Written by Jerry Heasley on April 28, 2015
Rare Finds: A Corvette Collector Walks Into A Bar…
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…And comes out with a 1957 Air Box fuelie? Yes, this did happen, but you can make up your own joke. I ran across a black ’57 Corvette (with number “57” in white roundels on doors and hood) parked under a white tent at the Corvettes at Carlisle display. So, was this an old race car?
Fortunately, the current owner, Frank Buck of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, had also displayed a large album full of pictures. Those pictures showed a black ’57 race car, looking just like this Vette. I was intrigued by the vintage photos of this car at Marlboro and Watkins Glen and Cumberland. Buck’s album also showed the car on a lift circled with people. Truth is definitely stranger that fiction. Buck told me a story of Kevin Hussey walking into a bar in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 2003 and striking up a conversation with a man who owned a 1957 Corvette.
“They were talking Corvettes and shooting the bull and the guy happened to mention he had an old Corvette he’d like to restore some day.” At this time, Hussey did not know this Vette had a racing heritage. He just liked 1957 Corvettes. The owner, however, did know the Vette was raced back in the day.
Buck pointed to a picture of the car, painted red, and parked in a driveway. “That’s when Hussey was picking the car up from the owner,” Buck said. Early the next year, at the annual NCRS show at “Old Town” in Orlando, Florida, Corvette enthusiasts were in for a pleasant surprise. Kevin Hussey and his two brothers (Sean and Kent), who bought the car from the man in the bar, brought the ’57 to the show for all to see.
2/9The interior was complete, including the extra gauges in the dash for racing.
3/9“Elephant ears” to cool the brakes were intact on this race car!
4/9Also intact were the finned brake drums.
The back of one picture read, “26th Annual Florida Chapter, Winter Regional Meet, January 22nd – 25th, 2004.” Supposedly, Chip Miller of Carlisle Production was present and he “critiqued” the ’57. Miller died in March of 2004. Noland Adams was also there. Right away, attendees recognized this ’57 as a factory “Air Box” fuelie raced by Bob Mouat of Baltimore, Maryland. Buck said, “Mouat purchased the car in 1957 and went racing right away with a full windshield and hardtop.”
Initially, Mouat actually drove the car to races. Later, he modified and towed the ’57 to races—and apparently many, many races, as evidenced by the photos in Buck’s large album. Buck, who has probably owned more Air Box ’57 Corvettes (six total) than anybody, believes Mouat raced this car in more than 100 races and had “probably 85 podiums.” (A “podium” is a finish of First, Second, or Third place.)
Viewing the old pictures I came across a photo of the tachometer on the steering column. Yes, that is the factory tach, part of the Air Box (option code 579E) package. Buck’s album also showed such Air Box features as “elephant ears” on the heavy-duty brakes and rear brake cooling ducts. Apparently, the car Hussey bought from his bar contact came with most of the original Air Box parts, plus the modified racing parts, such as the “hogged out fuel injection” done by famous race car driver Bill Thomas.
“This car was a real humper,” Frank Buck said. And finding the original tach is insane. You never see that and this is the original factory unit!” Mouat also modified the dash with extra gauges, which Peter Klutt at Legendary Motorcars in Canada retained in the restoration.
Buck tried to buy the ’57 right after the car showed up at Old Town. People knew he was “into” Air Box fuelies. “A couple of friends called me and said ‘You are not going to believe this. A guy showed up here with an original Air Box race car that belonged to Bob Mouat. The Hussey brothers just bought it.’” Buck got Kevin Hussey’s phone number. However, the car was not for sale. Not until after Legendary restored the car and Mecum tried to get the big bucks at a 2009 Mecum auction in Houston did Buck get his chance to buy this ’57.
Buck was very pleased with Legendary’s restoration. “They restored the car like it raced in 1963. It has the aluminum radiator, the cut panel windshield, the low rollbar, and an overflow tank dated 1961 or 1962.” Restoring to factory Air Box would be foolish because Mouat put the car on the track immediately. Of course, Chevrolet built these cars for enthusiast to race.
The ’57 is in the hands of a great collector who paid a significant amount of money for the pride of ownership. However, if any one of us had just walked into a certain watering hole in St. Petersburg in the fall of 2003, we might have had one of the great C1 racing Vettes of all time. Hell, Mouat was Roger Penske’s SCCA racing instructor. They borrowed brake parts off this car in 1958 to put on Penske’s 1957 Corvette racer (not a factory Air Box), so he could qualify to get his SCCA license!
5/9The racing seatbelts look exactly like those used in 289 Cobra race cars of the era.
6/9With the car, Frank got a ton of vintage racing pictures from the late 1950s and early 1960s. Looking at original racing photos from so many years ago is enough to give Corvette-lovers goosebumps. This car was really there and helped build the performance heritage of an icon.
7/9NCRS members went nuts when this vintage race car showed up out of nowhere in 2004 at their show in “Old Town” in Orlando, Florida.
8/9Frank Buck displays the car as seen here, restored to the way Mouat configured and raced the car in its latest iteration in the early to mid-1960s.
9/9Here’s the way the car looked when the Hussey brothers picked up the car in Florida in 2003. The second owner was the “wrench” that worked on the car and kept it going, Red Hoffman. Red painted the car red, and Mouat continued to race the ’57.1963 Chevrolet Corvette “Asteroid” Heads to Auction Written by Nikolas Kolenich on January 14, 2014 The Vette was built by the legendary George Barris from Barris Kustoms and currently has 12k original miles
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The Barrett-Jackson, the World’s greatest collector car auction company, will head to Scottsdale, Arizona, January 12-19, 2014 for its annual auction at the Westworld of Scottsdale. With it, the company will bring incredible cars that everyone will have a chance to bid on. One such car that caught our eye recently is the famous 1963 Chevrolet Corvette "Asteroid" that will be at the Scottsdale auction this month.
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Lot number 5024, this 1963 Vette (VIN #30837S111775) is sporting a 352ci linked to a four-speed manual gearbox. On the outside, the Vette is dripping in Asteroid Fire paint, and has a Metallic White upholstered cockpit on the inside. The car is known to be a dual purpose show/race car. It has won multiple shows, including the 1963 Long Beach Motorama and the 1963 Mickey Thompson Auto Boat Speed Show.
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The original owner, Bob Nordskog, was a well-known boat racer and an entrepreneur that loved speed. He had a dream of building a car that was out of this world, he called it "Asteroid." The car was more than the trophy getter, it was also a force to be reckoned with at the track. When track tires were mounted, and the exhaust unbolted from the sides, it ran 12.20 seconds at 118mph in the quarter-mile. Let us remind you, this was 1963.
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Currently, the 1963 Chevrolet Corvette “asteroid” has a mere 12,000 original miles. The show/race car has gone through a vigorous and extensive no-expense-spared restoration to take it back to exactly how it looked when legendary George Barris from Barris Kustoms originally made the vehicle. To see this Vette up-close and to have a shot at owning it, head to the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Arizona, January 12-19, 2014 at the Westworld of Scottsdale.
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The 1910 Buick Bug Race Car With Video
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“I know what you’re thinking, when you think of Buick. You tend to think of big land barges” – Jay Leno. You may or may not know, however, during the early 1900’s Buick was focusing on building some of America’s finest race cars. Case in point, the 1910 Buick Bug. What’s more, this fine example showed up to Jay Leno’s Garage compliments of Sloan’s Museum in Flint, Michigan. At first glance, you’ll notice the radiator sits on top of the car. Believe it or not actually this design did a great job of cooling the engine and its pill shaped design helped with aerodynamics. With piston rings the size of coffee cans, the OHV 622ci 4-cylinder engine only produced a paltry 57hp. It was backed by a three-speed transmission and the car weighed around 2,600lbs.
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What’s more, the Buick Bug came with a ton of racing firsts. For instance, it was the first ever center-driven vehicle. Also, instead of relying on a solid piece of rubber, the tires were actually pneumatic and filled with air. Unfortunately, Louis Chevrolet crashed the car he helped design after a tire failure during testing on the Indianapolis track.
Chevrolet survived, of course, by ducking into the cockpit. Luckily, the cockpit had been designed with a crudely shaped roll bar, which consisted of thick steel bands that lined the inside and shaped the cockpit. It proved the pneumatic tire technology was still in its infancy. Even the brakes were unique. A foot pedal and hand lever controlled the brakes, which were rear only.
Chevrolet survived, of course, by ducking into the cockpit. Luckily, the cockpit had been designed with a crudely shaped roll bar, which consisted of thick steel bands that lined the inside and shaped the cockpit. It proved the pneumatic tire technology was still in its infancy. Even the brakes were unique. A foot pedal and hand lever controlled the brakes, which were rear only.2/6
The water temperature, fuel pressure, and oil pressure are the only gauges on the car and the steering wheel is hand-crafted from wood and includes brass start-up controls. While the technology seems archaic in modern times, back in 1910 this was state-of-the-art. At the time, Flathead engines were more popular. 
However, the Buick Bug utilized David Dunbar Buick’s “valve-in-head” engine more commonly known as the overhead valve engine today. Virtually all modern engines are a derivative from Buick’s design and carry on today.
However, the Buick Bug utilized David Dunbar Buick’s “valve-in-head” engine more commonly known as the overhead valve engine today. Virtually all modern engines are a derivative from Buick’s design and carry on today.
With goggles strapped to his face, and the spirit of an early 1900’s race car driver, Jay Leno takes the Buick Bug for a spin. You can see the car in action and catch all the fun he had in the video above.
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