{"id":28019,"date":"2021-09-24T09:45:29","date_gmt":"2021-09-24T13:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=28019"},"modified":"2021-09-24T09:45:29","modified_gmt":"2021-09-24T13:45:29","slug":"payne-lost-corvettes-find-owners-at-motor-bella-charity-giveaway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2021\/09\/payne-lost-corvettes-find-owners-at-motor-bella-charity-giveaway","title":{"rendered":"Payne: ‘Lost Corvettes’ find owners at Motor Bella charity giveaway"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pontiac\u00a0<\/em>\u2014 When Corvette expert Chris Mazzilli saw 36 forlorn Corvettes buried in dust and bird droppings in New York garages, one thought crossed his mind: \u201cThis is the greatest barn find in history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today at Motor Bella on M1 Concourse’s event center stage, six of those historic coupes \u2014 polished like new \u2014 will be given away to six lucky ticket holders in the ‘Vettes for Vets Sweepstakes.<\/p>\n

\"Corvette<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Mazzillii\u00a0and his New York partners, the Heller and Spindler families, created Corvette Heroes and have spent the last seven years restoring the \u201cLost Corvettes\u201d from legendary pop artist Peter Max\u2019s collection to their former glory. In the process they have raised over a million dollars for American military veterans\u00a0with disabilities like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder\u00a0and traumatic brain injuries.<\/p>\n

As part of their fundraising efforts Corvette Heroes created a national Sweepstakes to win the rare ‘Vettes in which participants could buy $3 tickets online at TheLostCorvettes.com. Of the the 36 Lost Corvettes, 22 have already been given away in drawings on Veterans Day and Memorial Day in New York City \u2014 and in Chicago in July. After the Pontiac giveaway, eight will be left.<\/p>\n

Corvette Heroes is flying\u00a0the six\u00a0winners into Detroit from all corners of the USA to collect their treasure at the ‘Vettes for Vets event \u2014 but winners won\u2019t know which cars they will take home (tax-free) until noon Friday\u00a0at Motor Bella.<\/p>\n

The six \u2018Vettes are classics.<\/p>\n

A white, 1955 model \u2014 one of only 700 produced \u2014\u00a0headlines\u00a0the group with a value approaching $200,000. A 1973 Stingray\u00a0with unique chrome bumpers, made for only one model year. An \u201982 model in two-tone blue is the last of the Corvette C3 generation.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

A 1962 black Corvette, \u201971 model, and \u201989 convertible with just 7,000 miles round\u00a0out the offerings, which have been on display since Tuesday. Heavy rain has kept them under wraps some of the time.<\/p>\n

Artist Max purchased the collection in 1989 from the winner of a VH1 giveaway. His intent was to use them as one-of-a-kind art canvases\u00a0\u2014 but instead they sat for more than a quarter-century in a series of New York City parking garages managed by the Hellers and Spindlers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dust and layer of grime actually protected them,\u201d laughs Mazzilli. \u201cBut some\u00a0were in pretty bad shape. We\u00a0restored them or, in some cases, modified them, like a 1967 Corvette that we upgraded with a 427 big block\u00a0engine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n
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The Hellers and Spindlers bought the collection from Max in 2014 and set about restoring it with Mazzilli\u2019s assistance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very personal to me,\u201d said Mazzilli who owns the Dream Collection restoration\u00a0shop on Long Island. \u201cA number of my family have served\u00a0in the military and we are very close to veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sweepstakes money benefits Stand for the Troops, a national nonprofit that offers a diverse set of therapies to veterans suffering from PTSD, brain injuries and other permanent and debilitating psychological and physical wounds of war.<\/p>\n

After the Pontiac six are awarded at Motor Bella, eight Lost Corvettes remain to be auctioned at two more events later this year.<\/p>\n

‘Vettes for Vets<\/strong><\/h3>\n

WHEN:<\/strong>\u00a0 11 a.m.\u00a0Friday, Sept. 24<\/p>\n

WHERE:\u00a0<\/strong>Motor Bella, M1 Concourse, 1 Concourse Dr, Pontiac, MI 48341<\/p>\n

WINNERS<\/strong>\u00a0of the six classic Corvettes Sweepstakes:<\/p>\n

Tommy Cain from Austin, Texas<\/p>\n

Joseph Keller from Stoughton, Wisconsin<\/p>\n

Jean Lamborn from Grapevine, Texas<\/p>\n

Peter Lawrence from Studio City, California<\/p>\n

Steven Mortensen from Parkland, Florida<\/p>\n

David Trautenberg from New Orleans, Louisiana<\/p>\n

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pontiac\u00a0\u2014 When Corvette expert Chris Mazzilli saw 36 forlorn Corvettes buried in dust and bird droppings in New York garages, one thought crossed his mind: \u201cThis is the greatest barn find in history.\u201d Today at Motor Bella on M1 Concourse’s event center stage, six of those historic coupes \u2014 polished like new \u2014 will be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28019"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28019"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28020,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28019\/revisions\/28020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}