The multilayered story tells of the first Corvettes to ever race at the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans event in France.

In 1960, wealthy businessman and racing enthusiast Briggs Cunningham entered three new Corvettes in the French event. They were modified, mostly on site, to bring them into racing configuration. The cars bore numbers 1, 2 and 3. A fourth Corvette, running as number 4, was entered by Lloyd "Lucky" Casner.

Little was expected of the Corvettes as they were running against lighter purpose-built race cars, many with European racing pedigrees.

Though no longer practiced, in 1960 drivers ran across the track, jumped in their cars and sped away to begin the annual 24 Hours of Le Mans race. In this photo, the four first-time Corvettes can be seen. (Photo: GM Archives)

Early in the race, Cunningham Corvettes 1 and 2 wrecked out. Casner's number 4 finished, but didn't complete the required number of laps, so it received a DNF. Of the four Corvettes, only the No. 3 took the checkered flag, first in class and eighth overall.

Even the most hardcore fans who had chided the Corvettes' attempt early in the race were impressed by the finish.

The Corvettes, including the wrecked and partially burned No. 1, all disappeared shortly after the race. What was known at the time was that the Cunningham Corvettes were shipped back stateside, returned to street mode and sold. Only years later would enthusiasts learn that the No. 4 car had been wrecked in Europe not long after the race and left on a roadside.

All three of the Cunningham Corvettes were lost and forgotten. That is, until historians, restorers and opportunists realized decades later that if found, these cars would be historically significant and financially treasured.

The badly damaged No. 1 Cunningham Corvette appeared briefly after the race in a garage before being shipped back to the United States from France and ultimately disappearing for decades. (Photo: GM Archives)

Back to "The Quest" and its ending. (Full disclosure here, I wrote, produced and directed the film). The storyline was one of youthful ambition, heartbreaking loss, shattered dreams, redemption, father-son relationships and more — all centered around these historic Corvettes.

The film ended by describing the whereabouts of these Corvette legends — all except one, the No. 1 Corvette. The numbers 2, 3 and 4 Corvettes were all eventually found and restored and are in private hands. But the documentary closed by saying the No. 1 car "had never been found."

In fact, since that time, it has been found. The car, looking nothing like its race day appearance — or, for that matter, nothing like a 1960 Corvette — surfaced after restorer's radars were alerted to a $700 Craigslist post in 2011. No sale was made then, but since that time, the cloak and dagger shroud around the missing No. 1 Cunningham Corvette has created a mystique that is yet to be fully understood.

The front end of the "found" No. 1 Cunningham Corvette bears little resemblance to that of a regular production 1960 factory Corvette. (Photo: Michael Brown Productions, Inc.)

A man named Rick Carr entered the known serial number of the car, which had been posted online years earlier by Larry Berman, Briggs Cunningham historian. Carr contacted Berman and told him of his father's acquisition of the car many years earlier and that the car had been in a Florida warehouse for years. Enter lawyers, ownership claims, courtroom clashes and counter-claims.

The VIN ending in 3535 has convinced experts that a fabled Corvette found in a warehouse in 2012 is the mysterious and long-missing No. 1 Cunningham Corvette from the 1960 Le Mans race. (Photo: Michael Brown Productions, Inc.)

Famed Corvette restorer Kevin Mackay of Valley Stream, New York, with help from Carlisle Events co-owner Lance Miller acquired the car once it surfaced from that warehouse in late summer 2012. It briefly appeared at Corvettes at Carlisle that year. Then, the police, lawyers and alleged owners forced the car immediately back into secrecy.

The No. 1 Cunningham Corvette surfaced at the 2012 Corvettes at Carlise briefly before court battles took it back into seclusion. (Photo: Michael Brown Productions, Inc.)

After many months in court, a settlement eventually awarded ownership to Indiana car dealer/collector Gino Borelli and Mackay in an apparent deal that would include Mackay's expertise in restoring the fabled car. When that's done, the car could be worth several million dollars. Mackay restored the No. 3 car a few years ago. Its fame and history is unquestioned, and Mackay's credentials impeccable.

But there are those who are still trying to fill a few mental holes in this complex, enduring and questionable decades-old saga about the No. 1 Corvette; myself among them.

I'd consider doing an alternate ending to the documentary, as some have suggested, but more dust is going to have to settle in this twist and turn tale before that happens.

In the meantime, the No. 1 Corvette remains to be what Winston Churchill once said in 1939 about Russia: "It's a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma."