Photo: Screenshots from New York Times' Video
There once was a VH1 contest with a stunning classic Corvette collection as a prize, but sadly it ended up consumed by dust and ignorance. The 36 vintage rides - which stand for each year model up until 1989 - have laid in a dim garage until recently. Their owner, famous pop-art star Peter Max, has decided to sell them and now they will be restored for auction due next year.
You probably need to be a classic Corvette fan to actually know about this collection, but just in case you’re not we’ll give you a short heads up.
It was 1989, when the collection came together as the grand prize of a contest sponsored by the VH1 cable music channel. A call to a 900 number, for a $2 fee, was required to enter and over 1 million people made the call. The prize was won by Dennis Amodeo, a carpenter from Long Island, who shortly after accepting it sold it to artist Peter Max.
Even though the beautiful classics were supposed to be part of the artist’s one of kind art project, Max was busy with other projects as well. A legal battle with the Internal Revenue Service that led to a guilty plea for tax fraud was also on his mind, so he ended up canceling the plan and put them all in a garage. Apart from being moved from one place to the other, the vintage rides were never taking good care of, which is why some of them were severly deteriorated.
Even though the group doesn’t have a specific plan for the auction yet, they would like to find someone interested in buying the whole set. It is not clear how much the family paid for the Vettes, but we're pretty sure they’ll need a buyer with deep pockets to actually afford taking them all.
It was 1989, when the collection came together as the grand prize of a contest sponsored by the VH1 cable music channel. A call to a 900 number, for a $2 fee, was required to enter and over 1 million people made the call. The prize was won by Dennis Amodeo, a carpenter from Long Island, who shortly after accepting it sold it to artist Peter Max.
Even though the beautiful classics were supposed to be part of the artist’s one of kind art project, Max was busy with other projects as well. A legal battle with the Internal Revenue Service that led to a guilty plea for tax fraud was also on his mind, so he ended up canceling the plan and put them all in a garage. Apart from being moved from one place to the other, the vintage rides were never taking good care of, which is why some of them were severly deteriorated.
A collection with a couple of rare vettes
According to the New York Times, however, a guy named Peter Heller along his family managed to buy the cars this summer and are planning to restore them for auction next year. This is quite the deal, considering the collection also contains some rare jewels, such as the 1953 model, No. 291 of only 300 ever produced, or the 1955 model, one of 700 made that year.Even though the group doesn’t have a specific plan for the auction yet, they would like to find someone interested in buying the whole set. It is not clear how much the family paid for the Vettes, but we're pretty sure they’ll need a buyer with deep pockets to actually afford taking them all.
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