Rush Drummer Neil Peart’s 1963 Corvette, Entire Car Collection Heads to Auction

Legendary rocker’s 1963 Corvette is part of Peart’s “Silver Surfers” collection, which is going up for sale in August.

Most remember Neil Peart as the drummer for the legendary rock band Rush and a Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, but there’s much more to the story than that. Peart was also a prolific writer, lyricist, and lifelong car guy. Over the years, he amassed an impressive car collection, carefully curating it to suit his individual taste. Sadly, Peart passed away last year following a three-plus-year battle with brain cancer, and now, his collection – including this 1963 Corvette – will be sold at Gooding & Company’s upcoming Pebble Beach auction on August 13 and 14.

The beautiful silver over red 327/340 hp four-speed 1963 Corvette is the perfect representative of America’s sports car for Peart’s impressive collection, which also contains such icons as the Aston Martin DB5, Shelby Cobra 289, and Lamborghini Miura. The split window was treated to a full restoration after Peart acquired it back in 2011, and it matches the preferred hue of the rest of his collection (save for the black Cobra), which he dubbed “Silver Surfers,” a title that came to him after much reflection.

“The title ‘Silver Surfers’ for my collection of cars occurred to me while driving the DB5 up and down the Pacific Ocean,” Peart once wrote. “Because it felt right to me, I guess – the idea that I was just one of the wave riders. I had moved from Toronto to Los Angeles in 2000, and in search of natural peace I often drove out that way and up into the Santa Monica Mountains.”

“Out past Malibu to Ventura County, I’d weave along barren ridges of rock and vegetation, the ocean always on one big side. Some days would be misted by the marine layer, while other days the sun blared through a clear sky. The waves were slow and gentle or churned out a powerful, rolling rhythm. It was during one of these drives when out of nowhere, it just occurred to me that the color of the ocean had influenced the silver palette of the collection. What other color looks as good in a blue photo?  Not black, not white – silver.  And a fortunate risk for the framers’ art, too: silver frames.”

Spoken like a true car guy, we’d say. It’s certainly sad to see Peart’s beloved collection broken up this way, but at the same time, given how many fans of his exist, we don’t doubt that this 1963 Corvette will wind up in the hands of someone who appreciates it the same way he did.

Photos:Gooding & Company

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