This 1978 Silver Anniversary Corvette was abandoned for nearly 40 years
- A 1978 Anniversary Corvette spent almost 40 years stashed away in storage
- The car was bought by its original owner in 1980, who passed it down to her daughter
- Even after so long in storage a mechanic was able to get it up and running
Published on Aug 13, 2024 at 2:29 AM (UTC+4)
by Claire Reid
Last updated on Aug 13, 2024 at 4:44 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
A 1978 Silver Anniversary Corvette that spent almost 40 years stashed away in storage has been given a new lease of life.
The beautiful classic car was bought back in 1980 by a lady named Freeda who took great care of the car before passing it on to her daughter.
The car eventually ended up in the hands of the original owner’s grandson – who parked up the vehicle for a whopping 37 years.
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The 1978 Corvette was completely covered in dust
Ending up in long-term storage is an all-too-common occurrence – we’ve previously seen a Ferrari that was abandoned for almost 30 years, a whole haul of cars forgotten about for 60 years, and a 1985 Monte Carlo SS that was taken for its first ride in 20 years.
In the case of this 1978 Anniversary Corvette, it ended up in the very capable hands of YouTuber and mechanic Derek Bieri, who runs the Vice Grip Garage channel, who was able to painstakingly restore it.
Derek is actually a pal of the grandson who inherited the car and after discovering it had been left in a barn for almost 40 years was determined to see if he could get it back up and running.
Although it had been hidden away out of sight and forgotten about for the four decades, the car was in pretty good shape – albeit completely covered under a layer of dust.
Incredibly, the car’s engine still worked
But inside the abandoned car there was an odor so powerful it almost knocked Derek off his feet.
“I don’t even have to breathe it in hard,” he said in the clip. “It’s like an armadillo shell full of wet cardboard, potato peelings, with a real heavy low tone of mice feces.”
Sounds lovely.
Unperturbed, he plowed on with the task in hand and – after changing the spark plugs and giving things a clean-up – was able to get the original L48 small-block V8 engine to start.
A quick look at the odometer shows 97,501km (60,584.5 miles) on the clock; a figure that has remained unchanged for 37 years.
But now, with the car back on the road, who knows where that number might end up.
Claire Reid is a journalist who hails from the UK but is now living in New Zealand. She began her career after graduating with a degree in Journalism from Liverpool John Moore’s University and has more than a decade of experience, writing for both local newspapers and national news sites. Across her career she's covered a wide variety of topics, including celebrity, cryptocurrency, politics, true crime and just about everything in between.
