Believe it or not, this car is 57 years old.

Yup, and this isn’t an Indy car either but a vehicle produced by General Motor at the peak of Detroit’s golden era. Dubbed the Chevrolet Engineering Research Vehicle (CERV 1), it was a rolling test bed for all the high performance, high tech hardware General Motors could muster back in 1960.

It is truly a piece of Motown babylon and YOU could be the next shepherd of this slice of history from when GM ruled the earth. It will cross the block at Barrett-Jackson in Scottsdale in January and it will be interesting to see if it sells and what it brings.

Beneath the fiberglass body designed by Motown Michelangelo Larry Shinoda, the steel tube frame initially carried a fuel injected, 350-hp, 283 ci V-8 engine that tipped the scales at just 350 pounds. That mill was later replaced by Arkus-Duntov with a more muscular 6.1-liter V-8, along with other tweaks and improvements.

CERV1 wasn’t a paper tiger either. With it’s lightweight body and big horsepower it could easily exceed 200mph. The car was eventfully superseded by an aptly named successor CERV II in 1964 and faded from sight.

What is a car like this worth?

Well, CERV I has been up for sale before with presale estimates in the multiple seven-figures, but as the old saying goes, ” Something is worth what someone will pay for it,” definitely holds true here.

Stay tuned to Corvette Online for any and all updates regarding activity around CERV I and what a priceless car is actually worth.