Long before the Corvette was put into production, GM did some extensive design studies with a pair of prototypes. These cars were traveled around the country and showed to crowds where their reaction and interest could be gauged. As you’d imagine the cars were seen by loads and loads of people. This was during the 1952-1953 time period. The seats you see here were inside the Motorama Corvette show car that debuted to the public at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City back in 1953.
The car is long gone and according to the seller most of the parts and pieces from it are taken and either tested or inspected in a destructive way. These sears were obviously taken apart and that might actually make them a little cooler. Like most things on show cars that OEMs create (even today) these seats are handmade. The fiberglass buckets were hand laid, the foam, springs, and other guts formed by hand and lastly the whole thing was sewed up, not on machines, but by people.
The guy selling these seats is asking $40,000. We’re not sure who or why anyone would pay that money. If the car was around and able to be placed back in perfectly original condition I totally get that. But it’s seemingly lost to history. Do the seats have that much valve because they are one of the few physical traces of the machine left? Do they have any valve because they’re seats without a car?
The seller does say that these would be great in a “man-cave”. If you have $40,000 to throw into one piece of decoration for your man-cave we’ve got some talking to do about where it can be spent!
eBay: These $40,000 tattered seats are part of General Motors history
There may be someone out there who GAF, but it’s not me.
And even if he finds that one guy, I believe the asking price is delusional.
He should donate them to the Museum in Bowling Green, and happily accept a tax credit slip for whatever dollar value the museum assigns them, and go away happy……….
Couldn’t have said it better myself, I could build a fun assed car for that amount.
No documentation that they are out of that car. They could be out of any early Corvette.
I agree to donate them to the Corvette museum. Not much use otherwise. Certainly not $40K.
They are up to 90k now!
Its the same type of guy asking stupid money for a rustet out 74 318 challenger because he saw a show on tv where someone paid 200 000 $ for a challenger at auction. They are cool and all but 40 000 for some old rags is stupid money.
The market always sorts itself out, i.e. virtually worthless.
I think the donation idea is muy bueno.
Send them to the Corvette museum.
They look like garbage filler to me. Open lid, dump in and shut the lid.
that foam looks like polyurethane foam (which didn’t come onto the scene until 1954) rather then latex foam which came about in the 30s.
https://www.euromoulders.org/polyurethane-foam/history-of-car-seat-padding#:~:text=The%20history%20of%20polyurethane%20foam,padding%20material%20for%20car%20seats.
Ever heard the comment, That guys price is higher than giraffe pu$$y???
See above eBay posting ☝️
It would be interesting to hear how the owner/seller concluded that these
seats were from the Corvette show car. Is there proof? If proof exists it would be really cool. If not, just a pie in the sky.
He says he has documentation to prove they are legit. He also points out that he took them to Carslile where a C1 historian backs up his claims.