After being hidden away in a dusty warehouse in St. Petersburg, FL since the late 1970’s, LeMans 1960 Corvette #1 has finally emerged. Here is the real back story.In 1993, Corvette restorer Kevin Mackay contacted the Lemans organization in France requesting the VIN #’s for the three (3) 1960 Cunningham Corvettes. After waiting for about six (6) months, they arrived. He subsequently gave them to Chip Miller (Events at Carlisle owner).
In 2004, Chip knew his days were numbered due to a rare and fatal blood disease, amyloidosis. He had been searching for the LeMans 1960 Corvette #1 and, without telling Kevin, agreed to give the VIN #00867S103535 to Larry Berman (Briggs Cunningham – Motorsport Historian) with the understanding that it wouldn’t be posted on the web site until after Chip had passed away. He passed on, the VIN # was posted then on the web site in 2004, and nothing happened for about eight (8) years.
On June 21, 2012 a person named Rick Carr did a “Google” search of that VIN # and it took him to the www.briggscunningham.com web site section “Race Car Roster”. He then sent an email to Larry Berman explaining that his father had been a car collector for most of his life and had purchased a highly modified 1960 Corvette from a junk yard in Brooksville, FL in the late 1970’s and that it had been in their warehouse ever since. He thought that it may be a prototype, finally uncovered the VIN # from years of paint & then removed the body to verify the number. He found that the same number was on the steering column.
Larry Berman was aware that Chip Miller had promised a friend that if the #1 Corvette was ever located, he would help him to acquire it. The friend had been searching for this car for about 19 years.
A call was made to Chip’s son, Lance, with the news that #1 was possibly available. He was excited with the prospect that he could fulfill one of his father’s wishes. After some conversations & emails, it was decided that the friend would fly to Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL to inspect the car. A deal was made and the car finally saw daylight after about 35 years.
The timing of this scenario could not have been better since the Corvettes at Carlisle event (August 23-26, 2012) was the perfect venue to showcase LeMans 1960 Corvette #1 to the public. It was unveiled in its “barn find” condition alongside its former teammate #3. We are looking forward to seeing the completion of the restoration of this historic Cunningham race car.
