Purchasing a specific Corvette often comes down to how well a certain car fits into your personal parameters for a pleasure vehicle. For collector Ed Foss, those parameters include a very low number on the odometer dial. While low-mileage cars have always had a higher appeal than something with thousands of road miles on the clock, Foss takes his preference on collector cars to a whole new level. Unbelievable? Well, just check out the latest episode of Michael Brown’s Vette Collections [1] above to see for yourself.
[2] While Foss’ low-mileage criteria may see a bit stringent, the avid collector and businessman has good reason for his preference. As it turns out, Foss got less than a bargain on the first Corvette he purchased, paying $20,000 more for the car than it was worth. So to avoid being had again, Foss opted to buy only Corvettes that maintained their original exhaust systems and had less than 10,000 original miles on them. The result is an amazing low-mile, rare Corvette collection.
Among the incredibly low-mileage cars Foss has are an 8-mile 1978 pace car, 1,100-mile 1970 454 big block car, 1,900-mile 1971, 2,200-mile 1956 and a 6,000-mile 1969 L88. Foss also owns a 1982 collectors’ edition with just 6.9 miles on it and a 1996 Grand Sport with just 160 miles.
[3] In a separate area of Foss’ Corvette warehouse, he also has several very rare Corvettes, extremely low mileage or not. These cars include the 27th Corvette ever produced in 1953, two of the eight 1971 LT-1 Corvettes ever produced, a 1965 Fuelie with 1,577 miles on it (making it the lowest-mileage ‘65 known in the world), and the 1972 Bloomington Gold special collections ZR-1 Corvette with just 4 documented miles.
[4] Foss’ collection is astonishing and a dream come true for any Corvette collector interested in low-mileage, original cars. Foss’ collection is set to be turned into a museum in the future, which will also showcase Foss’ collection of neon signs, SUNOCO memorabilia and presidential signatures.
If you’re interested in starting your own collection of Corvettes, Brown also talks to Bloomington Gold CEO David Burroughs about what to look for when buying a Corvette, from rarity to documentation.