[1]Some time ago, your author brought you an editorial proclaiming his love for Corvettes [2], and his top ten personal favorites. It had nothing to do with the value of the cars, just the ones that strike me the most. Obviously, I love all Corvettes.
But now the folks over at CNN Money [3] (with the help of Hagerty Insurance [4]) put together the top ten most valuable Corvettes of all time. There’s even a C4 in the list, but it’s probably not the one you’re thinking of. Read more below to get the skinny on what some financial speculators at Hagerty Insurance proclaim are the most valuable.
1963 Grand Sport ($8,000,000)
Shown above, the ’63 Grand Sport (GS) comes in as the highest-value Corvette in existence. As CNN put it, it’s barely considered a production car since it’s reported that five were only built. Conceived as a full-on race car and nothing else, it’s currently valued at $6-8M. Obviously, finding one is next to impossible and the loan specialist will probably look at you funny if you tried to finance one. Of course, you could always have a replica built.
1969 ZL-1 ($1,400,000)
Rocking an all-aluminum 427 BBC, the ZL-1 deserves all of the respect that it has coming to it. Production numbers? There were a total of two of these things built. Talk about rare! They were also arguably the fastest Corvettes ever produced up until the C6 Z06 and ZR1’s were built.
[5]
1967 L-88 ($1,000,000)
Ahh, the L-88. Packing 427 cubic inches under the hood with [an underrated] 430 HP, it was the most powerful ‘Vette ever produced up to that point. Only 20 were produced for the first year, an option that would live through 1969.
[6]
1969 L-88 ($478,000)
Being the bookend year for the L-88 option package, the ’69 version ranks in at number four on the most valuable classic Corvettes. A total of 116 copies were built, and they were primarily sold to racers. Hagerty claims that values can very with these, depending on the particular car’s racing history.
[7]
1953 Corvette ($300,000)
We suppose that’s such an ironic value for a car that they’ve made 300 units of, but it is exactly that. Obviously not the fastest ‘Vettes ever produced with their Blue Flame 6, the inaugural year C1’s command a great amount of respect and appreciation for being the first. Every one of them were equal too, since they were essentially identical being painted in the same white over red scheme.
[8]
1963 Z06 “Tanker” ($209,700)
That nickname may sound silly to some, but to the serious road racer it meant something. The “Tanker” was equipped with exactly that – a 36-gallon fuel reservoir. Throw in a 345 HP powerplant, performance suspension and brakes, and you have the ’60s version of the C6 Z06 that we all know and love today.
[9]
1957 283/283 “Fuelie” ($129,000)
With the 283 launching with fuel-injection for the first time in ’57, collectors scooped these cars up pretty quick. It utilized a mechanical arrangement that may be considered very archaic my today’s standards, but it offered the magic 1 HP/CI power output – which was all the rage back then.
[10]
1955 Corvette V8 ($113,000)
On the surface of things, the ’55 Corvette was essentially a carryover from the two previous years. The big change was under the hood, where for the first time, a small-block V8 was available. Initially offered as an option, it quickly became apparent that the V8 was the preferred engine of choice for sports car aficionados, and the Blue Flame 6 was dropped from the option sheet midyear 1955.
[11]
1962 327/360 “Fuelie” ($96,500)
In its final year of production, the 1962 C1 Corvette offered its potential buyers a 360hp fuel injected 327 ci. engine. At the time, it was an usual amount of horsepower from such a small engine. Unfortunately, the option was quite an expensive upgrade in those days, and not very many were sold.
[12]
1996 Grand Sport Convertible ($40,800)
Like the ’62 featured above, the final year of the C4 offered buyers not one, but two special models to get their hands on. While the silver Collector’s Edition is still a favorite in the Corvette community, it’s the GS that gets all of the attention. Under the hood is the desirable 330 HP LT4 powerplant, that’s coveted by those who still have a deep-rooted love for the Gen-2 small-block engines.
[13]