Photo: Barret Jackson
We totally understand if you're a little burnt out on Corvettes. No offense, but it feels like every American sports car we see these days is either compared directly to a Corvette or downright powered by one. This phenomenon is a little less saturated with early Vettes. But even so, it's hard to feel like we haven't seen the same Corvette a million times by now. If you're one of those people, let's show you something similar to a Corvette, but not a Corvette at all.
This is a 1955 Le Gene Californian Sports Special Roadster, and just what the hell does that even mean? It sounds like the name of a fake car out of a video game or TV show set in the mid-1950s. But what it is is a small form-factor two-door, rear-drive, convertible American sports car that looks like a carbon copy of a C1 Corvette from all but a few angles. In fairness, the Californian Sports Special, or the Californian, as we'll mercifully call it henceforth, has a fiberglass body just like a C1 Vette. But thankfully, what's underneath the skin of this bizarre creation is more interesting than what you'd find under the hood of a C1.
You see, the Californian is essentially the king among a set of American DIY custom cars called American Specials. With simple body-on-frame chassis, fiberglass bodies, rear-wheel-drive, and typically with a drop-top and V8 in the engine bay, it's easy to see how this formula screams "Corvette" when viewed by the sum of its parts. The first of these LeGene Californian sports cars left the shed it was built in in 1953, the same year Harley Earl's brainchild C1 Corvette made its debut.
So far as records indicate, only six of these Californian sports cars were ever manufactured, and a further six body shells are scattered all around North America. Each body sported some form of an exterior trim piece or other such trinkets that differentiated itself from all its siblings, and this one's rocking a prominent front hood scoop that screams hot rod through and through. Under that hood sits what can be accurately summed up as Corvette-like but supplied by Ford and not Chevrolet.
We're talking about the chassis out of a 1949 Ford and a 239-cubic inch (3.9-L) flathead V8 you'd have found in everything from higher-end Mercurys and even the old "Crackerbox" Transit Bus from 1936 to 1947. Perhaps not quite as macho as the 265-cubic inch (4.3-L) small-block V8 you could've had in the 1955 Corvette C1 of the same model year. But at least to the naked eye, it looks like the LeGene Californian weighs even less than the Vette does. How this bodes for a
If this engine was stout enough to haul a medium-duty transit bus, imagine what it could do with a properly sorted, rear-drive sports car arrangement like the one we've got here. For some reference, period-correct Car and Driver reviews for the C1 Corvette with the 265 V8 sprinted to 60 mph in about 8.5 seconds. If the Californian is even a tenth of a second faster over the same zero to 60 run, it would've been nothing short of a spectacular feat. Surprisingly, the going price for one of these Californians isn't anything like a C1 Vette. This one recently sold at auction for a cool $49,500. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal.
You see, the Californian is essentially the king among a set of American DIY custom cars called American Specials. With simple body-on-frame chassis, fiberglass bodies, rear-wheel-drive, and typically with a drop-top and V8 in the engine bay, it's easy to see how this formula screams "Corvette" when viewed by the sum of its parts. The first of these LeGene Californian sports cars left the shed it was built in in 1953, the same year Harley Earl's brainchild C1 Corvette made its debut.
So far as records indicate, only six of these Californian sports cars were ever manufactured, and a further six body shells are scattered all around North America. Each body sported some form of an exterior trim piece or other such trinkets that differentiated itself from all its siblings, and this one's rocking a prominent front hood scoop that screams hot rod through and through. Under that hood sits what can be accurately summed up as Corvette-like but supplied by Ford and not Chevrolet.
We're talking about the chassis out of a 1949 Ford and a 239-cubic inch (3.9-L) flathead V8 you'd have found in everything from higher-end Mercurys and even the old "Crackerbox" Transit Bus from 1936 to 1947. Perhaps not quite as macho as the 265-cubic inch (4.3-L) small-block V8 you could've had in the 1955 Corvette C1 of the same model year. But at least to the naked eye, it looks like the LeGene Californian weighs even less than the Vette does. How this bodes for a
If this engine was stout enough to haul a medium-duty transit bus, imagine what it could do with a properly sorted, rear-drive sports car arrangement like the one we've got here. For some reference, period-correct Car and Driver reviews for the C1 Corvette with the 265 V8 sprinted to 60 mph in about 8.5 seconds. If the Californian is even a tenth of a second faster over the same zero to 60 run, it would've been nothing short of a spectacular feat. Surprisingly, the going price for one of these Californians isn't anything like a C1 Vette. This one recently sold at auction for a cool $49,500. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal.
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