Corvettes for Sale: 1969 Corvette Sport Wagon on Bring a Trailer

Since the 1984 model, Corvettes have been much more practical – with usable space behind the seats all the way through the C7 and then in both the front and the rear with the introduction of the mid-engine C8 in 2020.

Unfortunately, the stylish 1968-77 models were criticized for their lack of storage, other than a small area behind the seats that was hard to access.

A fellow named Chuck Miller decided to try and solve that problem for the C3 when he came up with the Sportwagon, basically a two-door Corvette coupe modified with a new, taller fiberglass rear section that turned the car into a station wagon. Legend has it that he developed the kit for a rock star who wanted to carry his drums in his Corvette.

This type of vehicle is also known as a shooting brake – a term said to have been invented by the British who used the long rear cargo area in similarly modified vehicles to lay out their guns and other equipment during a hunt.

One such example of Miller’s Sport Wagon – titled as a 1969 Corvette – is up for sale on Bring a Trailer through March 22, and while the listing has generated a lot of interest from readers on the Web (122 comments), that hasn’t translated into a lot of bidding activity, with the highest offer so far just $7,200.

Photos with the listing show a sharp-looking car, but closer examination reveals scratches on the glass as well as areas of shrinking fiberglass, with various paint cracks and imperfections.

Fortunately, the interior is a much different story, with the black vinyl seats said to have been recovered with Al Knoch materials in May 2021.

The selling dealer also performed some other work since buying the car a couple of years ago, including replacing the starter, battery, front brake and power steering hoses, flex plate, transmission pan gasket, and performing an oil change.

Other earlier modifications include a replacement 350 V8 crate engine with an Edelbrock carburetor on a Torker II intake manifold, an HEI distributor, shaved-off pop-up headlights (that were relocated to the front grilles), the addition of ’70-’72 fender vents, and side exhaust pipes.

The car has functional power windows, but alas, the radio, air conditioning, and dash lights don’t work. Neither do any of the gauges, including the 160-mph speedometer and 7,000 RPM tachometer.

We don’t usually care much for shooting brake designs, but this one caught our eye. Unfortunately, the conversion didn’t go as far as later such kits offered by John Greenwood beginning in 1976. The Miller kits don’t have functional rear windows, so cargo has to be loaded by folding down the seats. Greenwood’s kits had an operational rear window to make that task easier, but we wonder how much better even that would be if the entire rear end was a hatchback, allowing easy access from the rear and the sides. Of course, that would probably entail a lot more structural work that might not be possible from an engineering standpoint.

Regardless, this rare Miller shooting brake offers a glimpse into one of the conversions once available for early C3s and shows modern-day enthusiasts what the aftermarket once offered for Corvette owners who wanted more out of their cars 40 to 50 years ago. How many such Sport Wagons were ever built remains a mystery, but not many have likely survived all these years later.

Source:
Bring a Trailer via Silodrome

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