[1]Car ownership can be tricky to nail down, especially when the car in question has spent nearly a half-century locked up and out of the public’s eye. But when that car becomes both famous and valuable, nearly overnight, it is amazing how quickly a whole slew of supposed owners can pop up seemingly out of nowhere.
So when the first public unveiling of the long lost Briggs-Cunningham Corvette was called off at the last moment due to “security reasons” [2], a lot of eyebrows were raised. Now comes word via Autoweek [3] and the Corvette Forums [4] that all is not well with this last Le Mans Corvette, and accusations of theft and deception are starting to fly.
We will keep to a just-the-facts approach;from what we understand the lost Briggs-Cunningham Corvette was uncovered by a man named Rick Carr. Carr was clearing out a warehouse owned by his late father when he came across the Corvette. After doing a search on the Internet for the VIN, he got in touch with Larry Berman, who put him in contact with Chip Miller.
Miller, one of the co-owners of Carlisle events, bought the Corvette and sold it two days later to an anonymous bidder. But now we have word that a third party, Dan Mathis Jr., claims that the Corvette belong to his father, who once used it as a drag racer. He showed up with a photocopy of the title (dated a week prior to the event) in hand.
This is where everything gets really muddy; a post on the Corvette Forums [4] alleges that police showed up at the home of the late Lance Miller’s home, looking for the Corvette, before being told it had been removed from the premises. It seems now that this long-lost car may be lost again, and the issue as to who really owns it may never be resolved.
Stay tuned, this could get crazy.