[1]The year was 1959, and the place was Brunswick, Maine, one of the few areas of the state with enough people to be called a city. Grocery store owner Richard Sampson got the idea to stash a like-new 1954 Chevrolet Corvette in the basement of his grocery store, only opening the vault in the year 2000. Fate conspired against these plans, but the Corvette was kept in original, low-mileage condition.
After failing to sell at auction in January, the entombed Corvette will be up for sale once again, reports Hemmings Auto Blog [2]. Mecum will once again offer this time-capsule car for sale at the Bloomington Gold auction [3] on Saturday, June 29th. This more Corvette-oriented stage should see the entombed Corvette sell for well into the six-figures.
With less than 2,400 miles on the odometer and one of the best-documented histories of any ‘54 Corvette out there, it was left buried beneath the grocery store from 1959 to 1986. Then the store’s owner forced the Corvette out, and Sampson’s daughter, Cynthia, took the car into her care. For a time it even sat in her living room.
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In 1996 the Corvette was sold to ProTeam Corvette, and it was put up for auction this past January. Yet despite reaching a $100,000 bid, the car failed to meet its reserve. Considering that this is the perfect museum piece, it’s a wonder why. Maybe people would rather have a dinged-up driver than a show piece? Regardless, someone will end up buying this awesome piece of Corvette history, and they’ll be happier for it.