The $3.2 million Corvette

[SR99]

1967 L88 convertible Corvette, NHRA champion in its day, sells for a record $3.2 million yesterday at the Mecum Dallas auction.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fK8mYq1Y54&list=TLzoCeQKbdtXI]1967 L88 Corvette Convertible Sells for Record $3.2 Million at Mecum Dallas. - YouTube[/video]

[drbll]

The whole Buddy Herin Collection was amazing! Love the red on red ZL1 also. :xyxthumbs:

[Pureshine]

Wow!

[Radarryan]

All the promos said, "the $3 million Corvette." Guess they weren't kidding!

[Zackb911]

To think of all the other things $3.2 Million would buy...

[MarkD51]

As I understand it, being a corvette man myself, there were only 16 L-88 corvettes built.

That of the 16 built, only a "true 3" remained. The other 13 ran into guard rails, totaled out, or went to la la land.

As you 63-67 purists know, the hardtop was always the most desireable.

[Klasse Act]

To think of all the other things $3.2 Million would buy...

Yeah, a Pro Touring midyear built to my specs, a 57', a 62' and a 70' LT1....and money left over, a lot of it, maybe buy a new one, well if they change the rear end and its cheap a$$ lookin' diffusor that goes up to half the bumper!

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[SR99]

As I understand it, being a corvette man myself, there were only 16 L-88 corvettes built.

That of the 16 built, only a "true 3" remained. The other 13 ran into guard rails, totaled out, or went to la la land.

As you 63-67 purists know, the hardtop was always the most desireable.

There were 20 convertibles produced during the 67-69 run of L88's. Maybe that's what you're recalling. I think I've seen at least a dozen L88's just in 2013 auctions. There was another L88 (a 1969) in this auction, about a dozen cars after the one above. It didn;t meet reserve, and the highest bidder was $430k if I recall.

It would be interesting to know how many were totaled, though I'm not sure they could be licensed or made "street legal" (what ever happened to that term, anyway?) so maybe not that many were wrapped around trees.

Here are the L88 production numbers (thanks to Google): 216 total over the 3 years, 20 in '67, 80 in '68, and 116 in '69).

I think the highest $ L88 before this one was $1.25 million (or around that) for 1967 serial number 1, back at a 2010 Mecum auction. The other L88 that was up for auction yesterday was the last one built in 1969.

[SR99]

Here is part of the description of the L88 that sold for $3.2M yesterday (I thought the part I put in bold was funny):

DESCRIPTION

Purchased new at Lyman Slack Chevrolet by Jim Elmer of Portland, OR, this 1967 Chevrolet Corvette L88 convertible is one of twenty L88 Corvettes produced in 1967. Elmer bought the car to race; he made his first pass with the new car fresh out of the box at Puyallup Dragway in Puyallup, WA, running a scorching 11.47 with the sole additions of exhaust headers and 7-inch slicks. That set the tone for the car’s extensive drag racing career, which first made headlines when it captured the A/Sports class win at the 1967 Indy Nationals. Elmer ultimately ran a best of 11.12 at 127.45 MPH, but soon after his Indy win he damaged both the transmission and the rear end, only to have his warranty claim rejected when he showed up at the dealership with the car in full competition trim, including sponsorship decals and elapsed time stickers on the windows! Unwilling to pay the costs of repair, Elmer sold the car to his friend and fellow racer Rob Robinson in February of 1968 for the princely sum of $5,000.

[Klasse Act]

SR, great story and those times/mph are incredible! I'm sure the rearend was beefed up but I never understood how an IRS could handle the dragstrip....guess they really didn't.

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[FUNX650]

To think of all the other things $3.2 Million would buy...
Exactly what the previous owner is saying after looking at his/hers/theirs: Soon to be further-redacted check...
via the auctioneer...and the revenuers...that also get their token-amounts.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/BofA_check_Redacted.jpg (http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/63595)


Bob

[Rob Robinson]

SR, great story and those times/mph are incredible! I'm sure the rearend was beefed up but I never understood how an IRS could handle the dragstrip....guess they really didn't.

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Actually, I ran an 11.00@130 at Woodburn with that car in 69' Very quick for a single 4-barrel 3,000 lbs. car in that era. Klasse, actually the 3rd member was factory stock, it was the half shafts and the drive line u-joints that were the weak link. Blew several u-joints. The bottom end was also weak, it took our punishment for 2 seasons though! You have to remember, in that era we were on a 7" M + H cheater slick, the tires did spin on the launch; that entire rear setup wouldn't handle todays 10" tire at all.

[SR99]

Actually, I ran an 11.00@130 at Woodburn with that car in 69' Very quick for a single 4-barrel 3,000 lbs. car in that era. Klasse, actually the 3rd member was factory stock, it was the half shafts and the drive line u-joints that were the weak link. Blew several u-joints. The bottom end was also weak, it took our punishment for 2 seasons though! You have to remember, in that era we were on a 7" M + H cheater slick, the tires did spin on the launch; that entire rear setup wouldn't handle todays 10" tire at all.

Rob, welcome to the forum. Very cool that you were the second owner of this $3.2 million beast. How long did you have the car for?

[Klasse Act]

Very cool to have someone here that actually drove the car! What ratio was in the rearend? Yeah if that car had a set of today's tires the rearend setup wouldn't last too long but who knows, you might be .5 seconds faster though!!

Also, would you know the cam specs of that engine? It had a Holley 850, right, double pumper? 12:5:1 compression and it had aluminum heads too, what size valves and combustion chamber? Sure I could google it but maybe there were some "tweaks"?

Any pics you could share from back in the day?

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[Rob Robinson]

Very cool to have someone here that actually drove the car! What ratio was in the rearend? Yeah if that car had a set of today's tires the rearend setup wouldn't last too long but who knows, you might be .5 seconds faster though!!

Also, would you know the cam specs of that engine? It had a Holley 850, right, double pumper? 12:5:1 compression and it had aluminum heads too, what size valves and combustion chamber? Sure I could google it but maybe there were some "tweaks"?

Any pics you could share from back in the day?

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SR99, 5 years. 2 racing and 3 as a very fair weather driver.

Klasse, 850 double pumper is correct, 3418 Holley, no choke on that carb. I believe that is a 67' only application. Alum heads yes, I wish I could remember the valve size and CC's in the head for you, too much water over the dam! I have a meeting I'm prepping for this evening, I'll try to dig out a photo or two to post tomorrow. Most of my photo's, time slips, and documentation I gave to the restorer when he purchased the car, super guy named Tim Thorpe, O'Fallon IL