It is interesting to see how the collector car market will almost instantaneously create incredible demand for certain cars. Take for example the Porsche 911 market. A few years ago, early 911s were admired but not treasured. Prices reflected that. Now, these cars regularly hit the market with high five and low six figure price tags. Even rust buckets bring huge money. Why? As the market looks for alternatives, you can bet early Corvettes aren’t far behind. Take for example this rough 1958 Corvette, being sold on eBay out of Virginia Beach, Virginia. This drop top won’t be cruising the sands anytime soon. Still, it sports a $21,500 buy it now price. Is that just crazy pricing, or are we at the start of yet another bubble?
Make no mistake, solid axle Corvettes (1953-1962) have always been collectible. Their stunning good looks were matched by solid V-8 horsepower by 1955, and Corvette’s racing pedigree was as good as any car’s soon after. Sports car purists often try to throw shade on early Corvettes because they used parts from more pedestrian cars in GM’s lineup. However, start rattling off the parts that the haughty European sports cars share with their underpowered stable mates and these affectionados quickly find other places to be. Corvettes earned their stripes the hard way on the back roads and at tracks all over the world.
So it is understandable that examples in great condition bring big money. The mystery is why cars like this 1958 are selling for so much. This Corvette has a rusty frame, numerous shoddy repairs to its fiberglass body, and is missing a tremendous amount of hard to find parts. It does, however, have a transferrable New York registration and an original GM VIN tag. Many of the chrome pieces are present as well. Despite all of this, a full restoration would be a tall task. Bringing it to a NCRS Duntov award level would be a near impossibility.
The seller tells us that this used to be a blue car with blue interior. According to the Corvette Black Book, this combination was likely a Silver Blue body with blue and gray interior. There is no information in the ad telling us if the cove was painted a contrasting color. According to the Black Book, that color would be silver. There is also no mention of any options the car may have left the factory with. Even though the convertible top and frame are present, we don’t even know if the top has the power assist option.
Looking inside, the instrument cluster currently in the car is one from a 1962 Corvette. We can see that the steering wheel and rear view mirror are present. Little else remains. You could get a lot of cool options on a Corvette in 1958, such as a signal seeking AM radio, power windows, heavy duty suspension, and your choice of an automatic or manual transmission. It really makes you wonder what this car came with.
Peering into the engine compartment, we can see some of the damage rust has done to the frame. You can order replacement sections for the frame from various Corvette aftermarket suppliers, and, according to this article in Super Chevy, the repairs are pretty straightforward. From there, you can start sourcing the engine and transmission of your choice. While restored Corvettes bring the biggest money, a car in this condition would likely end up as a resto-mod with a more current drivetrain.
Is this Corvette worth $21,500? Maybe. Knowing what options this car originally had on it would go a long way. Getting a lot closer look at the rusty frame and the damaged body would be helpful as well. Everything is repairable or replaceable. For a price that is. A full restoration would obviously be very costly. Making the car numbers matching perfect would be even more cost prohibitive.
Will the car bring this kind of money? Once again, maybe. Early Corvettes are very desirable, and are on the cusp of being seen more as investments than collectibles. Cars like this one will likely not be worth the cost of a full restoration in the near term. However, a rising tide lifts all boats. That tide seems to be coming in for early Corvettes.
Lil rich in price for missing parts etc. but I am sure someone will buy it with an inheritance or on a whim 👀
New York is a BOS state making title transfer easy on older vehicles not required in system for this age .
Yes.. asking price is a bit rich.. You can buy driver quality ’58’s in the $45-55K, so why touch this nightmare ???
To properly restore this car would probably exceed $75K.
First of all… asking price isn’t selling price …decent, driver quality ’58’s can be had for $45-55K…. To pay $21K for this would be a bad idea, but u never know what delusional amateur restorers will do !!
1958 Corvettes had no Trim Tag or Tank Sticker, so there is no way to ascertain what color, trim or options it left the factory with in 1958. Paperwork is not likely to be found from 1958, so you can paint this car and color you like, with any engine you like and nobody can say it’s NOT original.
There is picture in the original listing that shows the front bulkhead inside the trunk. This is where the facture wrote in wax crayon what color the car was to be painted. As you can see in the picture the word “BLUE”. This would be Frost Blue with Frost Blue interior.
There is no question that the classic car market is experiencing a major bubble and a great many people are going to be in shock when that bubble pops one of these days, I’ve seen it happen before and believe me, it ain’t pretty. There is no way I would throw $21-1/2 big ones at this thing in this condition at this point in the market cycle. My general rule of thumb regarding the buying and restoring of old cars, never spend a penny that you can’t afford to lose.
First of all when I go to the eBay site I’m getting a 2011 corvette add this has happened a few time lately. I wish I kept better track of the car that this happened on. As for the 1958 corvette I think at this point resto mod is the way to go. I think the drive line out of a late 90’s camero, probably out of a wreck.this car doesn’t need to be restored to concours level because without it original driveline it will never be a concourse car. I say driver quality is enough and then just get out and enjoy it.
Apparently someone already hit the ‘buy-it-now’ button perhaps based on the greater-fool theory of investing or maybe he just won the lottery. Either way, I wish him luck.
That’s a change eBay has made. If a car is purchased or the auction has ended, eBay forwards you to a related vehicle. Kind of irritating, but not sure what we can do about it.
It’s easy to see the ended auction:
Just click on the word “listing” in the upper left of the replacement auction and you will be taken to the original auction.
Meant to add this pic to my reply.
Mark !! If you click on where it says this listing has ended….click on the blue “listing” it will take you back
to the deleted listing!
I’ve found a way to prevent the redirect so we will go ahead and add it to eBay links form now on.
Great work Jesse, thank you!
Ended: Jul 02, 2018 , 8:40AM
Sold for:US $21,000.00
Hello
I’m not surprised C1 and C2 market is on fire. Even split window that is junk going for 40k these days
Nice Find. Thanks for sharing listing and writing the story. Had no idea at what depth these vehicles become collectible assets rather than treasured pleasure rides.
Greed rules. This will end up at one of the high-end auctions as a $50,000 Resto-mod or some other bogus term and everybody goes home happy. Resto-mods, “tributes” and “clones” are terms for just another way to perform a wallet-ectomy on some sap.
And My reply. To each his own. Not everything needs to be brought back to original. If it were mine, I would definitely update it to make it better.
Jon-Of course “to each his own”, especially when you are the “each” writing the big check. I didn’t make it clear in the post, but I was trying to point out that this car is a perfect candidate for a cloning/restomodding/tributing, which to me is nothing but pure greed on the part of clone/restomod/tribute sellers. It is the ultimate “flip”
If I’m not mistaken, 58 model had one year only vents in the upper half of the hood. This car is a mish-mash of parts.
You’re right that’s a 59/60 hood, but finish doesn’t look original to the car regardless. Car looks like it has the correct trunk lid.. holes for the 58-only spears.
The 58 hood (one year only) wasn’t vented but did have the fiberglassed rolls that resembled louvres. I liked the looks of them on my 58.
The 1958 only hood is referred to as a “washboard” hood.
If you take the time to read the description it says that the washboard was removed from the hood. I am not a Corvette person so that means nothing to me but based on the above comments it will mean something to some of you.
That car is a pile of S$$T. Who ever bought it got screwed.
1958 was the only year with the “washboard” hood as it’s called among Vette guys !! It was a non-functional design element.
In my opinion the C1 market has neared its bubble. Looking at the demographics of its buyers the interested market becomes relative to disposable income/those who even knows/care what these are.
I’m in my early 30’s and lucky enough to have been around C1s my whole life. A year or so ago my father sold his 56 and 57 and although I’ve been around both cars, amongst other C1s, for a long time I encouraged him moving them despite personal interest in keeping them in the family. They both moved quickly as #s correct frame off cars.
I’ll hopefully have a C1 some day but it’ll be in years when it becomes a buyers market and they don’t demand 6-figures. By then it’ll be another car that doesn’t have nav or a back up camera.
Car in question with a rusty frame, no drivetrain, etc… seems steep. Trim/chrome for these cars, however, is pricey.. plus a clean and transferable title.. relatively straight body… I don’t think it was highway robbery.
A car’s value, fundamentally, is defined by what a buyer is willing to pay. Simple.
I don’t think there is really much of a Corvette bubble … The cars have always been popular and price fluctuations thu the years have been moderate … Highly exotic versions such as L-88, ZL-1, ZL-2 etc. are exceptions, as prices can swing violently.
In other words, I don’t think your going to see a nice driver quality ‘C-1 for under $20K anytime soon!!!
it sounds like a Johnny Cash Cadillac