Corvettes for Sale: 1978 Corvette Indy 500 Pace Car on Hemmings for $20K

This 1978 Corvette Indy Pace Car up for sale on Hemmings has some cosmetic issues.

But if someone could negotiate down the asking price of $19,900, this low-mileage collectible has some wiggle room to continue the restoration already begun by the Fort Denaud, Florida owner.

One of 6,502 Pace Cars built during the 25th anniversary of the Corvette, this one – #5230 – is showing just 13,500 miles on the odometer.

Unfortunately, over the past 44 years, the car has apparently not always been stored indoors, as the paint is showing “the usual deterioration for this model,” as the seller puts it, including major peeling on the front spoiler.

On the other hand, there doesn’t appear to be any body damage, so that’s a positive.

Also looking further on the bright side, the owner claims the car “runs perfectly and handles well” and the suspension is described as “tight.”

Furthermore, he added a new battery last year, and other work includes a new fuel pump, water pump, brakes and calipers, and radiator and heater hoses.

The interior shows some wear, with the driver’s seat having one torn stitch that the seller believes “can be restitched.” The carpet is described as “faded but not worn,” so maybe it could be cleaned and re-dyed though we would just go ahead and replace it since that’s a cheap fix.

One of the cool features about these ’78 models is that they were built at the height of the “Smokey and the Bandit” fever, and thus this one still has the original AM/FM/CB Radio. Unfortunately, the seller says it “works on FM, not sure about CB, power antenna is inoperative.”

The tires are new BF Goodrich T/A radials and have flat-spotted from sitting, but the seller believes they “may be OK with a little use” so he plans to run the car in the warm climate of southern Florida “to try to even them out.”

Though we’re not shown any photos of the engine bay, we figure this one has the less powerful L48 350 engine under the hood, hooked to the popular-for-that-era automatic transmission.

One of the cars long on my bucket list has been a ’78 Pace Car, but we’d really prefer to have one that is in better cosmetic condition (i.e., perfect original paint, or a recent quality repaint). By the time someone invests in a new paint job on this one, along with fixing other details in the interior, it might be wiser to pay more up-front and get a car in better shape. What do you think?

Source:
Hemmings

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