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Rough 1961 Chevy Corvette Was Concealed for 56 Years, Has Non-Running Stroker V8

Although it has the proper decaying looks and photo background to qualify as a barn find, we’re going to refrain from calling this 1961 ‘Vette that because it was kept in the same family as a project car for no less than 56 years. Unfortunately, it never got back to its former glory, so the seller probably decided to give someone else the chance to own and work hard on this Honduras Maroon example.
1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer 54 photos
Photo: Bring a Trailer
1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer1961 Chevrolet Corvette barn find owned by same family 56 years on Bring a Trailer
Let’s deck out two of the highlights of this project car from the very beginning. The bummer is that we’re dealing with a non-running project. On the bright side, the Honduras Maroon over black upholstery unit also includes a 369ci stroker V8 (up from 327ci) mated to a four-speed manual transmission in this application.

Other features well worth mentioning are the bespoke fiberglass hood scoop, the Edelbrock intake manifold, exhaust headers, or a much better-looking removable hardtop compared to the fabric roof, as well as a Wonderbar AM radio.

According to the description, the Corvette rides on 15-inch steelies with various nuances of vintage decay, and the bucket seats from the cockpit have clearly seen better days—just like the color-matching dashboard, door cards and accompanying trim. Oddly enough, the odometer readout has stopped at a mere 23,000 miles (approximately 37,000 km), but there’s an easy explanation because we’re dealing with the classic TMU.

Now for the really juicy part. As one might have guessed, this Corvette project has an interesting story behind it. The seller, user KentuckyBoy, is offering this Chevy on Bring a Trailer on behalf of his mother, after the car’s initial owner (the father, naturally) sadly passed away without ever seeing this late model year C1 revert to the former glory it displayed when he acquired the ‘Vette way back in 1965.

Better yet, it’s offered at no reserve and with a clean Kentucky title, so judging by the way bidding goes (it’s already at $21k with more than five days left on the auction clock), we’re probably in for some great action by the time it settles for new ownership.
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About the author: Aurel Niculescu
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Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution.
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