One of the hard and fast rules of car collecting is that you buy the car not the story. What if the story is a good one and has documentation? If you are looking for a beautiful car with a documented history, then take a look at this 1957 Chevrolet Corvette for sale on eBay in beautiful Miami, Florida. There is proof that this car spent nearly all of its life being pampered under the care of the second owner and his family in California. With a current bid of $50,099, does the story in this case add to the value of the car?
You can’t look at a collectible car and not wonder where it has been all of its life and whose care it was under. With this Corvette, we know. The second owner saw the original 1953 Corvettes when they came out and was “smitten” by the car’s good looks. Vowing to one day own a Corvette despite having been recently married, the fellow saved his pennies until the day fate stepped in.
After finding a job at the General Motors Van Nuys plant, he made friends with the recent buyer of a new Corvette. The original owner obviously purchased the car new and drove it for six months. It was at that point that the car became too much for him. Whether that meant speed or finances is not clear. A “take over the payments” deal was struck and our smitten second owner was behind the wheel of his dream car.
That dream car was used for the first few years on camping trips and outings to the beach and Sequoya. After the arrival of children, the car slid into the life of a daily driver and occasional dates with his wife. The car remained in California throughout its life in the towns of Northridge and Reseda. Sadly, the second owner became ill in 2004 and passed away in 2008. Now the wife of the second owner needs long term care, so the car will now have to have a new home.
This beautiful red Corvette is now in the hands of a Corvette sales and refurbishment outfit in Miami that is handling the car. Arminhott87 is the seller, and we have seen other Corvettes from that seller before on Barn Finds. The seller tells us that they have cleaned the fuel tank, installed a new fuel pump, checked the brakes, and performed other necessary maintenence. The engine and the automatic transmission are advertised as “strong.”
We are also told that everything from the headlights to the gauges in the dash work, with the only exception being the clock. The paint is described as nice, and the interior is given the same description. The picture above makes us think that the interior has been replaced with new carpet and seat upholstery along with a modern set of seat belts. None of this has been addressed in the ad.
The ad does go into detail on some of the part numbers on the car. This is incredibly important information for Corvette collectors, as it allows them to verify which parts are original to the car. It also allows you to ballpark when each part was made by comparing the numbers to those on other cars. The National Corvette Restorers Society is an incredible source for information if you would like to learn more about the intricaces of properly documenting Corvettes. For folks in the market for a car like this, joining the NCRS is money very well spent.
The photos above are from the second owner’s family. There are a few more in the ad that are a window into this car and the family’s life way back then. The only thing that these pictures call into question is the coves. When were they painted a contrasting color? It would also be nice if the purchaser could be granted access to family members to flesh out the car’s story over the years.
So, does the story add value to the car? I would argue that knowing the car has always been a California car adds to the value, as does the continuous documentation of the ownership of the car. After that, it is just a great tale on how the car became a member of the family rather than just transportation. There is a value to that type of story, just not one you can put a dollar figure on.
Would this story motivate you to pay more for this Corvette? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Leave a Reply to gbvette62 Cancel reply