About The Restoration of 1954 Corvette #68
In December 2004 my father and I followed up on a lead on an early Corvette that was being stored in a garage outside of Ostrander Ohio. We found that the Corvette had been placed in rented garage and stored for nearly 10 years after it was partially disassembled and painted by the owner but never finished. A long story, but apparently there were issues with the body shop and the IRS and in hast to recover the car, several items were lost such as the convertible top frame, driver seat and other hard to find parts.
Looking over the car it was found it did not have the original 6 cylinder engine block and several components unique to the Corvette, but it was a very early production 1954 built in early January with many carry over parts from the 1953 models. Until the introduction of the new V-8 engine in the Corvette for 1955, all 1953 and 1954 Corvettes had the old "Stovebolt" 6 cylinder engine used by Chevrolet since 1929. With only 300 Corvettes built the first year of production in 1953, this would be the 368th Corvette built by Chevrolet. A deal was struck for the car and we brought it home with high hopes as a next restoration project.
I was able to trace the previous owners of the car back to 1972 and that is where the trail went cold. The car had been in the Newark Ohio area before being sold to the previous owner who lived in Delaware Ohio. From all appearances I would expect that the car had been fitted with a different engine, perhaps a V-8 as typically done once the larger engine was available, and a manual shift which was apparent by the cut out in the transmission tunnel. Then, a GM 6 cylinder truck engine and Powerglide transmission was installed back into the car by the previous owner. The car's body was in very good shape for it's age and the only body damage being small bumps in the lower front valance panel.
It is approaching nearly a 15 year project now, longer than any previous restoration I have undertaken. Unfortunately my father passed away 5 years ago and was not able to see the car completed but I am certain he would have wanted to see the project through. Our last couple years together we spent most of our time getting together on Saturdays for breakfast and make plans on what needed to be done. The car was just an excuse to get together, I guess and I am fortunate we took the time. After a couple years of the project being on pause I finished stripping the car of its paint and then the body work has been contracted out to TIN Restoration in November 2016 and progress is beginning to take shape.
Other restorations I have completed over the years are:
1923 Ford Model T Roadster
1930 Ford Model A
1931 Ford Model A
1931 Chevrolet Sport Coupe – National AACA Senior Award 1979
1959 Ford Thunderbird Convertible
