Camaro Suspension Parts

'54 Corvette rose from ashes

Today, almost 30 years later, those scorched scraps are part of a beautiful torch red 1954 Corvette that has literally risen from the ashes. The story of this car is one of determination, luck and doggedly searching the Internet and auto flea markets for the hundreds of parts needed to bring this car back to its original form.

"This car isn't really original but it does have the original serial number and the original look. It's not a kit car but its a real car rebuilt with real parts," Wood says. "It didn't exist as a car from 1979 to 2003, but it existed on paper because it had a serial number and it was a registered vehicle."

Wood has been picking away at the car for several years now and says it will be ready for showing at this year's Atlantic Nationals Automotive Extravaganza July 7-10 in Moncton. This year's Moncton show is expected to draw upwards of 1,000 hot rods, street rods and one-of-a-kind custom vehicles, each with its own story.

Here's the story of this car.

Chevrolet started making Corvettes in 1953 as an entry into the sportscar market, but they didn't sell very well because they had a six-cylinder engine. There was very little difference between the 1953 and '54 Corvettes.

Wood says his car was originally sold in Ontario and was sold to a man in Eel River Bar in northern New Brunswick in 1962. The owner apparently drove it into a ditch one night and wrecked the front suspension. He pushed it into a field where it sat abandoned with no wheels.

In 1976, a friend of Wood's went to visit the owner, purchased the car and needed a chainsaw to rescue it from the bushes that had grown up around it. It was badly rotted and rusted, but the new owner took it home to his garage in Campbellton where he intended to rebuild it. The project was under way in 1979 when the garage caught fire.

"The car was on fire and when the cold water from the fire hoses hit the fiberglass body, it broke into pieces and it was destroyed."

In 1982, Wood met up with the friend and asked him about the Corvette. He said he had lost interest because it was reduced to a box of broken and scorched parts and not worth the effort.

Wood purchased the pile of ashes, sold the frame to a scrap metal dealer and was left with 26 bits of fiberglass from the body, some chrome trim, the windshield frame and other assorted parts which fit neatly into a cardboard refrigerator box.

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