Meet the Surfing 1971 Corvette LT-1

The history behind this New Jersey man’s LT-1 that sat for 33 years is far from usual.

Every classic Corvette has a story.

Of course, as we’ve stated here before, some of the stories tend to be a bit more unique than others.

That idea certainly shines though in the story of Fred Allen’s 1971 LT-1 Corvette, which we stumbled on in a Super Chevy report. Let’s start with the headline for the story, stating that the car was once used as a “surf wagon.”

Yep, a “surf wagon,” which immediately makes you want to dig deeper into the ‘Vette’s backstory. Namely, because the idea of a Corvette being called a “surf wagon” isn’t the kind of thing you come across every day.

Still, it’s not until you get a few paragraphs deeper into the Super Chevy report that the true uniqueness of Allen’s surf Corvette really starts to take shape with the revelation that the car actually sat stored for 33 years.

Allen bought the Corvette new in 1971 after he was honorably discharged from the military. He then settled into an apartment in East Chesterfield, New Jersey. But apparently, the challenges that came with trying to keep up with the $152 per month payments on the car restricted most of his time in the Corvette to a routine 45-minute drive to Long Beach Island to surf.

Allen eventually decided to just store the Corvette, leaving it pretty much untouched until 1984.

“I knew that I would never probably be able to have another one, so I just hung onto it,” he tells Super Chevy.

In 2013, Allen got the inclination that maybe it was time to start working on restoring the ‘Vette with a few new modifications. However, the NCRS told him that it would have more value if he kept in its original form.

We agree, because anything that dilutes the authentic history of Allen’s Corvette really takes away from the true essence of the story that makes it a unique gem.

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