Restorer Back in Business After His 1960 Corvette Was Stolen and Destroyed

Five years ago, the theft of one restorer’s award-winning 1960 Corvette almost caused him to lose his passion for cars.

The story of Bloomington, Indiana resident and automotive restorer Dave Fischbach is a sad one, but not a tale without triumph. Back in 2017, Fischbach’s three-time National Corvette Show winning 1960 Corvette was stolen from a hotel parking lot as it rested inside an enclosed trailer, along with a Jeep and the Ford truck that was pulling it. Sadly, he woke up in the morning only to find that all of it was gone, and it wasn’t too long before he learned that his 1960 Corvette had been completely destroyed, as he recalled to The Herald Times.

Fischbach was on his way to the Detroit Autorama to once again show off his prized possession and was even careful enough to specifically choose a hotel in Detroit that was well-lit and had an overnight security guard on duty. His 40-foot trailer was also quite visible from inside the hotel, which has a full-glass front. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to stop at least one brazen thief from making off with it.

“I came out early, about 6 since I needed to have the car there to unload before 7:30, and I saw it wasn’t there,” Fischbach explained. “My first reaction was I had walked out the wrong door, then I realized it was the door I came in. My second thought was that the hotel had towed it, but they hadn’t.” Sadly, no one witnessed what happened, and security cameras only captured the truck and trailer being driven away.

The truck, Jeep, and trailer were soon found in different places, miles apart, each burned, though the Jeep was in pretty good condition. The 1960 Corvette, on the other hand, didn’t fare so well – the thieves had stripped it and chopped the body into three pieces, then set each ablaze at three different locations around the Detroit area.

That horrifying incident was enough to cause Fishbach to lose his passion for cars altogether after he had been restoring them since he was a teenager. He sold off his entire collection, understandably frustrated and disgusted by the fact that a car he had devoted hundreds of hours of his life to restoring could be taken from him and destroyed in a matter of hours.

However, there is a happy ending to this story. Fishbach retired a few years ago and moved to Bloomington, where he has rediscovered his passion for cars, five years after his stunning loss. He has since acquired a few new beloved rides, including a pair of Chevy Impalas, while Fishbach has also resumed restoring and selling classic cars. While we can only imagine what it’s like to lose a cherished possession as he did, we’re just happy to see that this Corvette fan is back in the proverbial saddle again.

Photos:Dave Fischbach for The Herald Times

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