Have you ever looked at a Craigslist car ad and thought, “I wonder if I should take a chance?”
(FOX)- Here’s one that was posted on Craigslist in the Tampa Bay area of Florida about five years ago:
”SERIAL # X53L on documented 1953 pre-production Corvette Frame. We believe this to be a 1953 Pontiac prototype that was to assume the name Longoria? Info received todate indicates that ZAGATO designed and PINNAFARINA constructed the body for GM in late 52.”
The typos and misspelling might have been one clue that the person who wrote the ad did not know much about the car being offered.
“Might anyone have knowledge of some former FISHER BODY executive that could assist in further identifying this automobile?” the ad concluded.
Here’s what that wreck actually was: arguably, the most sought-after Corvette ever built. Today it is very likely worth several million dollars.
It is the storied No. 1 Cunningham Corvette.
Instead of a “documented 1953 pre-production Corvette Frame” this car is a 1960 model that was among three turned into racecars by the sportsman Briggs Cunningham. He raced them at the 24 Hours of Le Mans that year; the cars, marked “1”, “2” and “3”, took turns leading the race and delighting fans with their thunderous V-8 engines. Numbers 1 and 2 did not finish, but number 3 did, winning its class and a permanent place in Corvette lore.
It was expected the cars would be preserved in a museum collection after the race, but Cunningham turned them back into street-legal cars and they were sold through a Chevy dealer. After that, the cars disappeared for a number of years.
Number 3 was found first, and restored by the late Chip Miller and his son Lance. Number 2 turned up in an Irwindale, Cali., junkyard a few years ago; it was eventually acquired and restored by Bruce Meyer, a collector and Petersen Automotive Museum board member. But Number 1 proved elusive until a few years ago, when enthusiasts looking for it discovered the purple beast in the Craigslist ad.