Back in early 2016, I heard about a Corvette find that someone was busy digging out of a garage. At the time there really wasn’t much information about it. Given the lack of photos or information, I put it on the back burner and then forgot about it. Well, I was recently digging through the CorvetteForum and came across the story again. After almost a year more information was revealed and it turned out to be an incredible find! The original post from user Pvirg and simply stated that they had purchased a 1971 Corvette that had been parked in a garage since 1972. He was trying to figure out the paint code, but the thread quickly escalated when he mentioned that the car was a special deal with GM and was built for just one purpose…
If a statement like that doesn’t make you curious, I don’t know what will. What could this special deal have been and what could be so special about this Corvette? Well, as the discussion developed we soon found out that the car has just 24 miles on the odometer. The fact that it has already been repainted and has parts from either a ’68 or ’69 led to some serious skepticism, but in the process of explaining the mileage, the owner starts to offer more details about its past. And this is when things really started to get interesting!
It turns out, Pvirg was good friends with the previous owner and has known the car for over 20 years. His friend actually worked for GM developing racing engines back in the day. The car was apparently built for racing from day one and features some very cool equipment! Pvirg uploaded a photo of one of the heads and the numbers tell us that it’s from a 1969 L88 427! It might not prove much, but you don’t typically find one of these heads just lying around.
As he posted more information, it quickly becomes evident that this Corvette really was a race car. It was repainted from yellow to red and blue with white stars – the perfect color combo for a ’70s American drag racer! By page four of the thread, he started to post some incredible photos, including this one of it taking off at the dragstrip. Clearly, this wasn’t your normal Corvette. It was a beast!
His friend appears to have been a bit of a hoarder and piled all kinds of junk around on even on the car. Getting it out had to be a major undertaking, but I bet it was amazing to see it out in the light after being stashed away for all those years.
He eventually posted this amazing shot! His friend had a special trailer built so he could tow the car behind a street going 1971 LT1. How awesome would it have been to see this pair roll into town? Apparently, the tow car was also buried in the garage. Pvirg couldn’t afford to buy both right then, but is working on a deal so they can be kept together!
Because of his connections at GM, Pvirg’s friend was able to get all kinds of special performance bits, including a spare ZL1 block. Pvirg was able to get some of the parts as well and plans on selling off anything he doesn’t need to get the General running.
While Pvirg wasn’t particularly forthcoming at first, he eventually posted more photos of the car and it really is awesome! Their last post was on March 8th and included a recent snapshot of it out of the garage. They have been slowly cleaning it and doing more research. We will be keeping an eye on this thread, as I’m sure it will only get more interesting as they get this old racer up and running. The thread is over 25 pages, but is a good read so be sure to check it out here on CorvetteForum.
My interest really perked up at spare ZL1 block!!!
What a find!
Wow!!!!
Great retirement account……6 figures plus…
Whoa! That’s some ‘find’.
wish I had friends……
Don’t worry Lawrence, I’m sure you’ll find a friend soon.
Awesome find. A C/MP corvette. Big block and all. Back then, it wasn’t out of the ordinary for factory production race cars in NHRA. High winding motors and 4 speeds.
But with all that awesome oral history, it still got dumped into a pile and left to rot. Thank goodness it is plastic. Morley
Again, I shake my head…..I just can’t understand how cars, in general, much less this car, get buried in a garage full of crap ……..just can’t get my mind around it. More money than brains????
RE: Tom, Morley,, Life and poor planning get in the way. It is pretty common, hence the increasing numbers of cars like this. It is sad.
In the thread he describes the ZL1 as “a cool block that doesn’t rust”….classic comment.
the main caps look pretty rusty to me,
Awesome find!
Great story at the forum. Thanks for the tip.
Life and shit happens and the love of a neat car is had to let go. This vette was lucky to have been loved and stored inside. I have had a lot of cool stuff like this and had life kick me. For the love of the cars, I let a lot go. At least I have my 71 fc7 340 duster with me and luckily been covered for the 15 years I’ve had it. Close to running!!! Hope I can finish it but it wont be left to rot like so many others.
I think this vette is very rare and needs to be documented as to what is was orig.
Dayum!
What a find.
while it would be nice if it had been stored in a climate controlled garage and guarded by Dobermans and CCTV not everybody can manage that. Eccentric and crazy people are the ones who keep old stuff like this hidden away. Read some of the stories about Jungle Jim Lieberman (And Jungle Pam!). Many others who were never as famous but just as crazy.
If we were ALL sensible we would have scrapped wasteful and pointless vehicles like this and all drive EV minivans or Priuses or better yet sell those 4 wheel contraptions and take public transit and ride bicycles.
************************************************************
My uncle has a country place
That no one knows about
He says it used to be a farm
Before the Motor Law
And now on Sundays I elude the eyes
And hop the turbine freight
To far outside the wire where my
White-haired uncle waits
Jump to the ground as the turbo slows
To cross the borderline
Run like the wind as excitement shivers
Up and down my spine
But down in his barn
My uncle preserved for me
An old machine
For fifty-odd years
To keep it as new
Has been his dearest dream
I strip away the old debris
That hides a shining car
A brilliant Red Barchetta
From a better vanished time
We’ll fire up the willing engine
Responding with a roar
Tires spitting gravel
I commit my weekly crime
Wind
In my hair
Shifting and drifting
Mechanical music
Adrenaline surge
Well-oiled leather
Hot metal and oil
The scented country air
Sunlight on chrome
The blur of the landscape
Every nerve aware
Suddenly ahead of me
Across the mountainside
A gleaming alloy air-car
Shoots towards me two lanes wide
Oh, I spin around with shrieking tires
To run the deadly race
Go screaming through the valley
As another joins the chase
Ride like the wind
Straining the limits
Of machine and man
Laughing out loud with fear and hope
I’ve got a desperate plan
At the one-lane bridge
I leave the giants stranded
At the riverside
Race back to the farm
To dream with my uncle
At the fireside
My favorite RUSH song……
The car was called the General. The driver was Doyle Patton, Hense the name “The General”. I owned a speed shop in Elizabethtown in the early 70’s and I built a 1961 Corvette for a pretty well known racer John Baines. The first time we took Baines’ Corvette to the track we wound up running The General in the finals. This was at the Camblesville Drag Strip.
holy cow, thats cool