1959 Chevrolet Corvette

Convertible

8 - Cyl.

Manual

J59S102053

Gasoline

Hello and welcome to my LOW RESERVE auction for our beautiful garage kept 1959 Chevrolet Corvette. My business partner and I purchased this car several years ago from the famous "Ragtops" in Palm Beach, FL after it spent over 10 years in the private collection of Malcolm Pray (a famous local automobile collector and owner of the Pray Auto Museum). There was a lot of after-market work done to the car prior to our purchase. A 327 cubic inch engine was added, along with a hurst shifter, bucket seats, and many other modifications under the hood. It was race-prepped in the 1970's for the Cannonball Run, which was an unofficial (some may say illegal) race from the east coast to the west coast, formally known as The Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash. I haven't been able to find any formal documentation to the car's performance, but due to the nature of the race, this is not uncommon. There were Corvettes listed in the 1972 and 1979 runnings however, and that range is consistent with the modifications made to the car. When I purchased the car, there was a sticker applied to one of the side windows, which was an image of a two-lane highway stretching out to a vanishing point at a blue horizon, with the words "Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining Sea" on it. Unfortunately, a vandal removed the sticker shortly after purchase while it was parked outside a restaurant. We didn't try to restore it to the original state because we did not want to take away from the car's history, as we found the cannonball run to be an interesting piece of Americana. We installed a new flex fan and replaced the cracked Holley carb with a new one. There was originally a flame arrestor installed, so we replaced that with an edelbrock intake. There had been some modifications to the brakes that didn't seem like they were either drum or disc, so the brakes were updated as well. There was a leak in the gas tank and to replace the tank, we had to remove the rollbar that was installed in the 70's, which we didn't put back since it was blocking access to the hatch behind the seats. We had the soft top recreated from OEM specs, and that is now located inside the hatch. The interior carpeting was reupholstered, and the racing bucket seats were recovered. About six years ago, the car was repainted to an original color scheme of black with Inca silver coves (Mr Pray told me it had been repainted before he owned the car, so he had painted it again white with red coves-- not an original color option). The hard top was repainted as well. Around that same time the front and rear bumpers were stripped and dipped. The exhaust had been positioned to under the sides of the car when we bought it, so we had it rerouted to go out the tailpipes in the rear bumper. We've put about $16,000 into this car which brings over $50k invested. Two slight flaws (see pics) I should mention is a very small tear on the rear bumper and there is also a small chip in the paint on the rear hatch behind the seats about the size of a quarter that was put there by the people installing the new soft top. This is hidden when the top is up and scarcely noticeable when the top is down, but if it's an issue at least the hatch panel that the chip is on is small enough that repainting it will not be costly. Quick Notes -327ci Engine; 4-Speed Manual; Aluminum Wheels; Original Radio; Well Maintained; Street Reliable and Racing Reliable; Interior Racing Bucket Seats Reupholstered; New Front Disc Brakes; New Belts; New Carburetor; New Hoses; Converted to a Racing specs By Previous Owner and Odometer Disconnected; Chassis/Engine Numbers Do Not Match; Lots Of Money Invested · Regular Oil Changes · Accident Free · Title in Hand · Garage Kept · Non SmokerWe are not listing this privately and we only will if the reserve is not met. This auction WILL NOT end early and you can bid with 100% confidence. On Jan-15-12 at 17:17:51 PST, seller added the following information: We are not listing this privately and we only will if the reserve is not met. This auction WILL NOT end early and you can bid with 100% confidence.On Jan-18-12 at 11:09:44 PST, seller added the following information: RESERVE HAS BEEN MET!On Jan-21-12 at 09:51:33 PST, seller added the following information: Last Minute Notes: Frame is in good condition and the car is roadworthy. Lights, Gauges and Breaks work, though I've found you have to push a bit hard on them.