A collection of 36 corvettes – some of them extremely rare - are in the process of being restored to their former glory after they were hidden away for more than 20 years. The Corvettes were originally won in a competition organised by music channel VH1 in 1989 and were then sold to German born graphic artist Peter Maxx. The thick layer of dust that has covered the cars for more than 20 years has actually protected the paintwork meaning some of them need little in the way of restoration. When the restorations are complete the new owner Scott Heller will attempt to sell the collection in its entirety to one lucky bidder.
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MotorTranscript
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00:01 These cars are the holy grail of the Corvette collectors.
00:11 00;00;22;22 - 00;00;29;22 Unknown
00:12 We basically have a museum of Corvettes here every year from 1953 all the way through 1989.
00:19 00;00;29;22 - 00;00;36;22 Unknown
00:20 This remarkable chronological collection of 36 Corvettes has been hidden for over 20 years.
00:27 Originally given away as a prize by music channel VH1 in 1989, the cars were soon bought
00:33 by artist Peter Max, whose plans to paint them never came to fruition.
00:38 00;00;36;22 - 00;00;50;22 Unknown
00:39 The new owners are restoring the vehicles to their former glory and Chris Mazzilli,
00:43 a Corvette expert, is consulting on the project.
00:45 00;00;50;22 - 00;00;57;22 Unknown
00:46 Some of these cars are going to need to be cleaned up, have the fluids changed.
00:50 Some cars are going to need a year's worth of work and some cars are going to need two
00:52 weeks worth of work.
00:53 00;00;57;22 - 00;01;00;22 Unknown
00:54 First, we'll start off with the most valuable car in the collection, a 1953 Corvette.
01:01 This car is one of 300 that were made and it's probably going to be worth somewhere
01:05 around a half a million dollars when the restoration is done.
01:08 00;01;00;22 - 00;01;10;22 Unknown
01:09 The crown jewel of the collection.
01:11 Unfortunately for us, it's requiring the most amount of work and we're putting a substantial
01:16 amount of money, well over six figures into that one individual car.
01:20 00;01;10;22 - 00;01;22;22 Unknown
01:21 So we think by the time we get done with the restoration, we'll have one of the most valuable
01:24 1953s in the world.
01:26 However, not all of the cars require so much work.
01:29 00;01;22;22 - 00;01;33;22 Unknown
01:30 So this next Corvette is a 66 coupe.
01:31 It's one of my favorite colors.
01:34 This is called Nassau blue and it has a white interior and that's the color combination
01:39 that came from the factory with.
01:41 The paint is not perfect on it, but it's a pretty solid original car.
01:44 This next car is a 1964 Corvette coupe.
01:47 This car originally was Irvine white, but now it's painted tuxedo black.
01:52 This car also has its original engine.
01:54 It's a 327 300 horsepower engine.
01:57 It's the one that the car was born with.
02:00 It also has a four speed transmission and that's the correct transmission that came
02:03 with the car.
02:05 So the interior in this car was in pretty good original condition.
02:09 What also makes it unique is it's silver leather and not a lot of cars came with silver leather
02:14 interior that particular year.
02:17 Many of the Corvettes are yet to be restored and are covered in 20 years worth of dust,
02:21 which isn't as bad as it sounds.
02:23 The fact of the matter is the dust is what ended up preventing the paint from being ruined.
02:28 So when we start washing these off and cleaning them with the special solution, the paint
02:32 on almost all of them is in perfect condition.
02:35 So that was a pleasant surprise when we started working on the first couple of cars.
02:40 When the restoration is complete, how much would the collection be worth?
02:44 It's a very, very valuable collection.
02:46 They're folklore.
02:47 People know about the car, so it's very hard to put a dollar amount on the cars because
02:50 who knows what the value of Peter Max and VH1 having these cars, but they're worth a
02:55 lot.
02:56 So what does the future hold for these 36 Corvettes?
03:00 We're being approached by people from all over the world who are interested in potentially
03:03 buying it or have other creative ideas for the collection.
03:07 So our original plan was to take all of them, get them into working condition, and then
03:11 go to the big auction houses.
03:13 But right now we're pretty much keeping our options open.
03:15 [music]
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