High price, few photos, and not a lot of information makes this 1956 Chevrolet Corvette something you want to proceed with caution on. It is located in Dekalb, Illinois and the seller is asking a hefty $58,250, which does seem justified if the car is in person as it is in photos. There is no VIN listed but the title is claimed to be clean. Thank you, Ikey H. for the tip. You can view what is left to know on here one Craigslist.
There are only a handful of photos and none of them include evidence of the engine. The listing states that it is a 265 cubic inch V8 with dual quads connected to a three-speed manual transmission. The one photo of the interior does show the floor shifter. Beyond that, the seller notes in the listing to specifically and only, call them with questions.
Inside the car, the interior is fantastic. Nothing says the car is original, so it is safe to assume that the car has been restored. All of the gauges are in place, the seats are solid with no signs of wear and tear. The car is said to come with hardtop. So, they might be indicating it is a convertible. Again. Very little information and a lack of clarity are causing this $58,000 red ride to be a bit of a red flag.
These cars are desirable and the Corvette following is a faithful bunch. If you are in the market for what looks like to be a turnkey, ready to drive collector car, and have a decent budget, then this car should be on your radar. The only real drawback is trying to figure out all the details. While the seller does encourage phone communication, you might want to see it in person before starting to take it seriously.
This would be most welcome at my place. Too bad it would depend on my numbers all lining up in the lottery before I could make a dream like this come true. While I’m more of a ’58-’62 fan, I still like this one…
You state “So, they might be indicating it is a convertible.“
All C1 Corvettes were convertibles with a hard top as an option. Coupes were not available until the C2 in 1963.
luv this model, after ’63 they lost the nice rear (wuz it ’56 – 62?).
One if not the biggest mistake I made in my life was to sell my 57 Corvette 283 4 speed with both tops back in the late 60’s. A couple pictures hanging above my desk and memories is it now.
I thought the ones with dual quads were 270 cubic inches?
270 hp, 283 ci.
There was 2 versions of the 265 dual quad engine in 56. 225 HP and 240 HP.
Beautiful vette. But-hate to be negative- who sells a 58 thousand car on craigslist without any pics of the entire car including the mill? “Gee dear I listed the car for sale but nobody would buy it”. Like the pics you do have and again need some history. Good luck.
Cheers
GPC
That’s like 15 minutes from me, if only i had 60k lying around.
15 minutes from me too. Still too much money though, I’m a machinist, not a lottery winner! Lol
Nice car, lousy ad!
From what can be seen in the pictures, it does appear to be a pretty decent and correct car. It’s a little hard to tell from the pictures, but it looks like it has the fairly rare 56 only hardtop, without stainless header trim.
A friend of mine just picked up an identical Gypsy Red 56 2×4 3 speed car about a month ago. It had been stored with an equally nice 58 in a garage in Maryland, for over 20 years. He bought the 58 too!
Speaking as someone who is not a Vette guy, I am very fond of the 56 & 57 years with 57 as the pick for all years made. I love the simplicity and styling of these early years and would choose the dual-quad option over fuel injection introduced in 57. This 56 appears to be very nice although it is beyond me why so little effort is made in an ad when trying to sell a beautiful and desirable automobile, this one included.
There’s some evidence that it’s not original. The emblem on the trunk is too high, it should be down lower closer to the key-hole.
The shifter is also too tall to be an original, however that’s 2-bolts, so hardly worth crying over.
That hardtop doesn’t look like a ’56 unit, they have a stainless header bar (or maybe this one has been painted).
Good catch on the trunk emblem, and right you are.
I think the shifter is correct.
The hardtop on early ’56 the header bar is body colored.
The wheels on a Venetian Red car should be red.
If, and a big IF it is, the rest of the car checks out it is still worth $60k.
Maybe you’re right on the shifter, it looks tall to me – but I could be wrong.
I think there’s much debate on the header bars on C1 hardtops – I had understood ’56 and early ’57 it was stainless, but could be wrong. I never saw much point in the hardtop so never paid much attention to them.
Also – the steering column should be the same colour as the lower dash – in this case shoreline beige.
Hopefully signs of a amateur spit-polish restoration and the rest of the car is largely original. If so, I think $60k is a pretty reasonable price.A under hood shot with the correct 9-fin valve covers would start getting me excited….
Aside from the previous comments picking nits off the car, it looks to be a nice car probably in line with the asking price.
Id take this in a heartbeat, its in better shape then most of the junk ive seen on here lately as far as vettes go. I could care less for the perfectionists and how its not original as i would drive it for the fun of it ,and enjoy it like it was built for !