[Lee Stewart]

[Lee Stewart]