Yes, Those Were Peter Max’s Corvettes in the Basement

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The cars were the prize in a contest run by VH-1 in 1989. The winner was Dennis Amodeo, a carpenter from Long Island, who soon sold the cars to Peter Max, the pop artist whose vivid colors and psychedelic posters propelled him to the cover of Life Magazine in 1969. Mr. Max planned to repaint the cars in his signature style, but his enthusiasm waned and other projects came up.

So the cars were stored for years in New York garages, spending at least the better part of a decade in my building in Prospect Heights. Without covers or temperature and humidity controls, the cars gradually deteriorated, inspiring exasperation from some Corvette lovers. (After seeing the wild colors Mr. Max used when painting a car for the late Dale Earnhardt, some were concerned that the Corvettes would be ill-served by a custom Max paint job.)

I had been working on the story for weeks, tracking down Mr. Amodeo as well as Jim Cahill, who conceived and produced the promotion for VH-1, when the cars suddenly disappeared. Once again the Internet provided the answer. A Twitter user had snapped several photos of the cars being moved out. Her photo of a tow truck pulling a Max-ed out Super Beetle was particularly nice.

Shortly after the cars were moved, I got to speak with Mr. Max, who told me he had a new plan to paint the cars in a more subtle style, with gradually blending colors based on original Corvette paint. His studio sent along a few images of some mockups, toys painted in accord with his new approach.

Full story here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/automobiles/collectibles/14corvette.html