We make no apology for yet another story uncovered at Dragstalgia, but this time it’s the fascinating story of this 1959 Corvette . The car looks like it was literally pulled from a barn last week, but in fact has been with the Witham family from Bedfordshire since 1986. We spoke to Harry Witham, whose grandfather bought it from a garage forecourt back then, and Harry told us that the car had been partially stripped of its exterior trim ready for a re-spray that never happened, and has remained the same since then. According to Harry, the car was imported new in 1959 and circuit-raced for a season by amateur racing driver Gawain Baille. Baille (who inherited Leeds Castle in Kent and was later made a baronet), obviously liked his American iron, as he went on to successfully race a Mustang, a Falcon and a Ford Galaxie in touring car classes in the Sixties. The Corvette won a race in May ’1959 at Snetterton, and placed fourth at Brands Hatch in the August, but seems to have been retired after just the one season.
We found one picture online of a ’Vette racing in the UK that year, but unfortunately the picture was too small to reproduce here, or to confirm if the registration number was the same. Seems likely though, a Corvette would be pretty exotic in the UK in the late Fifties. Anyone out there know more? We’d love to know…
