Famous Custom 1957 Corvette Rediscovered After 62 Years

This custom 1957 Corvette – dubbed “Bali Hai” was a regular on the show car circuit prior to its disappearance.

Back in 1957, a young Oakland, California resident named Bill Shelley purchased a used 1957 Corvette with money he earned from selling cows and proceeded to drag race the car, as the original owner had already set it up for that purpose. However, Shelley soon met famous Corvette customizer Bob McNulty, who proceeded to work his magic on the newly acquired C1. The resulting work was good enough to land the custom 1957 Corvette in a number of prestigious car shows before it disappeared back in 1965. Now, the vintage Corvette – better known as “Bali Hai” – has been found, according to Hot Rod.

Amazingly, the custom 1957 Corvette is still in the state of California, where it has spent its entire life, relics of its vintage paint job and custom touches intact. The person that discovered the old show rig plans to preserve it the best they can and have the car professionally cleaned to determine what kind of shape it’s really in, however.

Those that were around back in the early 1960s are probably quite familiar with this C1, as it was a truly influential car in that period of time. McNulty – who made a name for himself building lead sleds, evolved to create a number of famous custom Corvettes, including a 1955 model named “The Shark” that appeared in Hot Rod magazine in 1959. He and Shelley worked together to customize this ’57, however, using some interesting techniques.

“He would bend rods [welding rods] to the shape he wanted and screw them into the existing fenders of the car,” Shelley said. “He would tape cardboard over the top of the rods to get the effect he wanted, lay a light layer of glass over the top, and then he started building the body up.” Once that process was complete, it was time to lay down a truly special paint job.

“Bob wanted to paint his ’57 ‘a sparkly type of color’,” Shelley added. “At that time we didn’t have metal flake and he used mica – roofing paper mica. He took a spray gun and drilled out the tip to get the [mica] flake to go through, and he kept on mixing sacks and sacks of this mica with the paint. Then, after so many coats, he’d have me rub it down with steel wool to knock the flakes down so it wouldn’t sit up in the air. When he got it down to where it was pretty smooth, he’d start putting the clear coat over the top.”

The finishing touch – and perhaps what makes this car so special – are some details laid down by the legendary Tommy “The Greek” Hrones, who added teardrops around the headlights, taillights, and decklid, along with purple scallops. Remnants of this work remain intact today, amazingly enough, and can hopefully be preserved for future generations to appreciate.

Photos:Hot Rod

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