In its early years, the Chevrolet Corvette had trouble developing a following. It wasn’t until a V8 engine became available that things began to change. Between 1953 and 1955, they only built 4,640 copies with a 6-cylinder engine and a 2-speed Powerglide automatic. This one from 1954 is said to be a numbers-matching, unmolested original that had been a fixture at vintage auto shows. The ‘Vette may only have 45,000 miles and wears its fair share of “patina”. Located in Lakeland, Florida, this example of “America’s Sports Car” is available here on Facebook Marketplace for $50,000. Our thanks to Barn Finder T.J. for this nifty tip!
During its first year on the market, only 300 Corvettes were mostly hand-built in temporary quarters. By the time the 1954s arrived, new production facilities had been developed and economies of scale could be realized. That enabled Chevrolet to drop the MSRP on a new Corvette by more than $700. And, as a result, 3,640 were sold as 1954 models. The color palette was expanded (in 1953, all you could get a Corvette in was white) and the seller’s car may have once been red given some telltale signs in the photos.
The Corvette was little changed in 1954. The “Blue-Flame” inline-6 was tweaked slightly to produce an extra five horsepower (up to 155 now). Sales would drop in 1955 perhaps due to Ford’s introduction of their 2-seater, the Thunderbird, but it was more of a personal luxury car than a sports car. And it had a V8, something the Corvette wouldn’t gain until 1956.
We’re told this 1954 ‘Vette has an “amazing story” but that may be limited to its being numbers-matching and having relatively low mileage. The seller says it runs and drives but does need a new 6-volt battery (at this price, why not buy and install one?). The air cleaners are MIA and maybe some of the gauges are. The interior is black while I thought most of them came in red). The seller has replaced the gas tank, fuel lines, the fuel pump, and added new tires, an indication it hasn’t been used a lot lately. If you were to buy the Chevy, would you leave it as-is or undertake a restoration?
1955 was the first year that Corvettes were offered with a V8, NOT 1956, and all but about a half dozen 55 Corvettes came with the 265 V8. And not all 55’s were Powerglides either, a 3 speed manual was available too. The low sales of 55 Corvettes was likely because there was something like 1100-1400 unsold 54’s that dealers had to find buyers for in 1955.
How is this car a “survivor” or “unmolested”, as the seller claims? It’s hard to say what the original color was but it’s obvious it’s been painted at least two different colors (white and red), and now appears to be bare fiberglass (not the ever popular patina). The interior’s obviously been changed since no 53-55 ever came with a black interior. The wheel covers are 53 Chevy Bel Air (though the first 12-15 53 Corvettes were delivered with those covers, no 54’s were). Besides the air cleaners and a “couple” gauges, the washer bottle and the (expensive and hard to find) ignition shielding are also missing. It’s a little hard to tell from the pictures, but the valve cover doesn’t look right either. This unmolested 54 Corvette also has the wrong horn ring and horn button and appears to be missing the very expensive top frame and side curtains. Finally, no 54 Corvette is matching numbers, they had an engine number but it did not correlate with the VIN, beyond the earlier the VIN the lower the engine number.
While the car is not quite what the seller claims it is, it’s really not a bad 54, but the price is way out of line. This past weekend at the Mecum Indianapolis auction a beautiful, near perfect red 54 sold for $57K, an extremely nice white 54 went for $50K and an absolutely perfect, very rare black 54 with every national award went for $97K.
I was concerned about this car’s “patina”. Maybe it has special fiberglass that rusts? I don’t think the seller really knows his ‘Vettes. He’s just trying to get rid of it.
Nice write up.
While you are obviously well schooled on early Vettes, your critique of this car was a little “picky”. The add already stated that the interior wasn’t the correct factory red, the wheel covers may or may not be correct, and “numbers matching” is very much an arbitrary term as these things were essentially put together with parts that had already been manufactured for other models. I take “numbers matching” to mean date codes that are from the same time frame. The valve cover is completely wrong, not maybe wrong. It would have been born with a painted valve cover with the “Blue Flame” logo, and not a chrome one. I do completely agree with you that while it is a fairly complete example of an early Vette, the price does not correlate with current market values
I actually don’t consider my critique to be a “picky”. The seller is claiming the car is unmolested and a survivor, when in reality it is neither.
I’m sorry but no where in the ad does the seller say the interior should be red, the ad only says it’s “black”. The Barnfinds writer questioned the interior color, saying “I thought most of them came in red”, and I was just clarifying that black was not an available interior color.
Matching numbers is a term that gets thrown around way to much, but it is generally accepted to mean the VIN on the car, block and title all match, something not possible with a 54, or any Corvette built before 1960.
As far as the valve cover, I wasn’t questioning the chrome, I was questioning the appearance of the cover. Both painted and chrome valve covers were used at various times though out 1954 on the Corvette’s engine. The 54 chrome covers are identical to the painted ones, with a Chevrolet script embossed in the top center of the cover. The seller’s pictures aren’t very clear but I couldn’t make out the Chevrolet script, which is why I said it “didn’t look right”. Like the valve cover, the ignition shielding could also be either chrome or painted blue on 54 Corvettes.
Corvettes came with chrome or painted valve covers. I have a 54 with the original chrome valve cover. You can tell it is an original cover because it has tabs on it for the ignition shielding. These engines were built specifically for corvette. they used a truck block (with solid lifter cam) and a special high compression head (8 to1). The engines had a unique oil pan, water pump, intake and exhaust manifold, valve cover and ignition shield. The transmission was unique as well. The transmission had no accumulator for the first to second shift. Their were additional springs in the valve body to increase the shift point. Unlike the 54 full size the corvette used a drive shaft so the tail shaft was unique. It’s not difficult to figure out it the original drivetrain is intact. So much of it is a one year production unique to the corvette.
54 corvettes can indeed be numbers matching to the extent that the block is stamped F54yg. Yes the engine could be from a different 54 corvette, but that is very unlikely.
As I said, you appear to be fairly knowledgeable on early Vettes, and I wasn’t questioning that knowledge. We seem to agree on the interior color and the whole “numbers matching” thing, I was simply pointing out that this is a 74 year old car that was built when the manufacturer was throwing parts at it from whatever shelf was handy. There’s absolutely no 53/54 Vette that was built “by the book”. I’m sorry if you took my comment’s to be derogatory, as that was not my intention. (The one thing I would take exception to is the valve cover. I have never seen a 6 cyl. Vette that didn’t have the Blue Flame logo.)