1957 Corvette Race Car

---

Seeking Information 

---

Amazingly, right here in Fort Wayne, Indiana, two Corvette Collectors, Keith Busse and Larry Gerig, built a magnificent building to house their extensive Corvette collections. They have opened the building to the public as a museum now that they have a staff to handle visitors.

On June 9, 2001 with the Indiana NCRS chapter (but without camera) and on July 14, 2001 with the Fort Wayne Corvette Club (and WITH camera) I had the opportunity to tour the building and learn more about the cars.

---

---

---

---

The collections represent the “best of the best” of all 5 generations:

---

---

Larry’s collection includes one each of every color of 1957 Corvette. All are in their original color and all are fuel injection cars. The white one (red interior) is VIN # E57S105116 and is an air box car from Hawaii. The red/red one at the end is also an air box car VIN # E57S104742:

---

---

The silver blue car is the one that really intrigues me:

---

---

The sign says:

1957 Corvette Convertible
VIN # E57S102281
– Exterior Color: Artic Blue
– Interior Color: Red
– Auxiliary Hardtop
– Rare 283 ci / 283 H. P.
High Performance “Motor”
– Fuel Injection
– Positraction Rear Axle
– Heavy Duty Racing Suspension
– One of only 8 cars produced with only the big brake option.
– This car was built and raced at the Sebring track.
– Only 746 miles since restoration.
Awards:
– NCRS Top Flight
– Bloomington Gold
– Gold Spinner
– Triple Crown
Owner: Larry Gerig

---

---

Larry very generously allowed me to photograph his documentation on 2281. This is an early owner of the car. The lettering on the car is “103 BP” – apparently when the car raced in the SCCA “B” Production class :

---

---

These original pictures are unfortunately very blurry. They are said to be of the car racing at Sebring with no further information available:

---

---

---

This is the car restored to its SCCA racing days:

---

---

---

Does anyone have further information about any of these cars – particularly 2281? I would like to know more about them and I am sure Larry would appreciate further documentation. Please email me at the Contact location at the top of the page.
2022-11-07 – David Palmeter – I just found this background on a fleet of racing test cars – including 2281 – HERE.

---

P. S. – I had such a great time touring the museum, taking pictures and asking questions, I was almost the last to leave (but I did manage to catch the crowd before they all got to Flanagans):

---

---

Update on October 18, 2004 – Larry Gerig has completed his own private building for his collection so it is no longer in the Corvette Classics Museum. However, Keith Busse has expanded his collection and the Museum still has an amazing group of Corvettes.

---

The museum is now permanently closed.

---

Return to the Top 

---

Return to Corvette Racing Index