Bill Merrill's 1959 Chevrolet

A photo of the Corvette taken at homecoming in the Fall of '59. "I'm driving the homecoming King and Queen at homecoming football game." Photo courtesy of Bill Merrill.

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1959 Chevrolet Corvette owned by Bill Merrill of Thermopolis, Wyoming. Bill was a junior in high school when he got the Corvette. "I lived in La Jolla, California for a short time and was lucky to be able to go back to Wyoming where I lived up until I moved to California," he told Sondre Kvipt of Kustomrama in July of 2021.

Custom Paint by Dean Jeffries

Bill's Corvette was originally white with a red interior. "The engine was original fuel injected, 293 cubic inches coupled with a 3-speed manual transmission." While in California Bill met Dean Jeffries, "a great car painter. He originally did a panel paint job using silver and candy apple red paint. The car was vandalized and the hood was damaged. Dean came down to La Jolla and picked up the car to fix the damage and painted the Corvette candy apple red with a gold underbase. The side panel was left gold with a clear coat covering it."

Back to Thermopolis

Bill was in La Jolla for part of his junior year in the spring of 1959, and he moved back to Thermopolis in August of 1959. The Corvette was sold after Bill returned to Thermopolis, and he admits that it broke his heart to see it drive away.