He found Stevens and sold it to him
that night.
Why was this 1954 Corvette so good
one man had to have it at any price yet
its owner and builder would let it go
even after putting in countless hours of
work perfecting it? That is the question
we’re trying to answer.
Let’s start with Murkijanian’s process
of building the car. For that, we have
to go back 13 years when he first pur-
chased the car. Actually, let’s go back
another year or two further to the point
where Murkijanian decided to build a
’54 Corvette in the first place. He was
at a friend’s birthday party when some-
one pulled up in a 1954 Corvette that
was lowered and had some wheels on
it. Funny story; this was the same birth-
day party we mentioned earlier where
Murkijanian and Stevens first met.
Anyways, the car looked pretty good
and, at the time, ’54s weren’t all that
desirable so Murkijanian decided a car
like that would be next on his list.
When he finally got around to it, he
spent six months looking for the right
car to start with. What he found was a
roller with no engine, no transmission
and none of the factory trim—a “basket
case” according to Murkijanian. But as
much of a basket case as it might have
been, it had a straight body and was a
good starting point for the build.
Before dropping in a powertrain
or doing any suspension work,
Murkijanian started by sending the
Corvette off to a body shop in Downey,
California, called Cardona’s to have its
owner, Dave Cardona, work his magic
on the fiberglass. He began by skin-
ning the whole body in fresh fiberglass,
which then had to sit for nine months
before making more tweaks, filling it,
and then letting it sit for another nine
months. The whole body and paint
process was by far the most strenu-
ous part of the build, according to
Murkijanian. But eventually, the early
C1 Corvette was ready for paint. He
decided black was the color this car
would wear, so Cardona sprayed the car
in a single stage black urethane from
Glasurit. “The paintjob is probably the
nicest paintjob you’ll ever see on a ’54
Corvette,” Murkijanian told us, “hands
down—everybody says that.”
A few other exterior modifications
were made to the Corvette, but what
was altered was done to perfection.
Some changes that stand out include
acrylic covers for the headlights along
with 1953 Buick taillights. Murkijanian
also spent an ungodly amount of time
grinding the stock bumpers. Since
1953-’55 Corvette bumpers were basi-
cally slapped on as decoration, they
didn’t really fit all that great. Or, in
Murkijanian’s words, “The fit was ter-
rible.” Once he got them to line up just
right, he had the bumpers and other
trim sent over to Artistic Silver Plating
in Signal Hill, California, to be re-
chromed. The end result was undoubt-
edly better than stock.
With the help of friend and fabri-
cation expert Derek Bower, the two
reworked the factory soft top. They low-
ered the center bow then angled the rear
bow forward to get rid of that “late 19th
century carriage” look of the stock top.
The side curtains were a rare find added
by Stevens after his purchase of the car.They were in rough shape, needing lots
of work to get them to their current
state. The final exterior touch came in
the form of 17-inch American Racing
five-spoke wheels.
Underneath the Corvette,
Murkijanian upgraded the ride and
stance of the car significantly. Up front,
he added a 1 1/4-inch antiroll bar and
in the rear he swapped in a complete
9-inch axle assembly from a ’70 Ford
Torino. Murkijanian added a single
link to the rearend and reverse eye
rear springs with offset shackles to get
the stance just right. With that Torino
9-inch came 3.00:1 rear gears and drum
brakes. Up front, the Corvette got a full
disc brake kit from Magnum Axle to
help upgrade its braking ability by a
few decades.
The Corvette’s power came in the
form of a 1968 small-block 327 Chevy
that a friend of Murkijanian’s had sit-
ting at his shop. The block was worked
over by C&J Engineering in Santa Fe
Springs, California. The shop sent him28 VETTE 19.11
[FEATURE]
TOO NICE TO DRIVE