GM CEO Dan Akerson offers up his own 1958 Corvette to help Detroit rebuild

Dan Akerson and his wife, Karin, have generously offered up their own classic car to benefit Habitat For Humanity Detroit.

General Motors and Detroit have both fallen on hard times in recent years. GM has been reborn and is thriving. It is the hope of GM CEO, Dan Akerson, that Detroit can soon follow suit. In a press release today GM overviewed the planned auction of Mr. Akerson's personal car. Mr. Akerson comment saying “A strong America is built on strong communities, and building those communities starts with one hammer, one nail and one person – and from there it’s contagious. My wife, Karin, and I want to see this effort to rebuild our headquarters city catch on, spread out and draw scores more volunteers and millions more in contributions. The 1958 Corvette is a great example of American passion and ingenuity, and my hope is that the auction will help bring attention and resources to Habitat’s efforts to revitalize a historic Detroit neighborhood. I love this Corvette, and if putting it on the block can help rebuild the heart and soul of a neighborhood, I am all for it.”

The 1958 Corvette is one of the best in the early Corvette years. It was one of the first to look like the coming ‘60s stingrays and was the first year to offer dual headlamps. Only about 500 were made in this color. Making the car even more desirable is the 245 V8 engine. This is the transition time between the very early cruiser ‘Vettes and the street machines that started to emerge around the late 50s and early 60s. Details on the car can be seen at this link: www.facebook.com/corvette.

Putting their money where their mouths are (in addition to putting their car where their mouth are) Dan and Karin Akerson donated $ 1 million in seed money to start up a fund that many hope will grow to $25 million. The money is targeted to help the 500 families in the Morningside Commons area of Detroit with much needed repairs, improvements and upgrades to homes in this hard-hit community. Habitat For Humanity Detroit is coordinating the project.

In recent weeks it has been easy to find GM and its CEO Dan Akerson in the news. It is the rare positive stories like this that the journalists like to report on the most.