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1964 Chevy Corvette Barn Find

Imagine an old barn with the farmer’s widow mentioning “some old car” buried beneath the junk of country living. A familiar, unmistakable shape of one of America’s greatest sports cars – but could it be just a lowly, mass-production coupe? As you grow closer, it becomes clear that you’re the first one to lay eyes on this mystery machine in years. That’s what we imagined as we read this listing for a recently unearthed 1964 Corvette Stingray, available here on eBay with the current bid already over $10,000.

This 1964 Stingray marked the first year the venerable sports car lost its desirable split rear window, but its as-found condition here should keep bidding lively. Cited as a two-owner car, the seller mentions that the standard 327 and automatic transmission are numbers matching units, but that they are currently removed from the vehicle. Thankfully, this auctioneer  includes photos of the  mothballed motor, though it’s clearly in need of a proper overhaul. What’s unclear is whether this forgotten classic came with the more desirable 300 b.h.p. 327 Turbofire or the standard unit that churned out 250 ponies.

Some sellers can hide a well-worn car beneath a layer of dust and utilize clever photography to convince potential buyers that theirs is a barn find. The pictures provided here do represent this car as an unmodified example with a salvageable interior and all glass intact. Most trim appears in place, along with bucket seats and a crack-free dash. The headliner has survived nicely, and the center stack clock looks like it merely needs a viable power source to start ticking. Despite the previous owner starting the restoration long ago, the tear-down seems limited to the motor and some exterior trim.

This once-hidden Corvette does hide some secrets. Despite being largely rust-free with solid floors, the front pillars around the windshield have been fighting a losing battle with the tin worm. With rust in this area, we wonder if a poorly sealed windshield or other accident repair might be to blame. Whatever the cause, it will require the attention of a skilled metal-worker to ensure the Corvette’s structural integrity is preserved. An in-person visit to the Pennsylvania hangar where the Vette is stored might be warranted.

Whoever brings this barn find back to life will have some help, thanks to some NOS parts included in the sale. The previous owner acquired a factory replacement grill and other OEM bits, but they doesn’t specify what all is included. Though little of the car’s history is known, it does at least indicate that before it began its slumber in the woodshed, someone intended to bring it back to life. Now, that chance belongs to the lucky bidder who could plunge headfirst into a sympathetic restoration or possibly just rebuild the engine, fix the rust, overhaul the critical components to cruise in as-found condition. Whatever the outcome, we’re glad the next owner will get to own the Corvette in the barn.

Comments

  1. Avatar Camel

    Bellisimo!!!

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  2. Avatar Dom

    Very cool! My grandfather owns a ’64 Convertible with a 327/300. Red on red, the best color combo on a ‘Vette.

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  3. Avatar Foxxy

    I like the paint scheme. What a find. Anyone know how expensive getting rid of the tin worm in the cowl??

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  4. Avatar Dolphin Member

    This looks like a real barn find, but the photos raise some questions.

    It’s hard to be certain, but the lead photo that shows the car in-place in dusty storage appears to show the car at normal ride height at the front. It would be good to have a better side view, or the hood open, but without those shots we have to guess that since the car appears to be at normal ride height, the engine/transmission are in place.

    If that’s true, and with the engine/transmission out of the car now, this raises the question why the owner would remove these components, especially if he wanted to flip it as a “barn find”. Did he find something seriously wrong after getting these major components out?

    For me, the car loses something with these parts out, both because it is no longer an intact barn find, and because it will be harder to transport it now that there are major lumps that need to be picked up and secured during transport so they don’t move around. All in all, not good.

    This could be the real deal and a good project if the bidding doesn’t go so high that it doesn’t make financial sense, but as the commentary says, make sure the car’s structural integrity hasn’t been seriously damaged, or that whatever is wrong can be fixed without putting the project underwater financially from the start.

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    • Avatar Matt

      there was a time, not so long ago, that there was little interest in coupes or automatics from this era… including the split window from 63. People were even cutting that split out and replacing the windows with one piece windows from 64-67s. Depending on when the engine and trans were removed, I’d guess someone considered converting it to a 4 speed… and then realized it was too much work… and the project stalled :-) Worst thing in my book is that someone did a color change on it… to that wonderful root beer brown we all thought looked so good about 1969 (along with GTO avocado green), and that’ll all have to be stripped off now. Automatics didn’t start to become acceptable in Corvettes till the mid 70s.

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  5. Avatar Utes

    If that “funkified” carb on that intake is a Carter AFB, & it appears to be so, that’s the 300-horse L74. The 250-horse L30 327 utilized a Rochester 4GC.

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  6. Avatar Randy Scott

    Rust? I thought it was a fiberglass body. Maybe it’s the trim that’s rusty, but I thought that was stainless. wtf?

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  7. Avatar Dolphin Member

    Randy:
    The body is ‘glass but there’s lots of metal in the car’s structure and some of it is said to be rusty. Meadville, PA is downwind of Lake Erie in the rust belt. Any car that has been used year-round there has been exposed to salt in the winters.

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  8. Avatar Greg Green

    I owned a ’64 Corvette. Silver grey/white! 327/300 hp.Beautiful car!

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  9. Avatar John

    Hey Utes, the Corvette Black Book says all 1964 Corvettes had Carter carbs. No Rochester carbs were used on 1964’s.

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    • Avatar Matt

      I seem to remember that the 250HP used a WFCB Carter and the 300HP used an AFB Carter.

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  10. Avatar Utes

    I stand corrected & humbled…& bow to John, the Corvette guru.
    May his all-knowing knowledge stand ready vanquish the uninformed & set those less fortunate putz’s like myself, on the straight & narrow.

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  11. Avatar Chris Junker

    As I am in Meadville, I’d be glad to go and take a few pictures of the rust problem arond the windshield. Dolphin is correct, the tin worm is alive and thriving in Meadville. Anyone want this prize looked at?

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  12. Avatar greg

    hopefully whomever gets the thing… keeps the killer 70’s panel paint intact…

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  13. Avatar Richard

    I grew up just down the road from Meadville (also the home of Sharon Stone, the actress) in Mercer, Pa. It’s very possible I actually saw this car back in the day. What is the real color on this? In one photo it appears metallic brown and in another, some areas appear to have some light blue metallic.

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  14. Avatar big mark

    where is the clutch pedal just sayin

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  15. Avatar Collin

    Big Mark, It’s an automatic…

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  16. Avatar Foxxy

    If the engine on the floor is #’s matching,, then why is it an automatic car and the eng is clearly a 4spd. ?????

    Like 0

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