The owner of this 1965 Corvette calls it a survivor which he purchased off the estate of the original owner. It still wears its original California black plates, and after spending its whole life in California, it is now located in Las Vegas, Nevada. If you’re looking for an original Corvette, then this one is listed for sale here on eBay.
The presentation of the Corvette is quite nice. It is finished in its original Milano Maroon, although the owner does state that the car has undergone a repaint at some point in the past. The car is also fitted with a white soft-top, and this looks like it is in good condition. There don’t seem to be any obvious issues with the Corvette, although it is hard to ascertain the state of the frame from the supplied photos.
This is the only shot of the interior, and while it isn’t the greatest angle, it does seem to indicate that the interior trim is in good condition. Certainly, the leather seats look quite nice, while the dash and pad also look to be original and in good order. There are no signs of any cracking or tears, and it does appear that the carpet is also pretty reasonable.
Under the hood are the 300hp 327ci V8 engine and 4-speed manual transmission. The owner states that the Corvette has covered a genuine 69,421 miles, but doesn’t indicate whether he holds any documentary evidence to back this claim. There are a few non-original items that are noticeable under there, including the Edelbrock air cleaner and the valve covers. The owner does say that this is a full numbers-matching car, and this will certainly help the vehicle’s value.
On the face of it, this Corvette looks like a car that you can just hop into and drive. It isn’t a cream puff or a trailer queen, but it looks to be a car that is made to enjoy. The overall condition looks to be quite good, although I would like to get a good look underneath the car. At the time of writing, bidding has reached $36,100, but the reserve is yet to be met. Given the overall condition of the Corvette, how high do you think the reserve is?
Beautiful from every angle, 54 years later.
Unlike most all of us LOL
’65 is the most interesting mid-year for me…first year for the big block, 4 wheel disc brakes, last for the fuelie.
Very nice car.
A work of art. Chevy nailed it with this era of Corvette between the bodywork, fighter plane inspired cockpit and engines. Can someone please explain the need to mention “original California black plates in almost every west coast vehicle. Other than becoming wall art in your garage, what’s the value when the vehicle is registered in another state (Nevada in this case)?
In CA a plate stays with the car. A black plate on a 1969 (or a few 1970) model car or earlier means that the car spent its life in dry, non-salt, and easygoing CA its entire life. In 1963 all CA cars got a new plate, a black plate. For a 1962 or earlier model a black plate means the car was in CA from 1963 until now.
There is also a curiosity in seeing those plates, an oddity, a throwback.
Beware, CA now issues black and yellow vanity plates. So if you see those black plates on a 1970/1 model or later car you cannot infer the ‘life in CA’ attribute.
These black plates do not suggest long term ownership as a plate stays with a car.
CA does not do YOM (year of manufacture) plates for post 1962 plates where an owner can affix an old plate from the model year of the vehicle at this time. Therefore a black plate means it was on a 1965 car since it was new. A YOM 1957 plate on a 1957 model car does not necessarily confer longtime CA life. This is why a black plate on a 1957 is much more valuable than a YOM 1957 plate.
These plates are somewhat like NY white plates and MA green plates.
The last MA green plates came out in around 1988 and the NY white plates in 2006.
Having those plates means stability and that the driver is old as the plates stay with the registrant and not the vehicle. And the registrant can affix them on very old vehicles.
NY has a YOM program but the white plates (2001-2006) are not part of that program.
In NY if you have a 1990 Buick with a white plate it means nothing other than the registrant has been in NY and has continuously owned a car since at least 2006. A 1990 Buick with a YOM plate (Liberty Plate) means nothing about the car nor the driver.
Please correct anything that can be wrong.
I am not a CA resident but I have a question…………
How can a ’65 have a CA black plate beginning with an A? These were the first issued in 1963. You’d think they would be further along the alphabet for a 65 that hit the road in 10/1964 at its earliest.
That license plate is being used as part of the ‘year of manufacture’ programme and would have been issued in 1963. It is not original to the car, which would have had a P through R prefix.
Caveat emptor…
Whoa for a second………….
You mean that CA black plates can be used as YOM???!!! That certainly devalues their presence.
This means that the ‘long life in CA’ cannot be necessarily inferred from an old black plate (as opposed to the new black vanity plates). Are blue plates also YOMable?
Steve P, you can tell on the YOM plates because they have to have the sticker from the year of the car affixed to the plate and the current sticker placed elsewhere. That means this car should have a 1965 sticker on the plate somewhere. I can’t see from the pictures if that is what happened here.
Steve P, I’m originally from California and was very much around when these plates were issued. My understanding is that the YOM programme allows the black plates to be used.
I have an original set from 1964 (including that year’s sticker) in my collection, as well as the front plate from my mother’s ’64 Bonneville. In the latter case, the rear plate fell off during the summer of that year – we added a hitch to the car so that we could tow a travel trailer to Canada – and she ended up getting reissued a new set of plates.
FYI, both plates had the letter ‘O’ as their prefix. Ditto on the original plates on my ’64 Wildcat before I went to a set of blue, personalised/vanity plates over 40 years ago.
OK kids….listen up. As for Cali….
If you have a black or blue plate and you bought it say at a swap meet, as long as it is “cleared” by the DMV, meaning it is no longer registered to another car, you can put them on a car/truck if your car which would have originally been registerd in that color ( black with yellow letters, or blue with yellow letters.) when new. YOM program.
For instance. some trucks up to 1972 year of manufacture had blue and yellow, some had black and yellow depending when they were registered in 1972.
1970 on cars had blue and yellow plates. For example my late lamented 1970 P car had a blue and yellow plate that was assigned to the car in 1970. You judged the blue /yellow plates by the letters not the numbers. The letters followed the numbers. So mine was B S W, meaning it was registered early in 1970.
My 1972 C-10 was brought to Cali from somewhere else. I found a set of commercial blue/yellow plates at a swap meet, they were cleared and they now sit on my truck. I could have had black/yellow if I wanted.
So it’s difficult to tell sometimes whether the car came originally with that particular set of black/yellow or blue/yellow plates because of the Year of Manufacture program .
To complicate matters further the State is selling black and yellow vanity plates. They are easy to tell because they have too many digits or letters on them to be from the sixties.
As Beadouin Beatnik stated there appears to be something odd about the plates on the Corvette. I will take his word for it on the alphabetic progression of the plates by year.
I sort of judge the plates by the condition of the plate vis a vis the car or truck. The vette is pretty clean so pending an expert like BB I would have thought they might have come on the car…
On the black plates form the mid sixties the letters could have started with an A, it is possible as I had a 1964 Pontiac Lemans I bought in 1970 form the second owner with plates starting ASV, I now have an original black plate 1965 Buick Skylark that was sold in Burlingame, CA but it has MLH as the letters. It is possible that the Corvette here was originally from out of state and when brought to CA and licensed here the owner had the plates in his possession from say a swap meet find, if you take them to the DMV they will issue them no matter if the letters start with A or Z. A friend bought a ’64 Malibu SS a few years back in Nevada, he had a set of cleared black plates with XXL and DMV issued to the car no problem.
I have heard that if a CA car is sitting unregistered that CA can levy a fine on the title/plates. Enlighten me here?
Should you do a lien search on CA cars?
Styling is timeless. Beautiful. Of course you would want to look at in person. Possible flag is low feedback. wonder what the reserve is. Would like to see a lot more pics for that kind of coin. Good luck to the new owner, Caveat Emptor.
Cheers
GPC
Also missing the ignition wire covers which seem to get lost a lot . I still have mine from a ‘ 64 I had years ago, oh how I miss that car.
The car has 2004 stickers on it, but the front plate is not shown.
I think you will be able to tell from the title if it is an out of state car, or was at some point.
I really don’t care if this car is from California. It’s 54 years old for pete’s sake. It could be from Outer Mongolia and as long as it’s rust free and has all the pieces it’s fine with me. Quibbling over the license plate adds little to the evaluation of the car itself.
I’m more concerned about the air cleaner and valve covers, and the Torq Thrust wheels. However these look to be legitimate Day 2 modifications. You might experience some rubbing of the tires on fenders designed before the Wide Oval era.
But, damn, this car looks good!
Seems to be sitting at $36,100 yet but I wonder what the reserve is on it? Good looking car and should be fun assuming it sells.
It seems like every C2 Vette I see is a high dollar, frame off restoration that looks too nice to put on the road. This one here speaks to me as a nice classic C2 drive to tool around in. I like it.
My favorite Corvette body style. GM hit a homerun with this one. And the mag wheels look really nice on this car. Personally I would have had a black convertible top over the white one currently installed. But nice driver Corvette.
So much conversation about the plate and not one mention of the car being listed as a survivor yet has been repainted has after market items under the hood
I think the phrase survivor gets abused
It does have what looks to be a nice teak wheel
Pat
Loved loved loved
Best Corvette – really American style design and beauty.
I wish I was younger – this vehicle will be seating on my garage
Congratulation for buyer
torq thrusts are the best looking aftermarket well ever on a c2 corvette
Agree!! These are Torque Thrust D knockoffs by American Eagle, 15 x 7. Tires are 215/65/15, tight fit but don’t rub, even with 2″ lowered springs. Rears might touch on very spirited cornering, but hasn’t been a problem.
Beautiful vehicle and I ‘m a Blue blooded Ford guy ! Great find.
Survivor? Well there goes that word.