1962 Gulf Oil Corvette Racer to be Sold at RM Sotheby’s Texas Auction

Apr 2, 2015

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1962 Gulf Oil Corvette Racer to be Sold at RM Sotheby's Texas Auction

Paul Andrews and his son, Chris, have spent years building one of the world’s best collections of classic vehicles.

Now they want to sell off many of their prized cars to whittle their impressive collection down to a more manageable 15 to 20 cars that they can focus on and enjoy with their family.

Some 75 of their cars and a wide assortment of memorabilia will be auctioned off May 2 in Fort Worth, Texas by RM Sotheby’s.

One of the cars to be auctioned is their 1962 Corvette Gulf Oil race car – with no reserve. Estimated value of the car is $2 million to $2.75 million.

It’s called one of the most significant of all Corvette racing cars, according to the auction website.

Who can argue?

It was the 1962 SCCA A/Production champion and was driven by the legendary Dr. Dick Thompson for Grady Davis’ Gulf Oil Racing team.

But that’s not all.

It was the winner of the first-ever NCRS American Heritage Award and comes with extensive documentation and has been authentically restored and beautifully maintained.

This special Corvette has a 327 engine producing 360+ horsepower with Rochester mechanical fuel injection, four-speed manual transmission, 37-gallon fuel tank, independent front suspension with upper and lower A-arms, unequal length wishbones, coil springs, an anti-roll bar, and tubular shocks, live axle rear suspension with semi-elliptic leaf springs and tubular shock absorbers, and four-wheel heavy-duty drum brakes.

The car also was of just 246 Corvettes in 1962 equipped with the highly capable RPO 687 package, which put the car in virtually race-ready condition “as-is,” as it added heavy-duty brakes, suspension with special rear shocks, additional air scoops for the brakes, and a quicker steering ratio.

Don Yenko Chevrolet sold the car to Grady Davis’ Gulf Oil Racing team, who got it ready for the 1962 SCCA A-Production series.

Dr. Thompson drove the car to wins in 13 races, including Watkins Glen, Road America, and Virginia International Raceway, cementing his reputation as not only one of the greatest Corvette drivers in history but also one of the best SCCA drivers ever.

But while this Corvette enjoyed a meteoric rise to the top, it just as quickly vanished from the racing scene in 1963.

It was changed back to street specs and spent the next 20 years with four owners apparently not realizing they owned a piece of racing history.

Finally, a Lutheran minister/Corvette expert, Rev. Mike Ernst, discovered the car being used as a daily driver by a college student completely oblivious to its pedigree.

Ernst was able to reunite the Corvette with its original engine block, cylinder heads, exhaust manifold, Yenko heavy-duty suspension, Stewart Warner gauges, and roll bar. It hit the show scene in 1987 and has been a major star in the Corvette world ever since.

Now someone new will have a chance to own this truly one-of-a-kind Corvette.