Possibly the Lowest Number of Miles on Any 454
In 1972, Jim Kevan was a 22-year-old with some money to burn and his eye set on a Corvette. He knew he’d better get his Corvette before he got married and had kids so he went to the dealer to buy a new ZR1, Kevan told All American Muscle Cars. The salesman talked him out of the ZR1 because “this car here is a race car.” He didn’t think Kevan could handle the car. Instead of the ZR1, Kevan bought a 1972 Corvette 454 in a beautiful blue with a convertible top.
When he found out insurance was going to cost him $1,200 a year, he decided to garage the vehicle for a little while. The insurance agent told him he could get insurance for as little as $400 a year if he waited until he was 25 and married. Kevan drove it a couple of times, but he couldn’t take a chance of something happening to it.
I was in the midst of buying a home. We were getting married and planning a family, and I couldn’t take a chance on driving without insurance, so as much as it killed me, that’s why I ended up putting it in the garage. And then by the time I turned 25 and married, we already had a couple kids and now the Corvette wasn’t a big issue.
And so it sat. For 40 years. Kevan wasn’t planning on letting it sit that long, but he just never got it out and then realized that a car like his with so few miles (it only has 967 miles) would be unlike any other. “I was thinking if I keep that mileage under 1,000, it’s going to be one of a kind. If it goes over 1,000 miles, it’s like the old sale price, $99.99 seems like a bargain compared to $100.”
If he’d gone through with his purchase of the ZR1 he’d have a car even more highly sought after. The scenario wouldn’t have changed and had Kevan insisted on a ZR1, then he would have one with fewer than 1,000 miles on the odometer. The 454 is still an amazing car, though, and the fact that it has so few miles is simply astounding. Kevan likely has the 454 with the fewest miles anywhere.
