Basement Find! 1965 Chevrolet Corvette

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Well, as is often said, “Parts is parts” and they’re plenty of them associated with this 1965 Chevrolet Corvette. The seller claims that this Chevy was stored in a cellar for 40 years, actually, “since the mid 70’s, the owner had planned on doing a full restoration on the car, so he disassembled the whole car, stripped the paint off and there it sat for so many years”. I don’t think there is an instruction sheet included but let’s see what’s here – maybe it’s self explanatory…Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada is where you’ll find this C2 version of Chevrolet’s plastic fantastic and it’s available, here on eBay for a current bid of $27,900 with the reserve not yet met. There is a BIN price of $45,000 available too.

The listing for this ‘Vette is light, too light considering its current state. Beyond its stripped condition, we’re told, “The fiberglass on this car is excellent and you can see in the pictures the condition of the bird cage is exceptional…” What can be seen appears to be sound but it’s the lack of everything that has me concerned. There’s not even one of those everything’s gonna be OK claims that states, emphatically, “There’s at least 95% (you pick the number) of the parts needed to finish this project”. The images indicate yes, there are many, many parts but which are right, which are wrong, which are unusable, and which are just plain missing is not indicated, nary a suggestion.

Corvette power in ’65 means a 327 CI V8 with power ranging from 250 to 375 gross HP. Some mid-year models were built with a big-block 396 CI V8, but this car’s born-with powerplant is never mentioned. The hood is wearing an incorrect ’67 big-block “stinger” scoop but the included engine block is not identified, so which one is it? Search me fish, it has four-bolt mains and that’s all I can tell. A manual transmission is supposed to handle all things gear-related, but gearbox courtesy only extends to the bell housing and no further.

I have referred to the interiors of some cars as “gutted” but this one takes it to a new level (or a new low, depending on your perspective) – it is absent. The accompanying images detail much of this car’s innards but whether everything is useable will be a piece-by-piece discovery. The piles of wiring harnesses are what makes me truly nervous and jerky – I’d assume they will all need to be replaced.

Verdict? I would have left it in the basement and just kept the door closed. This will be an enormous project and the potential pitfalls are many – not to mention that the BIN price is out of reasonable sight. My thought is the reserve won’t be made and the seller may need to rethink his pricing strategy – but, I’ve been wrong before…Anyway, if I were in the market for a C2, I think, I’d keep looking, how about you?

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