The owner of Shamrock Automotive in Dearbon, Michigan has posted an ad on Craigslist for this beautiful Polo White 1954 Corvette C1 Convertible, and it has quite an interesting story.
The 1954 Corvette was one of two Corvettes owned by a neighbor who inherited both vehicles from her late husband and asked Shamrock to find new owners for them. The other model was a 1970 Corvette C3 Stingray Convertible, which needed only a little work by two professional Corvette mechanics (not named in the posting) to make it sellable.
Although the 1954 Corvette was in good condition, it required more of the experts’ time and many new parts, including the brakes, gas tank, fuel system, master cylinder, wheel cylinders, water pump, battery, points/condenser, accelerator pedal and convertible top. The carburetors have not been changed but have been rebuilt, and the whole car has been detailed.
Around $7,000 was invested in the 1954 Corvette to bring it to its current turnkey state, making Shamrock Automotive feel it could be advertised. The asking price on the Craigslist ad is $89,000 USD.
Documentation shows that the car was built on May 26th 1954 and is therefore one of the earliest of all Corvettes in the 67-year history of the nameplate. Its engine is the 3.9L version of Chevrolet’s second-generation straight-six which had replaced the old Stovebolt in 1937 and was at the time the only engine Chevy produced, though the Small Block V8 would make its debut very soon afterwards in 1955. As fitted to the Corvette, the six was quoted in brochures of the time as producing 155 horsepower.
The 1954 Corvette C1 (first-generation) was built in the middle of the three years when Chevrolet used the original body style. Styling changes were made in 1956, 1958 and 1961, and the model was replaced by the C2 in 1963.
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Comments
I would love to see an article on how Chevrolet tackled the first of its kind fiberglass body build.
This one is an amazing survivor, and should be sold through a well known classics auction house, rather than Craigslist. Craigslist is far too limited in its scope of customers. Even an auction through Hemmings would do better. This is an iconic automobile at a used car price! I’m relatively sure it would bring quite a bit more money for the current owner.
Buy on CL and flip on BAT? If original, complete, and in VG or greater condition, this is a 6 figure icon/unicorn! Single-family owner, documented since new is pretty rare!
I’M DREAMING OF A WHITE CORVETTE,
AND A WHITE CHRISTMAS, IN A WHITE AMERICA. CREATED BY GREAT, HONEST, PATRIOTIC
WHITE AMERICAN MEN !!!
Craigslist is the Walmart of sales sites, over-run with ads selling junk, and scammers looking for a victim.
That car should be sent to one of the classic car auction houses where it would likely bring much more than the asking price in the ad.
I agree, stay away from craigslist on stuff like this, and basically everything else too. This car is rare. Should bring much more at a high pedigree auction service.
I can’t believe that people that follow cars like this don’t know the difference between a convertable and a roadster. This car is a roadster. This means it does not have windup windows. Roadsters have side curtins and when you drove it in the rain you got wet! I had a 1954 like this except that mine had a removable “carson” top. Sold it in 1963
Sorry for the spelling errors, old age I guess.