It’s bad enough having a project car staring you in the face, asking for your attention every day. I can only imagine what it’s like knowing your pride and joy was wrecked by your significant other and now sits outside waiting for a full restoration. That’s the story of this 1959 Chevy Corvette, which was supposedly wrecked by the owner’s wife and remained in his possession since the 1960s. The car is now seemingly parked in a front lawn with other Corvettes near Miami, Florida. Find it here on eBay with bidding over $6K and no reserve.
It’s difficult to determine just what happened to this car past the right-front end impact, which appears to have destroyed the fender, part of the nose and the lower valence (and whatever else behind it.) The Corvette is also partially stripped, with the drivetrain clearly harvested and the interior in shambles. Although some bits are still with the car, including the rear bumpers and convertible frame, not much is left other than some miscellaneous fiberglass parts in the trunk.
The big question is how would you restore this Corvette? Would you hopefully buy it cheap and perform an OEM-correct restoration, or would you take the seller’s advice and make a restomod out of it? Our Corvette experts could likely weigh in as to whether this one is past the point of no return, but the early cars do tend to hold their values better than later ones.
What always causes me to scratch my head is why someone would hold onto a car for this many years and not make any attempt to protect it from the elements? Even my junkyard find Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3-16 gets a garage spot despite being a rusty, non-running project – and I’m not even sentimentally attached to it yet. The bidding would indicate someone wants this basketcase, and I’d love to know their plans for it. Thanks to Barn Finds reader Ikey H. for the find.
I was going to say that I would eat my hat if anybody says that this is worth restoring, but not much on this site surprises me anymore so I’ll say nothing and just go about my business.
Looks bad, but I’ve seen a lot worse here and elsewhere. It can be salvaged.
Know the feeling on the wife… Close friend finished the restoration of his ’57 Porsche Speedster and took it to a car show in town. Car stayed the weekend and he and wife went to pick it up Sunday evening. Coming home, Porsche in lead of wife’s Mercedes, stopped at a stop light. Mercedes didn’t. Took four years to fit a new rear end and running gear. They are still in love….
Dam that’s a hell of a jig saw , you’d really have to love the C1s to want to put this one back together. Probably the easiest & cheapest way would be a one piece nose from Ecklers if they are still available.
It depends on if the title has a “Salvage” tag attached to it. If it does, I would definately go the Protouring or Restomod route. With modern mechanicals and such, along with classic good looks there is no better way to enjoy a classic car. A 383ci with a Tremec T56, posi rear end. Then you just have to decide what colors to choose from. GLWTS
Free still wouldn’t get rid of it.
Wait, those rims might get worth something.
Most expensive car in the world? A free car.
Looks like the left front to me.
The duct tape covering the carb opening tells me this engine doesn’t run?
Anyone know how many cylinders and what size the engine is?
Bianchina= Italian for, “my hat flew off”
Which one has an engine?
Photos like these tick me off. This guy doesn’t deserve 6 cents. He looks like a professional hoarder of what were once either nice corvettes and/or at least once in a “good” condition. The other 2 corvettes next to the one for sale are and have been apparently in training for total deterioration. Nice red T Top off the red vette, laying on the one next to it. The bad tarp falling off the back of the red one. If you look through the trees is looks like more of the same happening on the other side. Take a good look at that nice late model parked there……it will look like the rest these within a couple decades. One thing for sure, more money than brains here.
I have a guy near my church, same thing. Over the past 25 years I have watched him buy some pretty cool muscle cars and classics. He tinkers with them outside (In Illinois no less) he seems to continue to take them apart to some degree, they continue to “get worse” not better and then get pushed into the backyard to be left to the elements. Last / most recent was an early 70’s Trans Am, really nice car when he got it. Deteriorating into a total piece of crap. Very sad.
Maybe this “collecter” bought, sold & traded up to the new red one in the pic.
right…
Looks like the same old Vette – that’s been fer sale for awhile – with a new story !
I must be getting cynical in my old age, but I’m pretty sure we’ve seen this car before, and as someone else pointed out, the story is new. I’m pretty skeptical of it simply because who parts out a car while it’s “awaiting restoration?” More likely this is the leftover husk of someone’s parts car and they’re trying to get rid of the corpse.
I realize the car was hit!! I get that!! But leaving it in the sun to eat the paint and the weather to do the rest is beyond comprehension to me!! There’s some kind of building the car has in the front of it tuck it in there and keep it out of the weather!! You can blame your wife all you want but you let it sit out there and deteriorate to the point of destruction we see!! Some one should do a brain scan on you and see if there’s anything going on up there!!! It’s truly disgraceful!!!
Dial 1-800-Brn–A-Vet. “Just One Call Does It All”
Restoring even a nice candidate Corvette is a losing proposition unless you do the work yourself. Low HP or powerglide Corvettes are nice for drivers, but not for restoring. You’d spend more $$$ on the restoration than they’d be worth. The same condition low-HP powerglide or a Big Brake Fuelie take the same $$$ and effort, but you have an investment at the end with the high-HP, high-optioned one. The only person that would restore this car is someone whose dad or grandad owned it and used to drive them around in it and the memories and personal make up for the $$$ value.
Wait a second… the post here seems to indicate that Barnfinds believes that this car is being sold by the original owner who has for some reason decided to leave the slowly disintegrating shell on his front yard for 50 years??
Nice (weird) story, and all in good fun, but read the copy and look at the pictures.
This “car” is in the possession of a flipper (not that there’s anything wrong with that) who is dealing in Corvettes and who likely thinks that someone will have some use for this body and frame. The car’s been sitting there where the pictures show it for about as long as it took the seller to un-trailer it and get out his camera. Lord knows if the wife-wrecked-it story is even true…although it has seemingly generated over 300 eBay watchers, so you have to hand it to the seller for his creative writing abilities.
O t o h, I do have to wonder about the information literacy skills of anyone who buys the origin story.
Figure out what the pile of parts is worth, deduct transportation and you’re left with a value of $1.50. Sorry but this one is done, stick a fork in it and get it over with.
Glad I do not live across the street, can only imagine what they thought when the 59 was dropped off.
What a pile… waste of time.. but please go right ahead..
I saw one of these leaving a package store, naturally i watched before i went in , the guy hit second gear then smashed into the oncoming truck rear tire, it was like like matchsticks falling from the sky, the whole nose splintered and was gone, he had the top down and the passenger convinced him not to flee the scene( first instinct)
Junk! run away it will end up being your junk if you buy it.
This corpse should be buried, and soon!
Same person that had the yellow (?) ’67 (?) coupe for sale a while back. It was on the other end of the row by the red C7.
Can ANYONE say “Too Far Gone”?
This looks as if it’s better off left as is ,where it is,and remember it for what it was.Quite a shame.
Ended: Mar 15, 2019 , 4:54PM
Winning bid:US $8,900.00
[ 56 bids ]