1957 Corvette Super Sport

[Richard M.]

Many of us here know about the difficulties fellow NCRS member and Corvette enthusiast John Baldwin has had over the last eight years regarding the legal battle over ownership of his 1957 Super Sport. Next week is the scheduled final legal trial.

John spent many years of his life restoring the Super Sport, sacrificing much in his life at that time, with a passion that is rarely seen. His passion is enhanced by his outstanding restoration skills and attention to detail and authenticity. I have spent special time with John and the completed Super Sport over the years, and the car is amazing. It is a testament to his Corvette drive, skills and passion, and to the history of Chevrolet, the Corvette Styling Department, and the enthusiasm that made the 1950's such a great time in automotive history.

John started with this.........
57SS_Before0045.jpg


....and went to this !!
57SS_Misc0010.jpg57SS_0001.jpg

I would like to express to John and his wife Gina that we wish them the best in this extremely frustrating situation, and that the final outcome next week will finally be put to rest with both legal and moral truth and ultimate success.

Good luck John and Gina !!!!

Best Regards,
Rich & Cathie

[Edward M.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

OK, now I have more questions than answers. I am aware of the 57 SS car, but not the legal issues surrounding it. What / why is there a question of ownership of this car? Can you provide a few more details, or point to a thread that has the details. Thanks.

[Richard M.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

Ed, I'm sorry but I can't get into details about the case, it will be public soon.

The 1957 Super Sport was a 1956 that the Styling Dept customized for the January 1957 Chevrolet Car Show at the Waldorf Astoria in NY. It cost about $18,000 to modify it, and it was used to debut the upcoming Factory Fuel Injection in the production 1957 Corvettes. It was done at the same time that the Racing Program 1957 SS race car, thus can be confused with the Super Sport Showcar.

More info here.... Note this is almost a word-for-word copy from the Noland Adams 1956 Corvette book.

http://corvette-concepts.tripod.com/id32.html

and here, you may recall this one....

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c1-and-c2-corvettes/3182607-1957-motorama-corvette-super-sport.html

and a few more pics on my homepage here....

http://home.comcast.net/~richmz/site/?/home/

Rich

[Michael D.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

I agree with Ed. Why post to tell us the end is in sight if you can't say how it all began? Good luck to John.

[Richard M.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

Michael, Partly because I don't know the entire story and all of the details of it's situation..........and please understand that it's important not to jeopardize the outcome with allegations and assumptions people may have. I know some information but only the parties directly involved and the courts will decide the outcome. I'm sorry if it's felt this post is a tease, but my intention is not in any way as such.

The car is a piece of Corvette history, and unfortunately has been overshadowed by the situation. There are many people that don't know about the car's involvement in Corvette history, and because it's a special car with special lineage and a major restoration project that John undertook, I wanted to bring it to view.

As mentioned, his knowledge and restoration skills are superb and has many other restorations to be proud of. Another is the 1956 Sebring SR1 #1 car he acquired and restored many years ago.

I'll try to give some history of the car, based on info John has told me, what I've researched, and what others that live in the Albuquerque, NM area have knowledge of.........

The history of the Super Sport began in late 1956, when the styling department decided to make a show car for the upcoming January 1957 Waldorf Astoria car show. There was no Motorama Show in 1957. They completed the car in December of 1956 as you can see in my photos below.

P3280011.jpg P3280010.jpg P3280012.jpg

They took a 1956 Corvette and changed the vin tag from E56S001589, to a 1957 special sequence number, E57S001589. Note that production '57s all had a 1 in the 5th character, so the new tag was unique to '57 and not to be a replication of the production E57S101589. They added fuel injection with a polished plenum, special louvered air cleaner, special white pearl paint, removed the windshield and side windows and made a special twin windscreen cowl. The original car had a power top, and they left it there and painted it all blue, a blue generator and other various paint schemes to match the custom blue leather interior seats. They customized the doors with working safety red lights when they opened, custom dash with special gauges and metal floor pans, along with a No-holes in the spokes custom wooden steering wheel, custom transmission tunnel cover, custom clipboard under the dash, custom aluminum drink cups with magnets at their bases to stick to the glove box door when open, and a thermos bottle in the seat separator.

It was shown at the Waldorf Astoria in January, then later in Chicago. After some time it went to Dick Doan Chevrolet in Detroit. Later that year, a used car salesman from Albuquerque, NM found out the car was for sale. He sent his son the Detroit to drive the car back to NM, which he did. he had to use a helmet to drive all the way, and allegedly stopped at the Indianapolis 500 on the way home.

When he arrived in NM at his fathers lot, a newspaper photographer took a picture and wrote a news article. I have a copy but it's hard to read as the print is not a good copy.

57SS_News_Article_5_13_59.jpg
It says that it was sold to a local resident by the name of Ed Caneddy. It's believed that the car was taken by Mr. Caneddy's caretaker's son for a ride one night with a friend. While driving on Main Street he lost control and crashed the car into a pole or a tree. The car then went to a junk yard and sat for quite some time. It was then purchased by a local resident in it's crashed state and stored in his garage. This was thought to be late 1957. The car sat there in that state since. About 45 years later, John found the car, bought it, transported it to his home, and began his restoration.

-

[Mark H.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

custom aluminum drink cups with magnets at their bases to stick to the glove box door when open, and a thermos bottle in the seat separator.

So I guess this was the first car with a cupholder.

[Richard M.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

Yup....

57SS_Misc0015.jpg

[Mike M.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

tell me that dom. idoni is or isn't involved in this suit. thanks,mike

[Richard M.]

Re: 1957 Corvette Super Sport

tell me that dom. idoni is or isn't involved in this suit. thanks,mike

Yes he is.