How would you like to be the person known for owning a bookend collection of very notable Corvettes?
In the next few weeks, if your pockets are deep enough, you could take the first step to becoming that celebrity if you place the highest bid on the last C7 Corvette ever to be produced.
The black 2019 Z06 (yet to be assembled in Bowling Green) will nevertheless be auctioned off at the Barrett-Jackson Northeast auction on June 28, with proceeds going to the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which helps pay off mortgages for the families of first responders killed in the line of duty and builds mortgage-free, accessible smart homes for injured service members.
That’s one check mark on your bookend collection.
You could add the other side of your bookend a few weeks later at Mecum’s Monterey, California auction set for Aug. 15-17 when the last of the first-year 1953 Corvettes will be auctioned off.
Chassis E53F001300 (that’s #300 in layman’s terms) was a nice Christmas present for someone back in the day as it rolled off the Flint, Michigan assembly line on Dec. 24, 1953. It proved to be the last Corvette built at the Customer Delivery Garage on Van Slyke Road before Chevy moved production to St. Louis, Missouri until 1981.
All 1953 Corvettes, of course, left Flint with white exteriors over red interiors, but the original owner of #300 – a California doctor – promptly had his car painted black! See, customization has been a trait of Corvette enthusiasts ever since the very beginning!
The car moved from one coast to the other in 1984 when Florida dentist and Corvette collector Ernie Hendry took over stewardship duties of the vehicle. Two years later, Sara Blake and Joe Meyer began a complete restoration that eventually earned the Corvette a Bloomington Gold certification in 1988, in addition to receiving NCRS National Top Flight, Performance Verification and Duntov Mark of Excellence awards by 1990. It was also inducted into the Bloomington Gold Special Collection in 1991.
The honors have continued for this superb automobile over the decades since as the legendary Naber Brothers in Houston, Texas freshened it up for new owner Jim Fasnacht who saw his “baby” inducted into the Bloomington Gold Hall of Fame in 1999.
A second comprehensive restoration described as “fanatical by all accounts” was done by NCRS Master Judge Steve Newsome in 2007, and subsequently the car was displayed at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in 2008 and inducted into the Bloomington Gold Grand Finale Special Collection in 2009.
The current owner paid $533,500 for #300 in 2016, and while Mecum is not making a pre-auction estimate of what the car will bring in August, we’d be shocked if it didn’t reach stratospheric levels, especially with all the excitement over the C8.
In addition to the car, of course, the new owner will receive the car’s huge collection of awards and judging sheets, along with a neat keepsake – a corresponding brick (#300) from the original assembly plant in Flint.
So to all you wealthy Corvette collectors out there, we issue a challenge – break out the checkbook, clean out the IRA if you must, but someone buy the last C7 AND the last 1953 Corvette for the ultimate set of bookends.
Source:
Mecum Auctions via Hemmings.com
Related:
Former Owner of a 1953 Corvette Reunited with the Car After Selling it in 1974
1953 Corvette VIN 268 to be Offered at No Reserve at Vicari’s New Orleans Sale
[VIDEO] 1953 Cutaway Corvette Chassis #003 Now Showing at the National Corvette Museum
-
Admirer of the Corvette forever, owner since 1973, and will always have several 60s examples in my care. It saddens me to read about super rich investors advertising, for bragging rights on all classic transports. They are not in the hobby for the true sense . Its an ego fulfilled financial gain or loss for self identification. They will never set foot in the drivers seat or assist a hobbyist with information or parts. They drive the value up to the point of unaffordable. While some interest remains in the first or last produced the remainder of us look to enjoy, repair, show, and communicate with other caretakers to preserve the history of a great American sports car.
I agree with you Don. I go to mecum and Barrett because I love cars and what they say about America.
I’m in my seventies and own a 2014 C-7 that I intend to but as many miles on as possible.
Comments are closed.