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Cars have often been the source of inspiration and a medium of expression for the creative community. Artists, musicians, fashion designers have often used cars to display their work. We take a look at one such art project today. It involves an abandoned car lot and 36 Chevrolet Corvettes.
Now that is quite a number and the condition in which these cars were found in would bring tears to any Corvette lover or car enthusiast’s eyes. Recently, after a quarter of a century, a car lot in New York City was discovered. It belonged to artist Peter Max, who is supposed to have had a plan. He bought one from every year of manufacture up until 1989. He wanted to use this talisman from American history as a tool to self-promote his work as an artist, painting the machines in lurid colours while staging them in various oddball scenarios. Why the project was abandoned is something that has not been figured out.
The story of Max’s acquisition of these cars is pretty interesting. It began in 1989, when music network VH1 held a contest to award a lucky viewer with a Corvette from every year of the model's existence, from 1953 to 1989. The contestants had to make a call to enter the competition. Placing just one call, Dennis Amodeo, a carpenter from Long Island, won the prize. Shortly after receiving his army of Corvettes, Amodeo received a call from Max who had seen the collection at an auto show in 1990. Max stated that he wished to purchase the cars. A trade took place between them and it is said that the deal included $250,000 in cash, $250,000 worth of Max's artwork and an agreement that if Max ever sold the cars, Amodeo would receive a portion of the proceeds, up to $1 million.
Slowly, the project was put on the backburner and Max was content moving it from one storing lot to another. The cars, once the pride of their time, were now gathering dust and grime and it did not help that there was no one there who valued them. It was then that Scott Heller, an owner of a garage, who approached Max with the proposition of taking his lot from his hands. Deal done; Now Heller is busy with the extensive restoration process. It will take them around two years to get them ship shape.
Most of these beauties have suffered from long neglect, their parts obsolete or in some cases missing; the fibre glass body in most have suffered damage or show the results of shoddy repairs. The insides, however, are dusty but much better preserved than the outside. But first the dust will have to go and slowly the Corvettes will be back in the public eye, either at a museum or in someone’s garage.
Among the cars that are undergoing restoration is the ’80s Faceman cars; ’70s Stingrays; the sharply creased mid-60s beauties and a handful of varsity lettermen from the ’50s.
