Our friend Mike Furman has sold more Corvettes in his 48-year career than Chevy built during the entire 1957 model year (6,450 and counting to 6,339). Mike has shared many photos with Corvette Blogger readers over the years featuring legendary Chevy dealer Malcolm Konner, dating back to his time as a salesman there for several years.
Konner wasn’t your ordinary Corvette dealer, however.
In fact, in October 1959, just six years into Corvette production, Konner managed to round up 50 people (25 customers) for a ‘field trip’ to the Corvette Assembly plant, then in St. Louis, to pick up their new 1960 Corvettes and drive them back home to New Jersey.
From the 1960s to the 1980s, Konner’s dealership became so popular that in his newspaper ads, he claimed to be “The World’s Largest Corvette Dealer.”
“Because we sold and serviced so many Corvettes,” Konner’s son RJ Konner said in an interview with Corvette Magazine, “we were an invaluable resource for Chevrolet. They had a technician or engineer at the dealership 80 percent of the time to troubleshoot and help evaluate problems that came up in the field.
“But my father’s connection with Chevrolet was more than a business relationship,” RJ continued. “The automobile industry has changed dramatically in the past 20 or 30 years, with a steady turnover of people at the car companies, but before that people tended to stay in their jobs, or at least stay with the same company, and that longevity led to lasting relationships. We knew just about everyone at Chevrolet and they knew us, and in many instances we had real friendships with them.”
In fact, Malcolm Konner was so beloved by Chevrolet that after he died unexpectedly in 1983, Chevrolet decided to honor him with a special Malcolm Konner edition in 1986.
Only 50 such Konner Corvettes were ever produced. As a throwback to that historic 1959 “field trip,” the Konners flew each new owner and one companion to the Bowling Green assembly plant to take delivery of their new Corvette and drive as a rally back to Paramus, N.J.
These Corvettes – all coupes – are still instantly identifiable these days because of their special two-tone paint scheme, Silver Beige over Black, with graphite leather interiors, and 20 were made with manual transmissions and 30 with automatics.
In case you missed out on buying one of these special editions back in the day, you can still pick up a practically new one if you win an eBay auction going on through Thursday. The high bid has hit just $5,100 so far, far shy of the rather ambitious “Buy It Now” price of $30,000.
According to the somewhat abbreviated listing, the car has been part of a collection for a museum of Corvettes, so it’s not surprising to discover it has a miniscule 83 miles on the odometer. Other notable features include the L98 5.7-liter V8 engine, Doug Nash “4+3” manual transmission, dual removable roof panels, Z51 Performance Package, Delco/Bose AM/FM Cassette Stereo, and a clean Carfax report. A copy of the window sticker and build sheet are also included with the sale.
Source:
eBay Motors
Related:
[VIDEO] Throwback Thursday: Malcolm Konner Takes 25 Customers to Pick Up New 1960 Corvettes in St. Louis
[PICS] Throwback Thursday: Chevy Dealer Malcolm Konner Goes to St. Louis
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The Malcolm Konner Edition has always been a favorite of mine. The two-tone paint scheme is a very attractive color combo. I hope the next owner enjoys it!
Nothing special except the name. Old C4s are kind of passe except for the Z.
Just bid on it. I had a 1984 C4 almost the same as this. Hope I can add it to my collection.
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