One of the Five Original 1963 Corvette Grand Sports Will Be Auctioned During Monterey Car Week

Jul 13, 2026

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One of the Five Original 1963 Corvette Grand Sports Will Be Auctioned During Monterey Car Week

Photo Credits: RM Sotheby’s

If you trace the lineage of the 2027 mid-engine Grand Sport back to its spiritual origin, the line stops at one car: the 1963 Corvette Grand Sport. Not a tribute. Not a production model. One of the five originals. The cars Zora Arkus-Duntov built in secret to take on the world — and nearly got Chevrolet banned from racing for doing so.

Now, the most storied of them all, Grand Sport chassis 003, is headed to RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction, August 13–15. Estimated at $11–13 million, it’s the kind of “Holy Grail” consignment that instantly becomes the centerpiece of an entire auction week.

And it won’t be alone. RM is assembling a Corvette lineup that reads like a greatest hits album:

The 1969 V.V. Cooke L88, widely regarded as the most successful competition Corvette ever campaigned.
The 1968 L88 RED/NART Le Mans, the fourth Corvette ever to finish the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The 1960 LM, driven by Briggs Cunningham and Bill Kimberly at Le Mans.

But even in that company, the Grand Sport stands apart.

Chassis 003 is the first of only three Grand Sport coupes, built under Duntov’s direction to challenge the world’s best sports cars. At just 1,900 pounds, nearly 1,300 pounds lighter than a production Corvette, it was designed to embarrass Ferraris, Cobras, and Jaguars on the track.

It succeeded.

Chassis number 003 was campaigned by some of the biggest names in American racing:

• A.J. Foyt
• Jim Hall
• Augie Pabst
• Dick Doane

Doane drove it to three SCCA class victories and famously led the Road America 500 outright for 93 laps before engine trouble ended the run. At the 1963 Bahamas Speed Week, Hall and Pabst helped cement the Grand Sport’s legend. In 1964, Foyt and John Cannon drove 003 to a second place class finish at the 12 Hours of Sebring, highlighted by one of the most aggressive opening laps ever recorded. It returned to Sebring in 1965 and claimed another podium.

Few American competition cars can match that résumé. Fewer still can match the influence.

Presented today in its authentic 1964 Sebring livery, chassis 003 has spent more than 23 years under meticulous stewardship. It has undergone a comprehensive sympathetic restoration, earned multiple Bloomington Gold certifications, an NCRS award, and appeared at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Sonoma Motorsports Festival, and Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion.

“The Grand Sport occupies a place reserved for only the rarest automobiles,” RM Sotheby’s President Gord Duff said. “Its rarity, engineering, and enduring mystique have elevated it beyond the world of Corvettes.”

He’s not exaggerating. The Grand Sport program was shut down before Duntov could fully realize his vision — a cancellation that only amplified the car’s mythos. Today, chassis 003 stands not just as the ultimate Corvette, but as one of the most important American race cars ever built.

A machine that didn’t just rewrite Corvette history — it set the tone for everything that followed.