It’s a shame that some of the best looking projects come from failed marriages. This 1963 Corvette convertible is being sold as the result of a divorce with a lot of the heavy lifting already completed. It’s listed for sale here on eBay and is located in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The buy it now price is $29,900 but as I found out today, sometimes folks accept really low offers (no, it wasn’t a car, it was for an XJS manual, but they took 1/3 of their asking price).
You can see the extent of the restoration and standard of the work in this picture. You can’t take a car much further down than this. The seller was in the middle of a true frame-off restoration.
Here’s a picture of the chassis coming together, including new stainless steel brake and fuel lines and polyethylene bushings. A new fuel tank followed. The frame was sandblasted and powder coated before assembly.
This appears to be the current status of the car. The seller tells us that all paint has been removed from the fiberglass and it’s ready to be repainted. The original color was black and the car also had a black interior.
While this is not a numbers-matching 327 cubic inch V-8 engine, it is period, and the original block that has been cleaned and magnafluxed is also included in the sale. The engine in this picture, the four-speed transmission and also an original carburetor have all been professionally rebuilt. Although they aren’t pictured, the seats, dash, steering column, steering wheel, convertible top frame and many other parts are also included. I’m sure you will have to do some sourcing on your own, but you can get pretty much any part for a Corvette.
If this could only be bought for $20,000.! So sad that so many projects and complete cars need to go because of the big D, I hope this seller can move on and replace it in the future. Black/black would not be my first choice but if going with a somewhat correct restoration it would look nice with a white top and thin white walls.
Lot of money for a jig-saw puzzle
I remember an old high school buddy of mine having one of these back in 1984. (It was just a few years AFTER our high school days, & he was enjoying the rewards of working 40 hours per week..)
It was a 327, 4 speed, convertible, with a very straight body, faded white paint, decent black interior, factory alloy wheels w knock-offs, and it ran & drove pretty close to perfect.
It was a cool car that you could drive daily, and then restore/improve as you had the time & money.
BUT as they say “timing is everything”, as he put it up for sale almost exactly at the same time that I was beginning my engineering classes at CalPoly.
Given my need for tuition $$, I had to pass on his offer to sell it to me for $6K.
In hindsight I almost wish I’d postponed school for 1 year, bought the Vette instead, & just 100% ENJOYED being a 21 year old!! :-)
“It’s a shame that some of the best looking projects come from failed marriages.”…How ironic…probably the reason the marriage failed. Too funny.
The guy was in love with his car..what’s wrong with that?
My ex-wife saw my Corvette and said, “Either that car goes or I do”
I still have the Vette.
When I got married I sold my Corvette. a real nice 57 no less. And now I’m divorced!! To her credit we tried to buy it back.
If I were younger than 76 years old, I’d probably go after this one, and push something out of the pole barn to make space. Still got one more restoration left in me.
I think that is a fair price to the car all updated brakes good frame etc
Hes going to have to take a serious bath on this one. Looks like a nice project but, short of being something special, you always lose on projects like this, it’s a labor of love. Plus shippers dont like to pick up stuff like this w/ all the loose parts etc. 29k unrealistic when running driving can be had for 10k more. This one needs 3x that much to finish.