The novelty of layering coins on cars has thankfully worn off, but it’s still amusing when these vestiges of amusements past show up. This 1965 Chevrolet Corvette was used for a March of Dimes fundraiser in the early 80s, and curiously made liberal use of pennies to drive attention to the fundraising drive. The Corvette is listed here on eBay, where two bids have brought it north of $25K.
I can recall plenty of air-cooled Bugs from my youth modified like this, but this is the first ’65 Corvette I’ve ever seen coated in pennies. Even the hardtop and undersides got sprayed by coins, which the seller specifies happened in 1984. Plenty of news coverage and other documentation validates this Corvette’s successful past as a booster for the March of Dimes, and I suspect it could very easily become a piece of eye candy for a fundraiser once again.
Despite being a novelty, the interior was kept in excellent condition. There is a seam split noted on one seat, but that seems minor considering how good the rest of it looks. With a modified example like this, you tend to expect the worst inside the cabin and under the hood, but it appears restraint was shown everywhere else on the car.
The seller notes the Corvette made its initial charitable appearance at the Hartford Armory, which I can only assume is in Connecticut. The car is now located in Babylon, New York, so it’s been a northern vehicle for a while – but rust seems to be a non-issue. It is equipped with a 283, a Powerglide automatic, and 25,000 pennies – would you drive it like this?
This is really a thing? Lol
I can’t make cents of this. You’d think it would only be worth pennies on the dollar, but the bidding seems to be going well. Just my two cents worth.
Wow, must be pretty heavy!
Must be rare. How often can you call a Corvette a “cents able” car?
A penny for your thoughts. Wait, maybe not a good idea. She looks heavy to me, Should have done the bumpers while you are at it. I will save the bad penny jokes for the rest of the gang.
Regarding those bad penny jokes….I’m sure they will turn up. :-) :-)
Why didn’t they do this to a Lincoln?
LOL! Just got it Mitch!
http://cointrackers.com/blog/13/most-valuable-pennies/
Maybe one of these are glued to it and you can recoup some of your money 🤷🏻♂️
If you crash this one it will take a week to clean up the “mess”. Nice car though.
@ bobhess, i was thinking the same thing.
As I read this I could hear in my head the sound of loose change hit the floor.
Why?…ugh
Let’s see, 3.11 grams per penny for pennies minted 1941 to 1981 times 25,000= a little over 171.4 extra pounds or approximately the weight of a passenger one is always carrying.
Car is neat though and I’d venture a guess that it is one-of-a kind. I wonder if the pennies could be polished or are they now coated?
Thanks! I was wondering how much 250 dollars in pennies weighed.
283 slushbox, no way Jose
Slushbox AND a ruined body………………..I’ll flip you for it!
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. any idea of how much it raised ???
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probably a lot more than it was worth then…
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.and to the kids it helped, a lot more than any ’65 Stingray is worth today
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“It is equipped with a 283, a Powerglide automatic, and 25,000 pennies – would you drive it like this?”
Sadly, no. Inflation since 1965 would force me to redo the car in quarters.
No 283 in 1965….
1967 perhaps ?
My moms 67 chevelle wagon had the 283 2 -speed powerglide
I believe that there was a283 in 1965. They were also available in the Impala and the Biscayne and or Bel Air.
You can’t tell these kids that. They think they know it all. The last 283 in a Corvette was 1961.
Would it be funnier if it were all Canadian pennies ?
Based on the exchange rate, we’d have to add another 70 pennies to the car.
I can only imagine what it would look like if you plucked all the coins off. Probably similar texture to a plucked chicken!! If I win the lottery before auction end, I will be the one to find out.
yuck
I’ll buy it if I can pay in pennies
There’s a junkyard/parts place on the outskirts of town where I live that has a 2000ish Dodge Neon that is covered in crushed soda cans. It’s the only other car that I’ve seen anything like this done to. I’d rather have this Corvette though…
Unless the price of aluminium per pound has exceeded the cost of (mostly) copper…………
If it was for the March of dimes shouldn’t it have been covered in dimes🤔
@ Don. Exactly.
More money, more work as dimes are a bit smaller would be my excuse, if i did this.
Good point. I suspect the truth is someone thought it was a neat idea to cover it in pennies. Cheaper of course.
I guess if you’re going to screw up a Corvette, at least this one is an automatic.
@ACZ Funny!
But you can’t go anywhere without the coppers being all over it.
I can’t make heads or tails of this mess. How much coin to remove all the pennies. Is it worth the work to make it original?
Looks like it needs new rear quarters if that makes cents.
I bet it stops on a dime and leaves change
I could go on and on….
@Steve, funny, funny, funny! I need a 5 cent beer.
You could drive this baby into a fountain and have a lifetime of wishes…or give away wishes to family and friends. The possibilities are endless.
I would polish this copper baby up, & put a 4 speed M-22 in it. On the other hand polishing is work, i like aqua green, & black pennies too.
I guess it’s fun to yuk it up about the current state of this poor car but it’s a shame to ridicule a great marque. It wouldn’t take that much to make it a fun driver and enjoy for its original purpose.
@Andy. What side of the bed did you wake up on? I love this car just the way it is well except for the trans. Yeah as it served a great purpose helping people from the March of Dimes. Happy laughing is healthy, try it please.
Well I suggest someone obtain a Crain to toss this bad penny in the air or off a cliff to see if it lands heads or tails 🤪
My two cents is that one could get copper poisoning if you got caught out in the rain with the top down and water 💦 splashed inside 😏👀
If I had a penny for every lame modification made to vehicles I’d be rich.
FYI
If Johnny Cash was on a penny they would call it a JC Penny
@Classic Steel
I think a lot of people would just call it “one cent”
@ Classic Steel, your joking right? If not, haven’t you every drank water from copper pipes? Think about all the led fishing weights in our water supply reservoirs. Now if you swallow these heavy metals, that’s different because of stomach acids breaking them down. My favorite boss lived with a copper or maybe brass tracer bullet in his back for months in Nom. People survive with embed led bullets too.
How many burnouts will it take to knock a few cents off the price?
You are a bunch of dorks. If you don’t know what that means, it is a bunch of a…holes. Maybe you dicks weren’t alive when the March of Dimes was a very large organization, but they were instrumental in saving the lives of tens of thousands or cancer victims. Be thankful that you missed it. If I could afford it, I would be very proud to drive this all day long.
Alright alright. I apologize on behalf of the wiseguys.
My my, a little testy aren’t we? Yes Jack,
I do remember the March Of Dimes but
not this car. A lot of my buddies and I
in the music business donated a lot of
free playing time to their annual telethons. I recall a wealthy gentleman
called in and said he’d donate $10K if
someone would play the song Release
Me. Well, myself and 3 of my pals stepped up and played the song and that
chapter got an extra $10K for our efforts.
After we got done, the show’s producer,
Tom Sleeper bought us a beer to boot.
And yes, that was his real last name!
Anything’s better with a cold beer right?
Everybody wants to be a comedian. Sadly, it just goes to show what a penny is worth today. I don’t even bend down to pick one up. According to the Simpsons, the only reason they keep them in circulation is to have a copy of your DNA. I’ve seen several of these “money” cars here in “creative” Colorado. I think they ruined a nice car, besides, isn’t it a federal offense to destroy US money like this. Article 331 clearly states, “it’s unlawful to destroy, alter, deface,mutilate, diminish, impair, falsify, scale or lighten any US coin”. You inna heap o’ trouble, son,,,
I got this from a site that sells cut coin jewelry. Their work is not done with intent to fraud or misrepresent therefore not illegal. Same is true with this Vette.
This paragraph from the U.S. Mint website should clear this up:
Section 331 of Title 18 of the United States code provides criminal penalties for anyone who ‘fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates impairs, diminishes, falsifies, scales, or lightens any of the coins coined at the Mints of the United States. This statute means that you may be violating the law if you change the appearance of the coin and fraudulently represent it to be other than the altered coin that it is. As a matter of policy, the U.S. Mint does not promote coloring, plating or altering U.S. coinage: however, there are no sanctions against such activity absent fraudulent intent. (Source U.S. Mint)
Please calm down, sir. If you look at the order sheet you clearly checked the box for metallic paint.
The article says rust doesn’t seem to be an issue…… but what about tarnish?
Seriously, I would knock all the pennies off and repaint it to original. The car did it’s job, now it’s time to return it to original.
all dependent on how the pennies are attached. One of George Barris’ employees had a 60s Cadillac festooned with car emblems, attached with silicone sealant. You’d never get rid of that stuff!
Wow! All I can say is wow.
These comments just don’t make any cents.
What a waste!
Might have been cool if he was a little more precise with the coin placement and didn’t do the $ sign and the off kilter Corvette on the back.
Yes I remember quite well volunteers going from home to home asking for donations every March for the march of dimes. It was a good cause and helped a lot of people. Many of you probably don’t remember the Iron lungs used for polio irradication in the U.S. March of dimes helped pay for many of those people to live long and prosperous lives.
God bless America
I had a 63 coupe with the base engine. It was a 250 horse 327. The rocker arm covers were pressed steel. To get the classic Corvette valve covers you needed to step up to the 300 HP 327. Lots of folks went down to the parts yard and bought the “Corvette” valve covers. Could not imagine anyone doing this but a 283 would easily drop into the 65 engine bay and bolt in. My 63 also had the 2 speed auto. Slush box is an apt term.
Enjoyed the “penny” banter. I would sure pass on this one.
@ Bing, thank you. I did not know there was a 250 hp base 327.
So if the car was to represent the march of dimes why would you put pennies on it. Wouldn’t dimes have been more appropriate. Just my 2 cents.
Well it would cost more than nine X’s as much as dimes are smaller. Rube Goldberg rightly pointed out about defacing money being illegal. I wonder if it was a permission/permit thing? They got permission for pennies only maybe? Or could those not be real pennies at all? What if it’s a copper penny paint stamp job with a poly clear coat? Yeah as Dennis was pointing out about “metallic paint” i think?
What I don’t get is why people are willing to pay more for this car. It’s going to take a lot of work to fix this damage. I’d think this mess should bring the value down not up. I’m not going to make a lame joke about this car it did it’s job as a fund raiser prize and had I won this car the pennies would have come off right away. If it were mine now I’d be out knocking off pennies with a scrapper and a rubber mallet. The copper colour would look good on here as a repaint colour though. Pass.
When the pennies tarnish you’ll finally have a car with true patina.
ACZ is correct, there were no 283’s in Corvettes in 1965. The real quandary here is that the tach redline indicates the car was originally a 365-327 or a Fuelly, but neither of those engines was available with a Powerglide. The body would be a good project for your local tech school….
If you read the article it was not originally done for March if Dimes. Just a generic fund raising vehicle and not the prize.
Plenty people on here to moan about anything ‘different’.
I like it the way it is.
The world is not short of standard Corvettes.
If you can’t pay the toll on the interstate maybe you could scrape the payment off the car!!! I never heard of anybody doing this!!! I guess you learn something new everyday!! The motor transmission combination doesn’t thrill me either!! In a muscle car it isn’t bad but the 4 speed is the only way to go in a sports car in my opinion!!! I can’t amagine how many hours it would take to get theses off this car and restore the body to original condition!!!
I think this was the prototype for for heads-up display!
Saw it at the auction in Carlisle in April. Didn’t see it cross the block though.
Ended: Aug 26, 2019 , 4:04PM
Winning bid:US $29,000.00
[ 3 bids ]
Winning bidder must have bailed, got this today. Ended:Sep 13, 2019 , 8:30PM
Winning bid:US $26,100.00
[ 7 bids ]
Had this in my email this morning. A short article from Corvette Online about the penny rig. https://www.corvetteonline.com/news/heads-or-tails-1965-penny-corvette-roadster-brings-29k/