"Pizza Man" Corvette for sale at Mecum auction

[Fred Rice]

This car is currently owned by Dan Hampton. Don't have a clue what it is worth but I would have certainly taken the 120k. Don't know what he gave for the car though. Dan is on the Corvette forum pretty regularly.

[mcink]

Originally Posted by Fred Rice

This car is currently owned by Dan Hampton. Don't have a clue what it is worth but I would have certainly taken the 120k. Don't know what he gave for the car though. Dan is on the Corvette forum pretty regularly.

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back on 5/3/08, Dan Hampton added this info on the www.jalopyjournal.com forum...
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I am new to the Forum. I am responding to someone's query re: The Pizza Man, the '54 Corvette Drag Car (99th Corvette produced in '54) I am the current owner of that car. I purchased it from Dana Mecum (Dana Mecum Auctions) for $45,000 in 1999. It was part of his private collection of historic Corvettes. I had been at the BRIC at Elkhart Lake that year and Dana had held an auction on the ground of the Ostoff Resort Hotel. That car was in attendance. I did bid on the car, but it did not meet the reserve. Later that week, I contacted Dana and I purchased the car from him in a private transaction.

The car was pretty much devoid of all the original lettering and the Weber 45mm DCOE sidedrafts were gone, too. The wheels were Cragar SS which were used later (circa 1970) and the chrome reverse (rear) and the Salt Flat kidney style (front) were also gone. Later in the career of the car, 48mm IDA Webers had been used and there are some pictures with the car employing the huge hood scoop to accommodate the velo stacks on the downdraft carbs. That hood also came with the car. All of this has now been changed back to the way the car was when it was campaigned in 1967. I have tried to make the car look the way it did when it was showcased in the Victory Circle at Indy (Summer Nats) in 1967. I have had many of the original decals handcrafted and, in some instances, painted on the car.

The Britt Family--more, specifically, Sam Britt--was nice enough to provide me with all the original (eight) NHRA National Class Title Certificates and racing photos. It took me over five years to convince him that I was for real and that I was not interested in selling the car. He was right to do what he did by withholding them. He had a number of people trying to secure those over the years but he never gave them up.

The car, as someone mentioned, has a great history, and if anyone can add to that, I would very much appreciate it (memories/stories).
The car is headed to the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY. in September.

Fastest time? In F/MP it set a National Record @12.17 in 1970, although Sam Britt told me that they had run an unofficial 11.97 that year.

If anyone has any info to offer, please free to contact me at: jhampton@triwest.net

Thanks

Dan Hampton
CSX 2189

[Jimbo17]

I think the economic times we are in played a large part in the bidding for this very historic drag racing car being so low.

This car has so much drag racing and documentation to go along with it that to the right collector this would be a well worth the money.

How many drag racing cars are there still around that spent their entire life just be drag raced?

Finding another car like this with all the National Records and documentation and trophies is a very rare find.

Just my opinion. Jim Hill Nostalgic Racing Decals

[Hemi Moose]

I think sales are down in the last few years on old race cars, they are not pulling the numbers like they once were...were there many other first generation Corvettes as popular as this one.

[Dan Hampton]

Originally Posted by Fred Rice

This car is currently owned by Dan Hampton. Don't have a clue what it is worth but I would have certainly taken the 120k. Don't know what he gave for the car though. Dan is on the Corvette forum pretty regularly.

Thanks for the comments, Fred. The actual high bid was $110,000. Some have argued that the St. Charles venue was not the best place to sell the car, but my opinion is--and I still maintain-- that Dana et al. did a great job in promoting the car and there was enough national exposure through his website to bring any interested party to the table, regardless of geography.

The market, as someone suggested, may be somewhat thin for old drag cars, but being a Corvette, I would have thought it to be at the top of that particular food chain. It is a very interesting car with a lot of provenance and personality and it has been fun to own.

Currently, it is being displayed at Dana's new museum/headquarters in Walworth, Wisconsin. It serves no purpose sitting in my garage, as my intent has always been to get it in front of the public.

I appreciate the kind words. BTW, it did run a Pontiac OHC six very late in its career but the National Records were set with the GMC 292 (301) not the Pontiac.

[Hemi Moose]

Here are some old shots of the 'Pizza Man' Corvette in action back in it's heyday...notice the added hood scoop and the different classes it ran in.

[Hemi Moose]

Here's a few more oldies of the 'Pizza Man' Corvette that I ran across...

[treessavoy]

What a great piece of drag racing history and a beautiful car, you couldn't duplicate it today for $120,000.00.

JimR