Bob Yoas' 1957 Chevrolet

Photo by George Barris

Photo by George Barris

An overview shot showing the Yoas Corvette next to Ron Aguirre's X-Sonic at the 1960 Oakland Roadster Show. Photo by Eric Rickman and Petersen Publishing Co. Archive, from Super Chevy.

This photo of Bob's Corvette at the 1960 Oakland Roadster Show appeared in Car Craft July 1960. Photo courtesy of Car Craft Magazine.

A photo of Bob with the Corvette taken during the 1960 National Roadster Show. At the show, Bob won the "Sports Roadster Class." Photo by Eric Rickman and Petersen Publishing Co. Archive, from Super Chevy.

Photo by Eric Rickman and Petersen Publishing Co. Archive, from Super Chevy.

Photo by Eric Rickman and Petersen Publishing Co. Archive, from Super Chevy.

Photo by Eric Rickman and Petersen Publishing Co. Archive, from Super Chevy.

Photo by Eric Rickman and Petersen Publishing Co. Archive, from Super Chevy.

Photo by Eric Rickman and Petersen Publishing Co. Archive, from Super Chevy.

Bob's Corvette at an indoor car show.

1957 Chevrolet Corvette owned by Bob Yoas of Sacramento, California. In 1959 Bob took the Corvette to his buddy Dick Bertulocci at Bertolucci's Body and Paint Shop. "It wasn't driveable, so I towed it to his shop," Bob told Sondre Kvipt of Kustomrama in February of 2018. A new nose was designed, and a new front-end frame was built out of wire-mesh. A reshaped nose was fabricated from the mold and blended into the new fenders. The outer chrome rim of the original grille was retained and fit with two 1957 Oldsmobile directional lights and drawer hardware pulls. The headlights were cut out from the mold and chromed tunnels were used to carry the sealed beams' lights. These were capped with clear Plexiglas covers. The rear end was rolled into one piece and the ends were blended into the fenders with 1959 Cadillac taillights located in the stock light housings. Handmade tubular nerf bars wrapped around a red frosted lucite panel held three chromed drawer pulls. The reversed wheels were chromed and fit with knock-offs mounted on small caps. The interior was a white pleated air foam Naugahyde with plush white rugs by Cottles of Carmichael. Once the bodywork was done, it was painted in Tingua Rust and Acrylic Pearl. "Under Dick's supervision and advice, I did nearly all the work except the final painting. Many painful hours," Bob remembers. The build was completed more or less in October of 1959.

Shown All Over the US

February 22 - 28, 1960, the Corvette was shown at the 12th annual National Roadster Show in Oakland where it won the "Sports Roadster Class." "I belonged to the Sacramento club, and I took the car to the Oakland Roadster Show, the Sacramento Autorama, the Fresno Autorama and to a Autorama in Pittsburgh, Pennsylavania. I never trailered it. It was an interesting trip. No problems, except for rain on the drive home."

Wrecked

Unfortunately Bob wrecked the car in 1960, after the shows; "I totaled it. Rolled over after hitting a cyclone fence. It totally burned, except for the frame, sorry to say. I was very lucky, and I only severed with minor bruises."

Magazine Features

Hot Rod Magazine June 1960
Motor Trend June 1960
Car Craft July 1960
Trend Book 197 Custom Cars 1961 Annual