It’s the stuff of urban legend: in 1989, Dennis Amodeo from Long Island, NY, entered a contest and won 36 Chevrolet Corvettes, one for each year of production up to that point. Artist Peter Max eventually purchased the cars, which he intended to use for an art project.
Instead the whole collection languished and was parked in various parking garages all across New York City, long forgotten. Until now.
Corvette Heroes, an organization made up of NY real estate developers and one Chris Mazzilli, a Corvette concours judge and comedy club co-owner, have purchased the entire collection and will be restoring / reconditioning them all to showroom shine. They’re not keeping all the fun for themselves, however. Each car will be available in a sweepstakes contest that will benefit the National Guard Educational Foundation.
Mazzilli also owns a restoration shop on Long Island and is overseeing the work, including that on the rare 1953 model. It was the first year of the Corvette and only 300 were produced. Of the entire collection it was in the worst condition.
“The ’53 was a basket case,” Mazzilli told Robb Report. “We have 4,000 hours just on this car.”
The whole process will be featured in an upcoming History Channel miniseries.
*Images courtesy of Corvette Heroes / The Lost Corvettes
