Corvettes on Craigslist: Numbers-Matching 1968 Corvette Survivor

They only made 28,566 Corvettes in 1968, the dawn of the third generation of America’s Sports Car.

One of them – deemed a survivor by its owner of the past several years – is up for sale on Craigslist in Grenloch, New Jersey.

If you’ve been looking for an inexpensive way to get into the Corvette hobby, while making a smart investment, this chrome bumper Stingray could be the answer for you as it’s up for sale for just $21,000.

Better yet, it doesn’t appear to need a lot of work to be a fun driver.

The seller says the 76,000 miles on the odometer can be documented, and the LeMans Blue paint is said to be original, other than on the L88 hood that’s been installed at some point. He still has the original stock hood, though, so it could be reinstalled if you’re into complete originality. The body appears to be undamaged, though the seller did provide a close-up photo of a possible crack or scratch to the left of the removable rear window, which also has some other areas where the paint is worn thin on the roofline crease above that glass.

The ’68 coupe, of course, was the first to come with removable roof panels, a feature that has continued ever since, even through the C8, and we think the chrome luggage rack is a nice and practical touch on early C3s.

Mechanically, the car is said to have the original matching numbers drivetrain with the L79 327/350 horsepower V8 engine (the most popular powerplant that year, with 9,440 produced) and M21 close-ratio four-speed manual transmission still in place, though vintage headers are said to have been installed early in its life. By the way, only 5,063 Corvettes had the Turbo-Hydra-Matic automatic transmission in ’68, but just three years later, the trend away from manuals had already started accelerating, with 10,060 ‘Vettes in ’71 equipped with automatics. By 1982, all Corvettes were automatics.

Fortunately, despite being a Nebraska car all its life, this Stingray still has a “super clean” frame, according to the seller. That’s definitely a plus for a new owner.

This Corvette isn’t a show-stopper by any means, but at the same time, we’ve seen much worse examples of these early C3s. While these cars haven’t been noted for showing big gains in value, it’s likely a better investment than spending the same amount on a still-depreciating C5 or C6. We’re interested to see how the end of the front-engine era will eventually affect their values as the mid-engine era roars on. Will our children look back 30 years from now and wish they had bought a ’68 Corvette now, the way I wish I had bought one in the late ’70s when nice ones were just $3,500 or less?

Source:
philadelphia.craigslist.org

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