New York
Treasure Trove of 36 Classic Corvettes Discovered in a Garage After 25 Years!
The ’56 starred in “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee,” with Jerry Seinfeld and Jimmy Fallon in supporting roles. The ’89 is so ’80s — it has one of those early digital dashboards, with a big-digit speedometer, that were panned by aficionados. The ’53, one of only 100 or so that still exist, has been through a 4,000-hour restoration.
They are Chevrolet Corvettes from a legendary collection: 36 ’Vettes, one from each production year between 1953, when the car made its debut, and 1989. For more than 25 years, they have languished in one New York City parking garage or another.
“The cool thing about these cars is the entire collection stayed together all this time,” said Chris Mazzilli, a longtime Corvette enthusiast who is also an owner of the Gotham Comedy Club in Manhattan. He called the cars “the largest Corvette barn-find in history.”
In 2020, they will be given away in a contest. It will be the second time they have served as contest prizes, but this time, the collection will be broken up. There will be 36 winners, not just one.
Real estate broker Adam Heller said the family now has a ‘museum of Corvettes’. The 32-year-old said: ‘We can go back in time with these cars. We started off by picking up cars from the mid 1970s and now we have one from 1958.
‘It’s covered in dust but it’s in very good condition considering its age.’
The most valuable car in the collection is a 1953 Corvette – one of only 300 ever made. Another vehicle in the collection was produced in 1955, and was one of only 700 ever made.
Mr Heller said: ‘We’re putting a substantial amount of money that’s well over six figures into just one of the individual cars.
Chris Mazzilli, a Corvette expert and owner of Dream Cars Consulting on Long Island, USA said the car will be worth around half a million dollars when it is fully restored.
The 49-year-old added: ‘It’s number 291 of 300 and will be getting a full frame one restoration which means that the body will be removed from the chassis and everything will be refurbished and gone through.’
He said the thick layer of dust that covered the cars had protected the paintwork, and some vehicles would need little in the way of restoration. Some would take around two weeks, and would simply need a few hoses and belts changed, while others would require ‘more than a years worth of work’.
When the restorations are complete Mr Heller, who lives and works in New York City, will attempt to sell the collection in its entirety to one lucky bidder.
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