How do you get so lucky to find an all-original, showroom-condition '54 Corvette for sale? It might help if a GM vice president needs some cash for his daughter's lavish wedding. That's exactly how John Harrell of Oviedo, Florida, came across his Polo White '54. According to John, the unnamed GM VP needed to raise about $100,000 to cover the cost of his daughter's wedding, and made the difficult decision to part with this amazing Corvette. Nothing like being daddy's little girl!
In 1999, the doting father shipped the car from Michigan in an air-conditioned truck to Daytona's Turkey Run in hopes of selling it. John and his wife, Sharon, were only too happy to take the Corvette off his hands. They were informed that the car had undergone a body-on restoration in 1995 in Michigan, but were never told who did the work. It was an excellent restoration in any case.
Apart from the fact that the valve covers have been chromed, the car is completely original down to the heater that recirculates cockpit air and the signal-seeking AM radio. The 235ci, 155hp engine is stock, with all numbers matching. The only thing John could find wrong with the car when he bought it was that the mileage was off by about 200. The odometer now reads close to 78,800 miles.
That number isn't likely to change much as long as John owns the Corvette. He keeps it in his garage under a cover most of the time, but on sunny weekends he enjoys taking it on pleasure drives. After all, what's the point of owning one if you never drive it? John plans to enter the Corvette in some local shows soon, but don't look for it to be for sale. He won't be parting with it for many, many years.