Hemmings Find of the Day – 1954 “Pizza Man” Corvette

Published by Mike on October 11, 2014

Earl Britt’s “The Pizza Man” 1954 Corvette is currently listed on Hemmings.com ready for home delivery, with an asking price that’s significantly higher than a large pie with all the toppings, a side of mussels and an antipasto. We last wrote about the car before it crossed the block at Mecum’s St. Charles, Illinois sale in 2012, where it bid up to $120,000. The GMC-inline six powered straight-axle ‘Vette raced in Modified Production from 1962-’73, setting nine NHRA records and accumulating three NHRA championships in the process. The car’s name was a reference to Britt’s Sioux Falls, South Dakota, pizza business, Earl’s Pizza Shop and the Corvette’s quickest official elapsed time was a 12.17 at 118 mph —not too shabby for a 292-cu.in. inline truck engine with a bank of Webers and an automatic transmission. Mecum Auctions President Dana Mecum once owned the historic quarter miler but sold it back in 1999. The next owner put it back to the current as-raced condition, complete with period-correct decals and lettering as well as a set of 7-inch Goodyear slicks on steel wheels. From the sellers description:

1954 “Pizza Man” Corvette. Few racing Corvettes have had as big an impact on their branch of motorsports as this 1954 roadster famously known as The Pizza Man. Serial number 99 in the 1954 production run of 3,640, it tore up the drag strips across the Midwest and at national events from 1962 to 1971 at the hands of owner/driver Earl Britt, proprietor of Earls Pizza Palace in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Along the way it earned the title of “World’s Fastest Six Cylinder Corvette”, setting a phenomenal nine World Records in NHRA Modified Production and, it is believed, winning more NHRA World Championship Points in three consecutive years (1967-1969) than any other car in Street Eliminator history or any other Division, including E/MP at the 1967 Indy Nationals and a huge upset win over Dick Landy and the Dodge factory team at the 1968 Winternationals at Pomona.