Dan Wiles' 1954 Chevrolet Corvette

A photo of Dan with his Corvette. He was about 16 years old when this photo was taken. The car had been wrecked in the front by the previous owner, so Dan's dad helped him repair the front fender damage when he first got it. According to Dan's buddy Garret Walther, it was pretty unusual for a young kid to have a sports car in the late 1950s. This iteration was dressed up with Oldsmobile Fiesta hubcaps. Photo courtesy of Chris Wiles.

A photo of Dan's Corvette as it appeared after he fixed it up and painted it blue. Photo courtesy of Chris Wiles.

1954 Chevrolet Corvette owned by Dan Wiles of Stockton, California. Dan bought the Corvette from a seller in the Sacramento, California area approximately 1957. "When he purchased it, it had been wrecked in the front and he had to repair the front fender damage," Dan's son Chris Wiles told Sondre Kvipt of Kustomrama in November of 2020. Dan's dad helped him repair the damage when he first bought it. The car was all white from the factory, but after repairing it Dan repainted it blue and dressed it up with chrome reverse wheels. Before the car was painted, he also shaved some of the emblems. During the rebuild, the original 235 cubic inches straight-six was removed and replaced with a bigger 261 GM truck engine. "He kept the three carburetors, put in a cam, and backed it up with a 3 speed LaSalle transmission," Dan's buddy Garret Walther told Kustomrama. "Since all the Corvettes had the automatic, he had to fabricate all the clutch linkage," Chris added. According to Garret, it was pretty unusual for a young kid to have a sports car in the late 1950s.

Where is it Now?

Chris is working on locating his dad's old Corvette. Dan sold it to someone in Stockton around 1958-1959. Back then it had a California license plate LVW 198. Please get in touch with Kustomrama at mail@kustomrama.com if you know what happened to this early Stockton Corvette.