Corvette lovers are an engaged and vocal subset of our shared hobby.  We have written about thousands of Corvettes and the stories have always been popular and are guaranteed to elicit a strong response from lovers of these cars in the comments.  However, two words perk up the ears of everyone with even a passing interest in America’s sports car.  Seeing the words “Fuel Injection” emblazoned on the front fender of a vintage Corvette immediately takes the car to the next level in price and collectibility.  Yet, it is also hard to tell original fuelie cars from fakes unless you know the clues.  Take for example this 1958 Chevrolet Corvette for sale on Craigslist in Sweet Home, Oregon.  The seller takes an “I don’t know for sure” approach with this car and is offering it up for sale for a cool $55,000.  Can any of our learned Barn Finds readers set us straight on whether this “Vette is legit or not?

As we have come to expect from Craigslist ads, there is not much to go on in the pictures or the description.  There are four pictures in the ad.  None of them are particularly revealing.  The first is of the driver’s side rear of the car.  It shows a dusty but complete 1958 Corvette with the two-tone paint option.  The body is in Signet Red and the cove is painted in basic white.  The chrome looks good but the wide whitewall tires look yellowed.  The ad says that the car is a barn find but the pictures show that it must have been a climate-controlled barn that happened to have a restored Corvette in it.

The second picture above shows the driver’s front.  As previously mentioned, fuel-injected Corvettes of this era had a badge on the fender just behind the front wheel that simply said “Fuel Injection.”  Unfortunately, the angle of the picture does not reveal that badge nor does it show a fender without it.  You would think having a clear picture of the badge might have been a priority.  Seeing it wouldn’t necessarily prove anything.  You can buy these on eBay all day and slap them on your old Corvette, but it is a clue.    We are told some more information about the car though.  It does not come with the optional hardtop and has only the convertible top you see in the pictures.  It has been damaged on the passenger side and is claimed to have been repaired.  Notice that there are no pictures of the passenger side.  The seller does have an old picture of the car before the repair that we assume will be shared with prospective buyers.

In the third picture, we see a fair shot of the interior.  The piping on the red seat covering is frayed, but the material itself is free from cracks and tears.  The carpeting appears like new as does the steering wheel.  By the position of the shifter, it sure looks like this is a manual transmission car.  However, the ad confusingly states that a 1965-era 283 cubic inch V-8 with an automatic transmission is presently in the car.  While the Corvette base engine was the 327 cubic inch version by 1965, the 283 was sold as a base engine for many other Chevrolets that year.  The seller also tells us that the car comes with the correct short block for single or dual carburetors.  The buyer will also receive a correct fuel injection unit and distributor.  Are you confused yet?  If not, add to your mental evaluation of this car the statement from the owner that it has been lowered two inches.

I wish I had more information for you, or at least information that made sense when everything was added together.  If you are interested, a phone call may clear a lot of things up.  We may also receive some clues in the comments from our Corvette expert readers who will surely put these four snapshots through the CIA photo analysis treatment to reveal even more about the car.  If someone who knew what they were doing got to look at the car, it might be a fair deal.  At least you don’t have to mail a deposit to a Nigerian prince to see the car.  Not yet anyway.

Do you think this car is a legit fuelie Corvette?  Why or why not?  Please share your evidence and theories in the comments.