Corvettes at Auction: Mecum Des Moines

Article contributed by Steve Burns

The crew from Mecum Auctions rolls into the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, IA this weekend for a 2 day event. As of this writing, over 230 cars were listed on the docket. Roughly 10% of those are Corvettes. Discovery’s HD Theater will provide 4 hours of live coverage each day from the event. Checkout some of our faves being offered this weekend after the jump.

The Des Moines sale will have Corvettes from the 2nd through 5th generations available for sale this weekend with C3’s making up about 50% the Corvette selections. Here’s how the generations breakdown:

Since summer is in full swing now, our preview this time will focus on a few nice convertibles that could be yours. Below the cars we’d like to take out for a top-down summertime cruise.

Lot #S107 1963 340hp A/C Roadster
The all new 2nd generation Corvette debuted in 1963. Chevy sold 21,513 examples that year. Of those, 10,919 were convertibles. Just 278 cars (1.3%) of the entire production run received RPO C60, Air Conditioning and 6,978 (32.4%) were powered by the 327/340 motor. The white on black car featured here has been subjected to a frame-off restoration. Additional options include a 4-speed, power steering and brakes, side pipes, and knocks offs. The A/C system, however, is an aftermarket unit. Air conditioned, 4 speed convertibles are hard to find and highly desirable in the marketplace. It will be interesting to see if the aftermarket A/C on this car affects the bidding at all. We don’t think it will.

Lot #S100 1972 4-Speed Roadster
This Mylar blue (we think it’s Targa Blue) on blue roadster is selling at no reserve with proceeds going to charity. According to the seller, the car has undergone a complete restoration. It is one of 27,004 Corvettes made that year and 1 of 6,508 convertibles (24.1%). Options include a 4-speed, power steering and power brakes, as well as a matching hardtop. No mention is made of matching numbers on the drivetrain. Given the condition, options, colors, and charity benefit, we expect this car to bring some pretty good numbers when it goes up on Saturday about 1:55pm central time.

Lot #S20 1998 Convertible
Motor Trend named the Corvette its Car of the Year in 1998 as the C5 entered its second year of production. 31,804 cars left Bowling Green that year. Of those, 11,849 (38.1%) were convertibles and just 1,567 were painted in 53U Toreador Red (although the listing calls it Carmine Red – they both have the same 53U paint code). All 1998 cars were powered by the 345hp LS1 motor. The car listed here is a 1 owner car and has the black leather interior. Other goodies include a 6-speed transmission, dual sport seats, and chrome wheels. Early C5’s are quickly becoming great bargains in the market due to their performance and reliability. Nice examples like this one can usually be had for reasonable money these days. This one should be no different.

Mecum’s Des Moines Auction begins at 11am central time on Friday July 15th and at 10am central time on Saturday July 16th. HD Theater’s live coverage will air Friday from 5-9pm and Saturday from 1-5pm central time.

If you can’t make to this event or don’t have HD Theater, be sure to watch all the action live on Mecum’s website.

Source:
Mecum.com

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