Life 
If you’ve ever wandered around a classic car show and pondered how tough it might be to restore one of those gleaming beauties, Steve Chaney can assure you: It’s tough … like, “scouring for original parts for the better part of a year, spending more than $100,000 and throwing 1,100 hours toward restoration work” tough.
Of course, the payoff is pretty sweet.
Chaney knows this, too.
His meticulously restored 1954 235ci 6-cylinder tripower Chevrolet Corvette convertible — with its flawless “Polo White” exterior and carefully detailed “Sportsman Red” interior — has been taking top honors at car shows since he finished its restoration in 2017. It even won the Best in Show award at the 2017 Camas Car Show.
“This is as close to the original color as you can get,” Chaney explained, running his hand over the convertible’s gleaming, eggshell white body. “This was a total, off-frame restoration.”
The 1953-54 Corvettes are considered the first American sports car, Chaney said. Chevy only made 300 of the 1953 models and about 2,500 of the 1954s.
Chaney estimates his car is likely one of roughly 1,500 ’54 Corvettes in existence and one of very few that have been completely restored using original parts and “the way it would have been in 1954” details.
