YES A59

(Serial Number J59S106058)

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Picture - Original owner in 1962

I recently purchased my first Corvette - a 1959 red vette with white coves. I purchased the car from the original owner. The picture above shows the original owner of the car in 1962. She owned the car for 45 years! The car spent all 45 years in California.

The car has the base engine (230hp) with a powerglide automatic transmission. 229k miles. Hardtop only. The wonderbar radio was replaced long ago. The engine block numbers do not match - she replaced the block long ago as well. The current license plate is YES A59

Here is how the car looked in 1975:

The owner took the car to the shop all of the time to have things fixed. The original owner gave me many receipts from 1964 to 1971 and 1989 to current. Two things jump out at me from looking at all of the receipts - little things go wrong all of the time on this car and mechanic prices sure have gone up a lot. See the two bills below from the mid 1960's - a complete engine overhall and work on the automatic transmission.


The original owner recently had the car repainted and the interior redone. She apparently used the hardtop alot - she had it repainted white to keep the car cooler during the day. The car now looks like:

With the Original Owner inside in 2003


The Car Now:


The original owner drove the car 228,400 miles in 45 years. She really maintained the car - the car visited the Chevrolet service department two or three times a year for several decades. This car has a lot of replacement parts, including a 1964 short block, a 1966 carb, and a 5 blade fan.

I have been thinking quite a bit about whether I should tinker with the car. Lacking the original motor and carb, I decided that I did not want to go the NCRS complete restoration route. The car is simply a fantastic looking driver. Thus, I decided that I am comfortable making certain changes to the car. Basically, I am comfortable making a change to the car if it remains period correct after my change. And I will retain all of the original parts, so that the car can be converted back to its original form if the mood strikes me or by the next owner.

Using "period correct" as my guiding principle, I have decided to convert my base 1x4 engine (230 hp) setup into a low hp (250 hp) fuel injected setup. I purchased a 1959 fuel injection unit (7200), an original fuel injected air cleaner, an original fuel injected fuel filter and other assorted parts.. I am going to retain the powerglide transmission - I really like the ability for effortless cruising with a two-speed automatic.

The original owner could have ordered the car this way, so I am comfortable making the change. Chevy sold 34 fuel injected cars with powerglides in 1959.

I have also tried to go back to 1959 as much as possible - the car now has a Wonderbar radio, a Jan 1959 radiator, and a 4 blade fan.

Here is what the car looks like now:














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