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'Lost Corvettes' Featured At Chicago Auto Show Will Benefit War Vets

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Some old corvettes that had no TLC for decades have made it to the Chicago Auto Show.

Thirty-six classic 'Vettes from the 1950s and '60s were rusting in a garage in New York City. Now they have been completely restored and will benefit war vets.

"The Lost Corvettes" were once owned by pop artist Peter Max after he purchased them from the winner of a VH-1 giveaway in 1989.

Max was going to use them as one-of-a-kind art canvases, but instead they stayed in a series of New York City parking garages.

The owners of those garages, the Spindler and Heller families, bought the entire collection and, together with Chris Mazzilli, they formed Corvette Heroes.

Six are being featured at the Chicago Auto Show. Those are from 1955, 1956, 1957, 1966, 1967 and 1969.

Lost Corvettes
(Credit: Corvette Heroes)

They are valued from $60,000 up to $500,000, but it was a long road to getting them showroom ready.

"We started work on these cars a few years ago, so the newest one's the '89 and it only had about 7,000 miles. It only needed about 40 hours of work," Mazzilli said. "The '53, first-year Corvette, that car needed 4,000 hours in it."

Once the restorations are complete, the cars will be raffled off this summer to raise money for the National Guard Educational Foundation.

Tickets are $3 each and can be purchased online at corvetteheroes.com.

The sweepstakes will end in the late spring with the last car being raffled off in late summer.

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