The Wild Story of the 1954 Corvette Hidden Away in a Brunswick, Maine, Grocery Store for 27 Years

If you bought a sweet new flashy-looking car, you're going to want to show it off as you drive around town, hitting up your go-to locations and feeling the fresh New England summer air.

So can you imagine after five years with the vehicle you decide, oh, what the heck, I'm going to seal it away inside a brick vault? Not only that, but you keep it sealed away for nearly three decades?

That's only part of the wild but true story involving a Corvette and its owner Richard Sampson of Brunswick, Maine.

Richard Sampson of Brunswick, Maine, Entombs His 1954 Corvette

Only 3,640 Corvettes were produced in 1954, according to corvsport.com, and Sampson got his very own white one, complete with a red interior, that same year.

It was in 1959 that things took a turn.

Sampson was apparently done with driving the car, but rather than get rid of it, he thought of the unique idea to place it inside a brick vault, corvsport.com stated.

The businessman, who built a chain of 33 grocery stores, was building a new one in Brunswick at the site of 42 Bath Road and requested to seal the car up inside the grocery store, according to the Bangor Daily News. That's the spot where China Rose currently resides.

To take things to the next level, Sampson also said in his will that the roadster would stay inside that brick-and-mortar vault until the year 2000, the National Corvette Museum stated in an article. That would have been 41 years preserved and untouched inside a grocery store.

At least there was a small viewport where one could peek at the white vehicle trapped inside, but it would be no more open roads for the car. You can see a recreation of that viewport here.

Interestingly, Sampson changed his mind about the roadster time-capsule shortly before his death in 1969, according to the National Corvette Museum, and he removed his demands to keep the car in the vault until 2000.

1954 Corvette Finally Freed from Brunswick, Maine, Brick Vault

But the car didn't come out in 1969. Instead, it would remain inside the vault for another 17 years when, in 1986, it was finally and carefully freed from its resting place after the purchase of the building by the auto dealer Frank Goodwin, according to the BDN.

Workers removed the bricks to reveal the car while Sampson's daughter, who would be taking the Corvette after, watched the process, the newspaper noted.

Mecum Auctions stated that "although the moisture in its enclosure had caused the car’s Polo White paint to yellow and blister over time, the tires still held air and the chrome, top and interior were still in remarkably good condition."

Not bad for sitting in one spot for that many years: 27 to be exact.

Sampson's daughter held onto the car in Florida for about 10 years, leaving it inside the living room, according to the National Corvette Museum. (Looks like this family really just wanted to keep the car inside!)

1954 Entombed Corvette Joins National Corvette Museum Collection

The Corvette would move around a little bit after that, including landing in an auction in 2014 and 2016, before finally settling at its current spot: inside the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

The museum found a perfect spot to preserve this famous car, nicknamed the "Entombed" Corvette, and you can even check out a video of the exhibit.

No one knows exactly why Sampson decided to go with the unique idea to "entomb" his car, but it's a fascinating piece of car and Maine history.

Here's a newspaper clipping of the car being removed from its brick vault:

You can check out some photos of the Corvette included with the Mecum Auction listing for the vehicle in 2014 here or below.

Bet you wish you could drive it, right?