Silver L88 Trifecta Sells at Worldwide Auctioneers Houston Sale

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Silver L88 Trifecta Sells at Worldwide Auctioneers Houston Sale


We’ve previously talked about the 3 silver on black L88 convertibles that crossed the auction block last weekend in Houston. Worldwide Auctioneers offered the 1967. 1968, and 1969 Corvettes from a single California collection at no reserve. Having one L88 Corvette at an auction is always newsworthy, but having a matching set of all 3 model years is simply unheard of.

L88 equipped Corvettes were only produced for 3 years. 20 were produced in 1967, 80 were made in 1968, and 116 were born in 1969. Initially intended for the race track, these rare Corvettes have become the peak of the Corvette desirability iceberg. Values of these cars have grown significantly over the last several years.

Prior to the sale we theorized if the 1967 car would set a new world record price for a C2 L88. The sale estimate for the 1967 L88 Corvette was $3,200,000 – $3,800,000. Much to our surprise it was hammered sold at $2,400,000. While that’s good money, it’s still about $1,000,000 below the recent sales we’ve seen. The well documented history, NCRS and Bloomington Gold awards didn’t push it to the level both we and the auction house were expecting.

1967 L88 Corvette


The presale estimate for the 1968 L88 was $650,000 – $750,000. When the hammer fell it had a new owner at $555,000. Again, well below what we were expecting. In this case we think the auction house may have been a little optimistic in their estimate and the $555k it a pretty good price for a 1968 L88, but we’ve seen others sell for more.

1968 L88 Corvette


The 1969 L88 sold for $450,000, or $200,000 below the $600,000 – $700,000 presale estimate. Visually, this was our favorite of the bunch. The red line tires, sparkling silver paint, and black interior all add up to one stunning Corvette. If we had $451,000 this car would be on its way to CorvetteBlogger’s Motor City Bureau. We do find the final sale price of this car confusing. It’s got a fresh Naber brother’s restoration, the rare 4.56:1 rear end, tank sticker, and NCRS and Bloomington awards. That’s generally enough to push prices higher.

1969 L88 Corvette


So overall, the L88 Trifecta collection brought in well less than what was estimated. Are these sales just a blip on the Corvette value radar? Bidders are smart, especially when their bid has 2 commas in the price. We’re sure there’s more to each car than we know here. Was this just a case of savvy bidders being in the right place at the right time and scoring good deals? Or is this just were the L88 market happens to be right now? We’ll have to keep an eye on future sales this year to find out for sure.

UPDATE
We watched this auction live on Worldwide’s webcams and each car was hammered as SOLD. However, now that the dust has settled, we learned that only the 1968 L88 actually changed hands. The 1969 and the 1967 Corvette are officially no-sales and are not listed in the results from the event.


Source:
Worldwide Auctioneers

Related:
Worldwide Auctions to Offer the Silver L88 Trifecta at the Houston Classic Auction
[VIDEO] Worldwide Auctioneers Will Offer a 1967 L88 Corvette at the Houston Classic
[PICS] Rare Corvettes on Display at the 2016 Boca Raton Concours d’Elegance

 



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1 COMMENT

  1. This was absolutely the wrong venue to sell these cars! A world renown Barrett-Jackson, or European auction house would have added the panache these cars deserved and not let them go at no reserve to bottom feeders. It was a fatal flaw in placing these collectible super cars with a third tier auction house!

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