Bizarre reason a 1954 Corvette was hidden in a grocery store in Maine for 27 years

A 1954 Corvette was parked behind a brick wall at a grocery store in Maine for almost 30 years before it was rescued. 

The car belonged to successful businessman Richard Sampson who had a chain of grocery stores. 

After driving the Corvette for four years, Sampson decided he wanted to park the car somewhere safe until the next century. 

At the time, Sampson was building several new grocery stores and decided that one of them could be the perfect spot to leave the car. 

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The 1956 Corvette was entombed at a grocery store

Now, leaving cars parked up for years – or even decades – is nothing new.

The owner of this stunning 1967 Ford Mustang 390 kept it in storage for 40 years before deciding to give it a full restoration, while this Australian man kept his 1970 Ford Falcon XY stashed away under his house for 50 years. 

However, few people go through the effort of bricking their beloved cars into a sort of DIY tomb – but that’s exactly what Sampson did. 

After deciding one of his new stores would be the perfect place to keep the Corvette, he had a special room built around the car to ensure it was fully encased. 

The builders left a small viewing window so Sampson could inspect the car if he wanted to. 

With the walls surrounding the car built, Sampson specified in his will that it not be removed until the year 2000.

However, shortly before his death in 1969, Sampson appeared to have a change of heart about keeping the car in its tomb. 

It was eventually removed and given to Sampson’s daughter

But when the grocery store was bought by new owners in 1982 the Corvette was still locked away inside. 

In 1986, the owners released the Corvette and gave it to Sampson’s daughter Cynthia – a whopping 27 years after it was first placed behind the wall.

Workers removed each brick one by one, to avoid damaging the vintage car – and revealed that it was in pretty good condition. 

Cynthia took the car to her home in Florida, where it was proudly kept on display in the living room for the next decade. 

In the years that followed, the car – which has just 2,344 miles on the clock – changed hands a few times before it was eventually donated to the National Corvette Museum where it was proudly displayed. 

A fitting end to a very unusual piece of automotive history.