I must warn you from the very beginning that you’ll hear the word “rare” a lot in this piece, pretty much because it’s the only way to accurately describe this 1977 Chevrolet Corvette.
The new Corvette was more expensive than ever in 1977, and customers who walked into a Chevy dealership to check out the upgraded model were often surprised. The base price was well over $8K, albeit this didn’t seem to make them walk away.
Chevrolet’s production numbers got close to 50K, as 49,213 Vettes found a buyer this year.
The coupe in these photos is one of them.
Listed on eBay by West Coast Classics, the Corvette is all kinds of rare, checking many boxes for a true collectible. While everybody can admire its condition in the photos shared by the garage, here’s the first thing you must know.
The engine under the hood is an L82, so it comes with a 350ci unit rated at 210 horsepower. The engine could be had for $495 extra, so it cost a lot of money, and only 6,148 customers agreed to pay that much for more horsepower. This means only 12.5% of all Vettes produced this year left the factory with an L82.
The next rare item on the list is the transmission. The engine is paired with a four-speed manual transmission, and the statistics show that 2,060 Vettes used the same gearbox. Only 4.2% of the 1977 Vettes left the factory with this transmission.
The paint is third on the list. The most popular color among 1977 Corvette buyers was Classic White, installed on 19.1% of all units, with 9,408 customers choosing it. This Vette is painted yellow, and you can find the same finish – Corvette Bright Yellow – on 1,941 other 1977 siblings.
The people in charge of finding a new owner for this Corvette explain that this 1977 coupe spent its entire life in a garage, and now everything is in working shape. The engine starts, runs, and drives, the transmission shifts correctly, and the interior is spotless. The car won’t require any fixes, so whoever buys it can drive it home and occasionally on sunny Sundays.
The bidding starts at $19,875, but the auction also comes with a reserve. This means that bidders must submit higher offers, but the good news is that the selling price is not far from the initial bid value. Customers who want the Corvette without getting involved in a race against other strangers online can trigger the Buy It Now price and pay $26,500. The car is parked in Torrance, California, and you should contact the garage if you want to see it in person before bidding. The digital fight will end later today, and it looks like the car will need another chance to return to the road.