The Corvette was well on its way to achieving legendary status by the time this 1958 Corvette convertible up for sale on eBay out of the Batavia, Illinois area was built.
After struggling its first three years, the Corvette began to pick up steam in 1956 with its first major body redesign. After the introduction of fuel injection and a four-speed manual transmission the next year, Corvettes left the St. Louis factory in record numbers in 1958, with 9,168 produced.
The seller of this car claims its original Tuxedo Black paint is still in place, though some of the folks who commented on Barn Finds, where we first found it, pointed out the overspray on the VIN might seem to indicate a lacquer repaint somewhere during the past 64 years. Original or not, we’d like to see a perfect paint job applied now.
So far, six bids have pushed the offer past the reserve of $40,400 by $400, so it appears someone will have a new ride come Monday, when the auction is scheduled to close out.
Among the positive attributes of this car: the two tops (hard and soft) in the trunk, the presence of most of the interior hardware like the seat frame and dash, a lack of rust on the frame and birdcage, a 6500 RPM tachometer, its rare silver coves, and an undamaged body.
On the other hand, the drivetrain is not original, which would likely hurt the value of the eventually restored version. In its place is a “fresh rebuild” believed to be from a 1961 Bel Air. We’d be tempted to scrap that and replace it with a more modern – and powerful – Corvette engine, though the trunk does hold a dual-quad intake and one of the correct carburetors if you don’t want to splurge on a new motor.
Likewise, restoring the interior could be costly, with a complete kit running around $4,000, though again on the bright side, the gauge cluster, clock, and original Wonderbar radio are still in place and might be fine after a restoration.
This Corvette hasn’t been on the road since 1972, but we’re hoping someone will take on the challenge of bringing it back to its former glory and save another classic C1 from destruction.
Source:
eBay Motors via BarnFinds.com
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I love the C1 shown here and wish I tackle this project. My biggest concern would be the VIN tag. We have seen the problem with Rich Martinez of Kansas and the slight difference in the rivets that hold the tag. This one has Philips head screws. Correct me if I’m wrong but this can’t be factory. Might be a big headache to get passed state inspection.
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