REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD: CERV 1 heads home to the GM Heritage Center
March 3, 2017
Posted by Barrett-Jackson
Written by Barbara Toombs
The Chevrolet Engineering Research Vehicle (CERV) I (Lot #1390) is back in the General Motors family after it sold at the 2017 Scottsdale Auction for $1,320,000.
Like the proverbial prodigal son, the Chevrolet Engineering Research Vehicle better known as CERV 1 is being welcomed back into the General Motors family after the automaker purchased it at Barrett-Jackson’s 2017 Scottsdale Auction. The significant piece of American automotive history will hold pride of place at the GM Heritage Center in Sterling Heights, Michigan.
The GM Heritage Center in Sterling Heights, Michigan.
CERV 1 was developed by Zora Arkus-Duntov as a platform for engineers to create and refine Chevrolet body, chassis and suspension systems. The mid-engine, open-wheel racing car basically spawned every mid-1960s Chevy Stingray there ever was.
When its successor, the CERV II, was developed, CERV 1 was destined for the crusher – until Arkus-Duntov convinced the powers-that-be at GM to donate it to racer Briggs Cunningham. The car remained in his collection until the mid-1980s, when it was acquired by a private collector, with whom it remained until its starring role on the Barrett-Jackson auction block this past January.
That’s when General Motors stepped in to make things right with the world again. For just over $1.3 million, CERV 1 was headed home – a small price to pay, some may say, for such an important piece of GM history.
“I couldn’t be more excited that the CERV has come home,” says GM Heritage Center Manager Greg Wallace. “It fills in an important gap not only for Corvette but also in our concept car collection. I am happy the stars aligned the way they did and we were able to get this car back.”
It is fitting that the CERV 1 will reside at the incredible Heritage Center, which serves as a showplace for vehicles from the GM Heritage Collection and is a permanent home for the corporation’s collection of historic literature and artifacts relating to GM’s rich history of innovation. While the 81,000-square-foot facility is not open to the general public, the Center can be reserved for group tours, conferences, meetings and special events.
Early Cadillacs are among the ever-changing selection of some 165 vehicles displayed at the Heritage Center.
The Heritage Center officially opened on June 11, 2004, after months of planning, building and organizing the extensive archives and artifacts from the Cadillac Museum in Warren, Michigan, and the Oldsmobile History Center in Lansing, Michigan – along with the vehicles from the GM Heritage Collection.
An ever-changing selection of about 165 of the 600 or so vehicles from the corporation’s collection is on display in the Center at any given time. Many vehicles reflect GM’s industry firsts, like the first electric self-starter (used on the 1912 Cadillac), the first production V8 that powered the 1915 Cadillac, and the first production air bag that was developed for the 1974 Buick, Cadillac and Oldsmobile models. Others are technological experiments, like the first American gas turbine-powered car – Firebird 1 – or the world’s first hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicle, the 1966 Electro-van. Concept cars and special-interest styling/performance one-offs are part of the mix, along with significant race cars and milestone production vehicles, such as the first production 1966 Olds Toronado featuring the front-wheel drive innovated by General Motors.
The vehicles displayed at the GM Heritage Center include a number of fascinating concept cars, such as the 1938 Buick Y-Job, the work of noted GM designer Harley Earl. Built on a 1937 Buick chassis, Earl sought to combine his vision of the automobile with new technologies and features to create a benchmark for future designs. With its newfangled features like hidden headlights, flush door handles, a convertible top concealed by a metal deck and electrically operated windows, the Y-Job was called the “Car of the Future” by the press in 1939.
The 1961 prototype Corvette known as the Mako Shark.
A veritable parade of Cadillacs proudly occupies one section of the Center, with interesting models that include a beautiful 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham, one of only 400 built that year. Selling for a base price of just over $13,000, it was expensive by 1950s standards, but was hand-built with every conceivable luxury feature as standard equipment.
Naturally, the facility includes a fair share of Corvettes, a car that has truly become an American icon. Among them are two models inspired by famed GM designer Bill Mitchell’s love of deep sea fishing: the 1961 experimental Mako Shark show car and the 1969 Manta Ray. Both cars are finished in a vari-colored paint scheme based on an iridescent blue upper surface that blends into a white side and lower body – much like their deep-sea counterparts.
Now, with CERV 1 – the “mother of all Corvettes” – taking its place in the GM Heritage Center, another important chapter in General Motors’ history has come full circle.