Before there was Zeus Bronze that will debut soon on the upcoming mid-engine Corvette, there was this 1965 Sting Ray convertible that takes the color “bronze” to a whole new level.
We originally wrote this story following the sale of the Penny Corvette on eBay for $29,000. Unfortunately for the seller, that deal fell through and he has relisted it for sale with the first bid over $25,000 taking the car home. While not everyone may not be a fan of this form of car art, the bottom line, in this case, is that someone can get a real deal on this C2 Corvette for pennies on the dollar!
Known affectionately for decades as the “Penny Corvette,” this Sting Ray was created for charity by a fellow named Charlie Regini, who glued somewhere between 25,000 to 35,000 pennies (depending on which magazine article you believe, unless you want to try counting them for yourself) on the car’s body, frame, and floors. There is even a $5 bill on the driver’s vent window, as well as some dimes, nickels, silver, and Susan B. Anthony dollars scattered throughout. Check out the huge $ sign on the hood!
The car was originally featured at the Hartford Armory in February 1984 as a fundraiser for the March of Dimes. Regini believed that people would be so intrigued by the car that they would happily pay a dollar just for the privilege of guessing the total value of the money glued all over it!
We don’t know any figures on the amount raised, but the car has remained quite the attention-getter over the years. “I can tell you that I had it at a show one time and the number of people that were all over this car was truly amazing,” the seller noted in his eBay ad. “I can only imagine how much it made for the charity, but it must have been a lot.”
Not only can the new owner forget about having to shell out money for a new paint job, he also gets a Mid Year Corvette that’s apparently in pretty decent shape overall for a 55-year-old car – for just over 25 grand!
The 283 V8, for example, is said to still run well “but is lightly pushing a little oil – from sitting I am sure,” the seller admitted. “So it smokes from the tailpipe.”
But he says the car “drives well” with its two-speed Powerglide transmission, and the interior is described as being in “nice shape but has a seam split on one seat.”
The new owner also received two mint-condition magazines which tell the story about the Penny Corvette as well as two billboards made by the owner (one is pictured, the other is framed).
And if you’re worried about the additional weight created by all those pennies, it’s really negligible. If 145 pennies weigh a pound, then 25,000 pennies would add roughly 172 pounds to the car (241 pounds if you believe there are 35,000 pennies).
According to one of the old magazine articles, the original owner (who owned a gas station in Bloomfield, Conn., and rebuilt Corvettes for friends and customers) recruited his family and friends to spend hundreds of hours gluing the coins on the car with a special glue so that the copper would stick to the car’s paint. He coated the whole thing with a clear lacquer but says the pennies still tarnish and he had to use copper cleaner to make the pennies shine again.
Source:
eBay via ChevyHardcore.com
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 1965 Corvette known as the "Penny" Corvette has been relisted for sale on eBay following a sale that fell through.){kind=link}
I wish they would have used a Mustang to do that.
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