Rarest of Rarest Corvettes: Own One Without Paying A Million Dollars

 

Rare Corvettes for Less

Some of the rarest sports cars of all time are a group of five early '60s Corvette Grand Sports built with the sole purpose of running in the GT classes at the Sebring 12 Hours and the 24-hour LaMans races. The Godfather of Corvettes, Zora Arkus-Duntov, led the crusade of light-weight race-ready roadsters that were designed to compete with the dominant Ford GTs and the rest of the field's competitors.

Duntov had planned on building 1,000 of these Corvettes, but only five Corvette Grand Sports were originally built at this time in the ‘60s. Two of the Corvettes [#001 and #002] were put to the side and three others were sent to John Mecom of Houston, TX, who eventually sent them off to three other prominent individuals in the racing industry.

Purchasing One Of These Rare Beauties

So let's say you were not lucky enough to be one of those people who received one of those five Corvettes, but now you would like to see if you can purchase one today. Well, although these Corvettes are not relevant in the 24-hour LaMans and other races anymore, fat chance of getting your hands on one for under five million dollars. A few years back, the #002 Corvette Grand Sport found its way to an auction block, and although the high-bid was $4.9 million, it was still not enough to take the blue beautiful race car home.

If you're like most car guys, you probably don't have $4.9 million sitting around for a sports car that you wouldn't even want to drive that much anyway. But getting something similar and in many cases, much more modern and driveable with an affordable price tag is definitely feasible. 

Superformance, a car-building company in Southern California pushed to get granted the licensing to build replicas of Zora Duntov’s famed Corvette Grand Sport making it possible to own one, well at least a replica of one.

Superformance was even granted original build sheets for the #002 Grand Sport Corvette. They claim that if you wanted a replica almost identical to the original, they could build you one that only experts could tell it’s not an original #002 Grand Sport. But if you are like a lot of people, you may be just looking for the look of the legendary Corvette and the performance and comforts of a newer vehicle, and that's fine too, Superformance can build something like that as well. 

Customize Your Own Corvette Grand Sport

Superformance will work you up a vintage Corvette Grand Sport of your liking. Features like power steering, four-wheel disc brakes, power windows, A/C, and fully independent front and rear suspension with Bilstein suspension components can be optioned up for your Vette. There are roadster versions available, but they will look and drive more like the race Corvettes of the past, and many features and options of the coupe will be limited. But as far as power plants go, Superformance offers a variety of engines including an LS9 supercharged monster that can really make the coupe and the roadsters fun to drive.

There are actually seven engines in all to choose from. All engines come with a 2/year 50,000-mile warranty that can be serviced at your local authorized dealer. The greatest thing about the Superformance Corvette Grand Sport replica is the price tag. Depending on your options and how customized you want it, your price tag will still be just a fraction of the price you would have to pay for the real thing.

65th Anniversary Corvette Carbon 65 Edition

If you like your cars decked out in carbon fiber, then you will really like what Corvette has in store for their 65th anniversary edition. To celebrate 65 years of being the baddest American sports car ever put into mass production, Corvette will offer 650 2018 Corvette Carbon 65 limited edition cars.

These limited edition 2018 Corvettes will be offered on the Grand Sport and Z06 models. Both convertible and coupe versions will be available, and all Carbon 65 editions will come with a unique VIN and an interior plaque highlighting the build number.

Like with most special edition cars, the big changes for the 2018 Corvette Carbon 65 are visual upgrades. A new exterior color is introduced. The Ceramic Matrix Gray looks more like a white then a gray but still looks great trimmed in carbon fiber with blue brake caliper covers and unique blue Carbon 65 fender decals.

Blue Convertible Top

Carbon fiber exterior parts include hood, ground effects, spoiler, roof, or tonneau inserts if it’s a convertible, wheel center caps and more. All Corvette Grand Sport models will come with cup-style wheels while Corvette Z06 models will come with blade-style wheels.  

On to the interior, as you open the door, you will notice special edition Carbon 65 door sill plates with the Corvette flag emblems on them. The seats are competition units with carbon fiber inserts in the head rest. You will also have a carbon fiber steering wheel ring among other carbon fiber inserts. Much of the rest of the interior will be wrapped in jet black suede with blue stitching giving the interior its usual elegant sporty feel.

To get a closer look at the 2018 Corvette Carbon 65 edition, some dealerships might have one on hand, but there will definitely be a few at the SEMA show. Pricing is unannounced for the time being, but they will go on sale sometime in the first quarter of 2018.

New Corvette Discount - $8,000?

Corvettes are expensive and getting a deal on them from the dealership is an almost unheard of phenomena. But from now until about May 1st of 2018, you might have a chance to purchase a brand new Corvette ZO6 or Grand Sport equipped with a set of Carbon-Fiber Brembo brakes with an $8,000 discount.

The discount will come in the form of a three-part deal. The first part is a loyalty discount. This will give you a $2,000 rebate if you are already a proud owner of a Corvette. The second rebate will come on all Corvettes with the high-performance brake setup. Chevrolet has yet to make a statement on the reason why they are offering this discount, but purchase any Corvette with the high-performance brake package and you will get a $5,000 discount. Usually, when a car company beefs up the performance of a vehicle they also beef up the price, but for a $5,000 discount, why ask any questions. Your last rebate will be a $1,000 “Bonus Tag” discount for a total savings of $8,000. Again, it’s very rare to find new Corvettes with marked-down prices or big discounts, so the answer to the question of why? It’s kind of a mystery. One could only speculate that increasing sales and making room for more Corvettes that are coming in the near future would be the reason. Maybe statistically the Corvettes with the Brembo brake package don’t sell as well. Let’s face it, unless you are planning on doing some serious road racing, the heavy duty brakes won’t do you a lot of good and will leave you about $5,000 lighter in your pocketbook.

Rarest Corvettes In The World For A Fraction Of The Price

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