Neglected and forgotten, an amazing one of a kind Corvette collection has been sitting lost in various locked storage garages for over 25 years just gathering dust. Where did this collection come from?
How could anyone just lock those cars away?
Check out where they are now!
In 1989 music network VH1 organized the largest prize giveaway ever done at that time. They organized a massive giveaway of Chevrolet Corvettes, one from every year from 1953-1989. 36 Corvettes spanning 3 decades.
Who was the lucky winner of all these cars? Click ahead to find out.
Thousands entered but only one person was declared the winner and his name was Dennis Amodeo . In grandiose fashion, VH1 handed Amodeo a bag of keys for the cars presented to him by the singer from The Beach Boys and VH1 used Amodeo’s image on every commercial possible to maximize their clever promotion and turned him into their poster child for their network.
What the new owner did next is crazy. Click ahead to read more.
Jerry Seinfeld purchased the 1956 and used it in his TV show comedians in Cars Having Coffee with Jimmy Fallon.
Please click ahead to see the rest of the story.
At first glance it seems like a big waste of funds but their platform for people to enter was toll calls at $2 per entry. The savvy network not only made back their investment money, they also made a profit on the promotion and did that in just a few weeks.
Why did the winner sell the cars? Click ahead to find out.
The grouping of the classic cars was estimated to be worth over $600,000 at the time, a huge amount for any car collection. While excited to win, Amodeo soon fielded a phone call from an interested person who wanted to buy the whole collection to use in an art project.
Who wanted to buy the whole collection? Go to the next slide.
The grouping of the classic cars was estimated to be worth over $600,000 at the time, a huge amount for any car collection. While excited to win, Amodeo soon fielded a phone call from an interested person who wanted to buy the whole collection to use in an art project.
Who was it? Click ahead to find out.
Amodeo parted ways with his stash of corvettes and sold them to famous New York photographer named Peter Max.
The sale was for an estimated $250,000 in cash, $250,000 more in Peter Max’s art and future potential profits.
Max stored his newly acquired booty into various storage garages over the next 25 years, always promising to do some kind of art show or display the cars.
But words are just talk and not all promises are kept, and soon these gems were slowly forgotten about by the mainstream and decades of dust and disrepair fell onto the iconic American vehicles.
Recently new pictures of the ghostly collection were revealed for the first time in years.
It turns out Max was looking for yet another place to move the collection a few months ago when he was approached by a man and his partners who wanted to discuss the possibility of buying the whole lot.
Soon a deal was reached and the cars have been freed from their dusty morgue and are slowly being re-animated to their original state. While some of the vettes just don’t lend themselves to being restored (as their value isn’t close to what it would cost to get them road-worthy) there are a few gems in the lot which will eventually be show stoppers if and when they are ever brought to auction.
Click forward to see NEW PICS of the restored cars! They came out amazing!
A rare collection of 36 classic Corvettes that were hidden away for more than 20 years are being prepared for sale – and one model alone is expected to sell for half a million dollars; pictured above is the co-owner of the collection, Adam Heller
Heller tried to work with Peter Max to restore the cars for sale then split the proceeds. Max declined. Soon however, Max asked Heller if he wanted to buy the collection outright.
The deal was made and the historic collection was soon in garages being restored.
Heller said the thick layer of dust that covered the cars had protected the paintwork, and some vehicles would need little in the way of restoration. Some would take around two weeks, and would simply need a few hoses and belts changed, while others would require ‘more than a years worth of work’.
Decades of dust have made the cars quite wrecked but one by one the best cars in the stash are being brought back to life by Heller and his partner and their restoration director.
A 1977 Chevrolet Corvette engine sits decaying.
There ain’t no way that engine is going to turn over. What was shocking was that none of the cars had any kind of car covers or protection from the dust.
Ironically the dust helped protect the paint!
Corvette offinado Chris Mazzilli owner of Dream Cars Consulting on Long Island has signed on to oversee and direct the restoration project.
