Unique Chevrolet Corvette prototype for sale

Party time

The Chevrolet Corvette celebrates its 70th birthday this year – and here’s likely to be one of the most discussed and desired examples ever built.

It’s the GM Styling Department’s proposal car for the 1955 Corvette, a rare surviving example of a Motorama-era Harley Dream Car.

This unique creation will cross the block this summer at Gooding & Company’s Peach Beach sale on 18-19 August, where it has a $1.5-2m (c£1.12-1.6m) estimate.

Opportunities like this don’t happen too often, so let’s take a closer look at this key part of Chevrolet Corvette history.

Back to the start

The car’s story goes all the way back to the beginning of series Corvette production on 30 June 1953.

Chevrolet handbuilt 15 glassfibre bodies for testing or Motorama use, Motorama being a car show held by General Motors between 1949 and 1961.

As such, these 15 examples didn’t receive standard VINs, but internal codes such as EX-52, for the very first prototype shown to the public at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, in January 1953.
 

Shopping spree

Alternatively, they were referred to by their Shop Order – or SO.

For example, the Nomad was SO195, while the Corvair was SO2071.

This particular car started its life as SO2000, a pale-yellow hardtop prototype that first saw the light of day in early 1954.

It was one of two built, and was soon returned to GM’s Art and Colour department, run by Harley Earl, so the body could be turned into a new project, SO2151.

On a mission

This car, SO2151, was therefore destined to be the Art and Colour department’s Proposal Car for 1955.

It was built to show GM management plans for the next year’s Corvette.

The body was changed with a decorative bonnet scoop, an ‘egg-crate’ front grille, bumper-exit exhaust tips and a boot design that aped that of the fastback Corvair.

Time to vent

The new design also featured slanted front-wing vents, which differ from side to side.

On the passenger side, they’re painted in the body colour, while on the driver’s side they’re trimmed with chrome, thus giving GM management a chance to see how the proposals compared.
 

Script machine

You might also notice that the Corvette script is higher on one side than the other, and there’s a large gold ‘V’ to hint that the 1955 Corvette might get a V8.

This car’s body is finished in Bermuda Green, a hue used on contemporary GM production vehicles.

Experimental engine

In order to be photographed in GM’s design studio in March 1954, the body was mounted onto a fresh 1954 Corvette chassis.

Under the bonnet lay an experimental engine equipped with a high-performance solid-lifter camshaft. It was officially completed on 30 July, 1954.

No future

The car never got further than the proposal.

GM’s management believed something more radical was needed.

At the time, Ford’s Thunderbird was outselling the Corvette 30 to one, so all the effort was spent developing an optional V8 engine for 1955.

Light and shade

The 1955 ’Vettes also got more exterior colours, bringing the total for prospective buyers to pick from up to five.

A five-speed manual gearbox was made available for the V8 cars later in the year, but it didn’t do a great deal to improve sales.

Just 700 Chevrolet Corvettes found homes in 1955, the second-worst year for the model after 1953.
 

On the up

Of course, Chevrolet’s Corvette would see a sales upswing and go on to become one of the most beloved nameplates in the automotive world.

However, the future for this particular prototype was less certain.

Hello California

Most prototypes faced destruction or reuse, but this particular one managed to avoid both and ended up in California, though its early life there remains a mystery.

In 1963, it had been sold to a car dealership in downtown San Jose, California, called Auto Center.
 

Basket case

Fast forward 11 years, and Richard Oldham, the owner of Empire Corvette in Novato, California, and avowed Corvette collector, acquired this car.

Sadly, at this point, the car was in what’s described by vendor Gooding & Company as ‘basket case’ condition.

Needing some TLC

Most of the Corvette’s paint had been removed from its bodywork, while the majority of the unique prototype features were no longer on the car.

However, it was definitely SO2151, according to the riveted tag, drivetrain and wing vents.

Extensive research

Oldham advertised the car for $3000 in 1975, which piqued the interest of George F Campbell, of Corvallis, Oregon, who’d been spurred into action by Noland Adams, a Corvette historian.

Campbell then spent the next four decades collecting parts and researching every inch of the car’s history, preparing for the prototype’s restoration.
 

Destiny calls

Unfortunately, that never happened – Campbell passed away before he could see his prototype finished.

The car was then acquired by the current owner in 2018, an Indiana-based enthusiast and, helpfully, a chap with his own restoration business. 
 

‘Magnum opus’

Despite 45 years of know-how and having restored 15 cars for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, among other projects, he says this Corvette prototype was his greatest challenge – his ‘magnum opus’.

This was never going to be a quick job.
 

Period correct

This Corvette prototype’s restoration took three years and more than 1800 hours to complete.

The car’s history was thoroughly researched, with exacting inspections of period photographs to recreate the missing trim pieces.

The truth will out

As the car was being disassembled, it became clear that the body began life as SO2000, when the car’s original pale-yellow paint was found underneath the Bermuda Green it wore when it became SO2151.

This car’s later, jade-like, metallic-green colour was also used on the Corvette Biscayne, a show car built for 1955’s Motorama.

Back to basics

According to Gooding & Company, which is selling this car this summer, the bodywork was distinctly ‘handlaid’ in places, the construction described as ‘crude’.

The body was a one-piece structure, with custom-fabricated brass boot hinges.

Sparkling originality

The chassis had survived the decades well – it was intact and original, and still had its original dampers, brake shoes and experimental engine block.

And all bore the appropriate date codes from early 1954.

In tribute

The decision was made to restore the car back to its 1954, Bermuda Green finish.

However, to pay tribute to its SO2000 origins, patches of pale yellow have been preserved in the boot and behind the seats.

Getting the recognition it deserves

Once completed, the car was entered into the Amelia Concours d’Elegance in March this year, where Bill Warner awarded it the prestigious Founders Award.

This is the only time it has been shown since the work has been done.

What’s next?

And now it is time for the next chapter in this storied Chevrolet Corvette’s life.

It will cross the block in California at Gooding & Company’s Pebble Beach sale on 18-19 August 2023.
 

Dig deep

Few prototypes from the Motorama era exist today, making this not just a unique car but also a rare opportunity to buy a slice of automotive history.

Which is why its pre-sale estimate is a not-inconsiderable $1.5-2m (c£1.12-1.6m).

Living the dream

The earliest ads for the Chevrolet Corvette used the line, ‘The first of the dream cars to come true’.

Let’s hope this spectacular design study finds a new home at Gooding & Company’s Pebble Beach sale this summer.

Get all the information about the auction here.