We are always amazed when original, low-mileage classic Corvettes surface for sale and we always wonder why the low miles? Why was it that someone spent their hard-earned dollars to purchase a Corvette and then never drove it? In the case of this 1972 Corvette Stingray Convertible with just under 3300 original miles now offered on Bring A Trailer, we have the answer to that question.
But first, let’s take a look at this exceptional C3 Corvette for sale.
The original owner was named Paul Crew and he ordered the car through Riley Chevrolet in Steubenville, Ohio. As he was working in a steel mill, it was apt that he chose Steel Cities Gray as the color for his new 1972 Corvette Convertible. Today, both the Steel Cities Gray exterior and the black deluxe interior look new, just as the day the car rolled off the assembly line in St. Louis.
Under the hood is the base motor L48 350/200 hp engine coupled to the four-speed manual transmission. While there were two other engine options available, the $483 LT1 performance engine or the $294 454/270 LS5, Paul went with the L48 and then added multiple options that included Power Steering ($115), Power Brakes ($47), Auxiliary Hardtop ($273), AM/FM Radio ($178), and the Deluxe Interior ($158) which included black leather seats, wood grain console and door trim, as well as tinted glass. The original MSRP for the Stingray was around $6,200.
Crew was a private person, apparently to the extreme that he wanted people to know as little about him as possible. Like the first rule of Fight Club, Paul never told anyone about his Stingray and he would only drive it sparingly at night so as to draw the least amount of attention to him and the car. In his quest for privacy, Paul built a two-car garage without any windows or doors other than the garage door. The garage was heated and with the car safely tucked away and well protected for all those years, there was no deterioration of the paint, chrome, interior trim, and dash. Everything on the car is original other than the oil and air filters including its original Goodyear Speedway black wall tires.
Paul also kept all the documentation which included the Protect-o-Plate, order sheet, warranty and emissions brochures, the Pre-Delivery Inspection document (PDI), and the original tank sticker. The window sticker was unavailable as it was removed by the dealer during PDI. Also included were receipts for oil, an oil filter, and spark-plugs purchased from his step-son Lloyd Wenger’s service station.
Following Paul’s passing, Wenger inherited the car and he would sell it to John Sayers of Washington state. John heard about the Gray ’72 through a friend and he purchased the 3,255-mile Corvette sight-unseen in the fall of 2017. Unlike Paul, John would take the Corvette “on tour” to shows across the country for judging. It has since earned an NCRS Top Flight and 4-Star Bowtie Award. At Bloomington Gold, the Steel Cities Gray Convertible received a Survivor’s Benchmark Award and was featured in the 2019 Gold Collection.
Since John has owned the car, he has only driven it a total of 13 miles and that’s mostly from moving the car at the various shows he attended, as well as the lap he did at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as part of Survivor’s Benchmark testing. There is a debate in the comments at BaT about whether the new owner should store the car away or if it should be driven and enjoyed as Zora intended. It would be hard to drive it for an extended period of time knowing that every mile can impact the value, but a car this original should definitely be shown as it serves as a guide for those owners who are planning to have judged their own 1972s as well.
The listing for the 1972 Corvette Convertible has over 150 photos to look through and we have two videos below. The high bid has already climbed to $55,000 with the auction ending on Monday, April 5th. For those that love a low-mileage and highly documented C3 Corvettes, this beautiful 1972 Corvette could be the one for you.
Source:
BringaTrailer.com
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Hi Keith. “Small world”, man. The latest issue of Vette Vues (April 2021) on page 18 has my story about the same car. KUDOS to John Sayers! His survivor story is one of the strangest ones I’ve ever heard. People do some quirky things with Corvettes!
Keep up the good work at CorvetteBlogger.com! – Scott
Thanks Scott! You have to wonder why the original owner was so paranoid about driving it. We’ve featured the same car before when it was on eBay last year, and it should do well on Bring a Trailer.
My first vette was a ’72 Steel Cities Gray coupe, 454, 4-speed. I purchased it in ’73 and kept it till we had my first child in ’78. I loved that car and seeing this example brings back so many fond memories of my first vette as a young single guy. There have been 4 others since then, but it’s hard to get past the true Stingray shape of the C3 generation. I’ll be envious of the lucky guy or gal who ends up with the beauty in this story.
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