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A few months ago I posted a thread about locating the original owner of my 55. Lou lives near Sacramento and purchased the car from the owner of a Chevy dealership in Northern California. He got into autocross and raced the car in the late 50's and early 60's. Link to previous post:
Over the past several months, we have been in contact, and I have kept him appraised of the progress of my restoration of the ol' 55. In an act of amazing generosity, Lou sent me several of his racing trophies and plaques as well as several photos of him and the Vette from the early 60's. As he explained to me, "They belong to the car." I'm sure you can imagine what it is like looking at the old pictures of my car, thinking about what it was like back then. In the photos I can still identify some of the modifications he made including the fuel injection emblem, newer steering wheel and inside rear view mirror that are still on the car today.
Well, last weekend was the inaugural outing of my car, as I entered it in the annual San Clemente Car Show here in Southern California. I placed the trophies, photos and plaques in the trunk on display. I had a great time recounting the car's history and story of the original owner to countless of appreciative Corvette fans.
I hope you enjoy these pictures as well as a couple recent photos from the show.
Thanks for posting...that made my day. Lou is absolutely right about all the history/documentation/photos belonging to the car. You are truly lucky to be the current custodian of such a neat piece of Corvette history! Beautiful and classy car.
They only built 700 of the 1955 Corvettes so what number is yours? The pic were great, we all love to see pic. Where did the fuelie unit come from? Was the car original a manual or automatic and are you going to put the CheVrolet emblems back on the front fenders? The car looks cool.
They only built 700 of the 1955 Corvettes so what number is yours? The pic were great, we all love to see pic. Where did the fuelie unit come from? Was the car original a manual or automatic and are you going to put the CheVrolet emblems back on the front fenders? The car looks cool.
It's number 154. When Lou got into racing, he replaced the engine with a 283 (solid lifters, Duntov cam) as well as a close ratio 4 speed. He played with carborators and eventually went to fuel injection. Other mods include HD front springs, headers and fast ratio steering. He told me he ran into a bus and had the front end repaired. At that point he went with the 56/57 front emblem.
My goal in the restoration is to bring the car back to when Lou raced it, hence I have kept all his original mods. I think it makes the car more interesting and it's certainly a lot more fun to drive.
Mike Terry was talking about this CheVrolet emblem next to the wing on the front fenders. They were placed on 1955 only Corvettes to signify the new V8.
Compared to this "Chevrolet" that only came on the 1953 to 1954 Corvettes.
Really great story and photos on the history of your Vette. It's fun to read and see that you kept the mods that Lou made - I'm sure you are right that the solid lifter FI 283 is a lot of fun to drive...
Look forward to some additional photos and hope that you can reunite Lou and the '55!
Nice to see you got it running , great story and great to know you drive it . To me that's the best part of owning it. Are you going to add those red&blue strips , you still have the Scott hard top ? I lived in Burbank ,then Big Bear and once in a while I come down to Burbank to see friends with my 55 Corvette ,Email me your # and will call. Roy 55copper@oro.net
Nice to see you got it running , great story and great to know you drive it . To me that's the best part of owning it. Are you going to add those red&blue strips , you still have the Scott hard top ? I lived in Burbank ,then Big Bear and once in a while I come down to Burbank to see friends with my 55 Corvette ,Email me your # and will call. Roy 55copper@oro.net
Hi Roy,
Unfortunately, I no longer have the top. I would like to find one someday, but here in So Cal I probably will never use it! As for the stripes, I'll probably not put those on either.
It would be really nice if there is a way to have a reuniting meeting of the car with Lou.....
I would like to arrange this somehow. He lives about 400 miles north, so I would probably have to trailer it up to him. Maybe I can borrow a trailer here in So Cal. I'm sure Lou would be thrilled to see it again.
I would like to arrange this somehow. He lives about 400 miles north, so I would probably have to trailer it up to him. Maybe I can borrow a trailer here in So Cal. I'm sure Lou would be thrilled to see it again.
Great story! And I know you realize how fortunate you are to have
the proof of its past.
I can think of another "reunion" that would be fun - that with Bob Clift's "White Mule" - Bob was a Chevy Engineer who dragged a wrecked '54 out of Michigan junkyard and went racing in C/M & B/M using later C1 race parts+. Car was found and redone by a fellow from SoCal who had it at one of he Laughlin Regionals.
And then if I could locate Jim *******'s '54 Motor Trend car with the nailhead Buick......
06-15-2016, 06:26 PM
Update on my 55
