Most of our restoration projects come to us a complete, running (more or less) vehicles that are just tired and need more than a light refurbishment. Occasionally, we run across forgotten or otherwise lost Corvettes that we really wish could tell us their story.

1982 Collector Edition Corvette with a 4-speed! The only one ever built???

This Corvette has been parked for awhile and piqued my curiosity because of it's supposed rarity with a 4-speed manual transmission. Despite the fact the all information I have access to claims that there were no factory produced 4-speed manual transmission Corvettes built for the '82 production year, I have learned to "never say never".  It didn't require too much investigation to confirm that yes, the car really had a 4-speed, and no, it was not installed at the factory. Someone had done the necessary modifications to remove the 700R4  4-speed automatic and replace it with a 4-speed manual and a Hurst shifter. The car was indeed a real Collector Edition Hatchback, one of 6759 built in a production year of 25,407. Doing the math, that's 27% of total production.

'69 T-Top Corvette

This white, '69 t-top Corvette had been parked outside and was completely covered with blackberry vines and underbrush. When we arrived on the scene, the major hacking had already been done and the car pulled from it's outdoor garage. Look closely to the right of the now vacant space where the Corvette had been parked. The spots of red are of another vehicle- a mid-50's dump truck!