Corvettes for Sale: 1976 Corvette with 16 Delivery Miles

Here’s another one of those ultra-low-mileage C3 Corvettes that offer a dilemma to a new owner.

Do you continue to hide it in a cocoon, or do you finally unleash that L82 engine and let the horses run?

That’s certainly the case with this 1976 Corvette coupe that’s been driven just 16 miles – yes, 16 – since it was delivered new to Owens Chevrolet in Stanford, Kentucky nearly half a century ago.

Now it’s up for sale on Bring a Trailer, where with just a little over a day left in the auction, the high bid has climbed to a lofty $40,454.

That’s a lot of money for a 1976 Corvette that unpacks only 210 horsepower from its upgraded L82 engine, but then the new owner is getting virtually a brand new car, albeit some 47 years later.

Though he never got much use out of them, the original owner was kind enough to check a lot of boxes on the order sheet back in the day, choosing a total of $2,110 worth of options that led to a final MSRP of $10,203.85. (Check out that destination charge of $115!)

Reading from the window sticker, which is yellowed but still affixed to the passenger side glass, the car includes power windows ($107), Electro-Clear Rear Defogger ($78), Four-Season Air Conditioning ($523), L82 engine ($481), Turbo Hydra-Matic Transmission ($134), Tilt-Telescopic Steering Wheel ($95), white-letter radial tires ($51), map light ($10), AM/FM Stereo Radio ($281), and our favorite, Aluminum Wheels ($299).

The Medium Red paint has been recoated in sections, including the rear bumper in 2022 and the top of the driver’s side rocker panel and the cowl near the windshield wipers.

But where this one really shines, at least in our opinion, is in the cockpit, where that Dark Firethorn leather with woodgrain trim on the doors and center console really looks quite nice – even in the shadow of the super fancy interior of the new mid-engine Corvette.

If the new owner does want to take this one for a spin – low mileage, be darned – he won’t have to worry as the seller has recently performed key maintenance work like replacing the tires, rebuilding the brake calipers and brake master cylinder, and changing the transmission and brake fluid. Still, though, the radio doesn’t power on, and the air conditioning compressor needs to be charged. (I’ve always wondered, if that’s ALL the A/C needs, why don’t these owners go ahead and do it when they’re doing all that other work?)

What would you do with this unused slice of ’70s muscle? Drive it, or save it for a new generation?

Source:
Bring a Trailer

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