Vette – July 2019

BY JERRY HEASLEY (^) I PHOTOGRAPHY BY THE AUTHOR
Rare Finds
1964 Corvette
Parked 40-Plus Years
n a frigid day in January
2019, Derek Smith
walked into Masterworks
Automotive Services in
Madison Heights, Michigan.
His mother-in-law, Kim Glushyn, had inher-
ited a 1964 Corvette from her second hus-
band, Barry Glushyn, who passed away
three months earlier. “She asked me, ‘What
am I supposed to do with this car? How do
I go about selling it?’” Derek’s mission was
to find a buyer so Kim could get the car
out of her garage and eliminate the clutter.
The Corvette had been parked in this same
spot since 1975.
Barry Glushyn bought the car in the
late 1960s, after returning from Vietnam.
He drove the Corvette for several years,
got married to his first wife and when he
bought a family car began working on
his 1964 with intentions of installing a
big-block.
Derek isn’t a gearhead, but his uncle had
restored a 1963 Corvette and knew Werner
Meier, owner of Masterworks. Masterworks
tackles different makes, but has worked
on over 1,000 Corvettes. Werner Meier is
famous for finding and restoring many of
the GM “Styling” Corvettes of the 1960s.
The ’64 was about two miles from
Masterworks so Werner drove over to have
a look at the Corvette. He found a Silver Blue
1964 convertible with a dark blue interior.
Under the hood Werner spied a 300-horse
327; the L75 option. How did he know?
Meier noticed 2 1/2-inch exhaust mani-
folds and an AFB carburetor on a cast-
iron intake signifying the 300-horse 327;
whereas, the 250-horse would have the
2-inch exhaust manifolds and a WCFB
four-barrel. Obviously, Werner Meier is a
Corvette expert. Derek Smith had come to
the right place.
Derek wanted to know what the 1964
A family garage is not the best place for an engine swap. This 1964,
seen here as found, had been parked in this spot since 1975.
guys in the shop had been after a mid-year
Corvette at a buyable price, but for per-
sonal reasons had to pass on it.
Then, Werner got an idea. A client of his
had expressed an interest in owning one
of the GM “Styling” Corvettes of the mid-
1960s. The only thing is, at an auction he
saw the crazy money they were bid to. “I
told him I could build one for half of that if
you want one.”
Werner doesn’t know if his client will say
yes to this proposal, but he bought the ’64
for such a build. The ’64 needs an interior,
but the interior will be changed anyway
on the Styling clone, plus a small-block
will work fine. “I still have some old GM
Styling badges and we could make a clone
of one of those Bunkie Knudsen or Harley
Earl cars.”
The end result will be a fitting comple-
tion to a Corvette that Vietnam veteran
Barry Glushyn saved for over 40 years for
his special build. VETTE
convertible was worth. A value would be
hard to determine with much accuracy
because the car had been parked 40 plus
years and did not run. A more accurate dol-
lar amount could be estimated with a car
that would start and drive down the street.
Meier offered the services of his shop to
get the car running; about $7,000. Werner’s
rough estimate of value was about
$12,000. A week or two later, Derek had an
offer of $12,000 from another interested
party. Kim wanted $15,000.
Werner deliberated on the price. He liked
the fact that the body was unmolested,
except one of the front wheelwells had
been patched. The headlights were frozen
open and the heater box was on top of
the engine. “They must have had a leaky
heater core. They took it apart and that’s
where they lost interest. The fuel line had
rotted out.”
Werner had two Corvette projects of
his own and wasn’t interested. One of the
58 VETTE 19.07