OT--the entombed 1954 Corvette is coming up for auction

[BobT-47P15]

Will be run thru by Mecum Auction in Kissimee, FL in January 2013.

DESCRIPTION

This 1954 Chevrolet Corvette roadster is the famous "Entombed" Corvette removed from a brick vault inside a Brunswick, Maine grocery store once owned by local businessman Richard Sampson. A successful and somewhat eccentric man who built a chain of 33 grocery stores, ran for governor and served as a Senator from Maine, Sampson bought the car new in 1954 and drove it until 1959, when he took it to the construction site of a new store in Brunswick and had workmen enclose it in a brick-and-mortar vault. He originally left orders in his will that the car remain sealed in brick until the year 2000, but later voided the will before he passed away in 1969. The car first came to the public’s notice when automotive writer Ken Gross wrote about it in Special Interest Autos Magazine, thinking he would have to wait 25 years to tell the rest of the story. But in 1982 the building was purchased by Brunswick auto dealer Frank Goodwin with the proviso that the car be removed by the expiry of the existing lease in 1986. When the time arrived, the Corvette was liberated once again by Sampson’s daughter Cynthia, who watched as workers removed the outside wall brick by brick. Although the moisture in its enclosure had caused the car’s Polo White paint to yellow and blister over time, the tires still held air and the chrome, top and interior were still in remarkably good condition. Cynthia Sampson then moved the car, by then a celebrity in the Corvette community, to her home in Daytona Beach, Florida, where it remained in her living room for the next ten years until its purchase by a Corvette collector who pledged to preserve it rather than restore it. In 1996 the car made its first appearance in the Bloomington Gold Special Collection in Springfield, Illinois, where it was displayed in honor of Richard Sampson, Sr. with Cynthia Sampson in attendance. Today this amazing piece of Corvette history remains probably the lowest mileage unrestored Corvette in the world, still with the 2,331 miles that were on the odometer when it finally again saw daylight 27 years after its entombment.

Information found on the website is presented as advance information for the auction lot. Photos, materials for videos, descriptions and other information are provided by the consignor/seller and is deemed reliable, but Mecum Auction does not verify, warrant or guarantee this information.

**I saw the car and took pictures as it sat in a warehouse full of newer

Vettes about 5 miles from here over in Kansas 3 or 4 years ago.. Owned by a fellow I

know. To my knowledge he does not take his cars out for shows....at

least not very often. I don''t know if the local fellow is putting the car

up for sale, or if he has earlier sold it to someone else....who is.

I read some posts about this old Vette on a Corvette Forum just while

ago.....one fellow from Phoenix says he is helping clean up the car-- so

that makes me wonder where it currently is. Another automotive

mystery..............

Edited December 21, 2012 by BobT-47P15

[Roadkingcoupe]

Rare care with a great story.

Here is another 1954 that is even more rare.

http://manonthemove.com/2011/06/27/1954-corvette-corvair-st-charles-il/

Edited December 21, 2012 by Roadkingcoupe

[JIPJOBXX]

Now if you want to buy a Vette that was in-tombed here is my buddies old Vette in a box and that box was just opened up after about 15 years of being stored inside. Jon

Price I think around 25 THOUSAND OR SO?

[BobT-47P15]

So.......now what he gonna do wid that?

[BobT-47P15]

.......and then, there was the Waldorf Nomad................familiar with

that one?

[RobertKB]

.......and then, there was the Waldorf Nomad................familiar with

that one?

No, tell us more.

[Roadkingcoupe]

No, tell us more.

I do like the fastback a little more.

Edited December 21, 2012 by Roadkingcoupe
spelling

[RobertKB]

I do like the fastback a little more.

Thanks for posting that. I like the fastback better as well but it sure shows where the Nomad wagon came from.

[BobT-47P15]

Well,,,,,it now appears that you can get a brand new version of the Waldorf.....

Link to article..............http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2009/06/02/waldorf-nomad-enters-production-55-years-after-introduction/

A man named Zane Zander did a clone of the original - first shown in 2007.

Link to article.............http://waldorfnomad.com/

Pic of re-created car.........

[BobT-47P15]

Well, I looked on Mecum's site tonight.....and the old Vette didn't sell.  Only got a max bid of $100,000. 

Pre auction estimate of sale was from $175 to $225 K. 

I'm gonna guess the local guy made a little on it, but the buyer will have to keep trying to sell for more.