The highest price ever paid for a Chevrolet Corvette is the $3.85 million that the only Rally Red 1967 Corvette L88 was sold for in 2014, and it’s starting to look like a record that won’t be broken anytime soon.
That very car went up for auction in January, but the bidding topped out at $2.7 million, which wasn’t enough to meet its undisclosed reserve.
The L88 is a thinly-disguised competition version of the Corvette with a special suspension, brakes and other racing equipment that’s equipped with a 427 cubic-inch V8, which was officially rated at 430 hp, but really puts out more than 500 hp.
Now another unique 1967 Corvette L88 has been sold for a much lower price.
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The Sunfire Yellow coupe is the only one of the 20 L88 Corvettes built in 1967 that was painted that color and it still has its original factory engine. It cost $6,231.80 when it was new, which is around $58,000 today.
It’s in top condition and has won several prestigious collector car awards, but when it crossed the block at the Mecum Auctions event on March 9 in Glendale, Ariz., it was sold for $1,815,000. Not exactly cheap, but not even half the record price.
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The Hagerty valuation guide has even been updated since the January no-sale, with the estimate for a concours-quality car dropping from $3.2 million to $3.0 million, so it’s likely to fall even more after this result.
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In fact the first 1967 L88 and last L88 ever built in 1969 were sold as a pair at the Mecum Kissimme, Fla. Auction in January for a combined $2.6 million. A total of 216 L88s were sold across the three model years.