In Southern California, there is an area known as Laguna Niguel, located in the Southern part of Orange County, California. It is a beautiful town, and while some cars may see some higher prices in the area, a C1 in great condition isn’t a cheap purchase no matter the zip code.

We found an interesting story in the OC Register. Long story made short, Bob Guarrera moved to Southern California in the early ’70s; unfortunately he didn’t get the greatest welcoming. Guarrera recalls, “One Monday morning I was getting up to go to work to drive to downtown L.A. and I walked over to where my car was parked, and it wasn’t parked there anymore.” His car was never found, but he had already began looking for a new California ride.

Guerrero mentioned, “I immediately started looking in the newspaper and saw this ad for a 1958 Corvette and it said $650. My roommate and I were talking about it and he said, ‘Well, it probably doesn’t run. Or if it runs, it’s probably all bashed in.’”

When they went to look at car, they discovered it had 28,000 miles on it with the original 283 cubic inch V8 and a three-speed manual. He handed over $650, drove the car home, and the rest is history. Guerrero added, “Best investment I’ve ever made.” We can see why, what a buy!

While the car received its share of parts and fix-ups over the years, Guarrera decided about nine years ago that he wanted to redo the interior. The car was previously done in black, but he changed this to a period correct red since GM did not include interior colors in the VIN during these years. Guarrera explained, “So if you have a GM car before ’61 and you want to change the interior or exterior, as long as you do it to a color and interior that was offered that year, it’s fine.”

The car was white when Guarrera purchased the C1 over 40 years ago, and he has kept the same paint color. He really seemed to just have a real love of the car, and added, “I don’t have power steering, power brakes and things like that. It doesn’t have air conditioning, but you know, I think it rides great. If it’s a nice day I might drive down the coast to San Clemente or up the coast to Newport or Huntington Beach.”

Personally, we can’t think of a car we would rather cruise the California coast in more than a clean, drivable gen-1 Corvette. Guarrera concluded by saying, “I don’t know what I’m going to do but I intend to hold it for as long as I can. I’d just hate to get rid of it. Forty-five years is a long time.” We hope Guarrera holds on to the car for a while longer, and continues to drive it up and down the coast.