A unique 69-yer-old Chevrolet Corvette prototype that the company built while preparing the sports car to its facelift has miraculously escaped the scrap press and will now be sold in mid-August for an estimated $1.5–2 million.
The vehicle originally served as a show car featured in the 1954 Motorama show. Later on, General Motors design department led by Harley Earl redesigned it from the ground up as a Corvette facelift demo car.
For the 1955 model year, the sports car had been envisioned with a new radiator grille, hood with an air intake, chromed gill-like air vents in the fenders and a completely different rear section with aerodynamic fins. However, the company later scrapped that project in favor of more substantial design improvements. In 1956, the new Corvette debuted with a V8 on board and other technological upgrades.
In contrast, the example on sale still packs the same Blue Flame inline six-banger as most early C1 models. It extracts 155 horsepower from 3.6 liters of displacement and delivers them to the wheels through a two-speed AT.
General Motors usually either destroyed or repurposed obsolete prototypes, but this particular vehicle somehow managed to avoid that fate. Its current owner, a professional restorer with 45 years of experience, spent three of them bringing the old-timer back into shape. The auction holder points out that the seller considers the car his best work of all to date.