A collection of 26 Chevrolet Corvettes, all of them time-warp survivors with surprisingly low mileage, will be offered next month at Mecum’s annual Daytime Auction during Monterey Classic Car Week.
Known as the Ed Foss Low-Mileage Corvette Collection, the sports cars range from a 1953 convertible, the 27th Corvette built and with fewer than 4,000 miles, to a 2003 50th Anniversary Edition showing just 135 miles. Mecum calls the cars “some of the lowest-mileage and most-original examples of America’s sports car in existence; truly the best of the best among Corvettes.”
None of the Corvettes have more than 10,000 miles on their odometers, 19 of them with fewer than 5,000 miles and seven showing less than 200 miles, Mecum said. The collection also includes two Corvette race cars.
Other notable examples include:
• An extensively documented, multiple award-winning 1969 L88 convertible driven just 6,453 miles. The car is one of just 116 high-performance L88s produced in 1969.
• An unrestored 1965 four-speed fuelie convertible with just 1,652 original miles and Bloomington Gold Benchmark, Survivor and Gold certifications.
• An original and unrestored 1963 Split Window coupe with 4,526 miles.
• A 1972 convertible that is essentially a factory-fresh car, having accumulated only four miles in its 43 years.
The 26 Corvettes were carefully examined and verified by David Burroughs, founder of Bloomington Gold, Survivor and Benchmark, and publisher of Prove It Authentications, Mecum said. Burroughs and the auction house have created a portfolio of information about the cars that can be viewed on the Mecum website.
Burroughs said that the originality of the Corvettes could serve as templates for owners, restorers and concours judges in determining authenticity of all Corvettes.
“The Foss Collection is a library of ‘3-D Books’ that can be read to tell the stories of how these cars were actually built,” Burroughs said. “There may be larger collections. There may be more cosmetically perfect collections, however, I know of no other Corvette collections containing more factory-production knowledge than most Corvette judges across the United States combined.
“These Corvettes are highly reliable sources capable of settling many questions about historic accuracy. The next owners will not only be purchasing wonderful vehicles, they will also be purchasing potential sources of education unavailable through any Corvette magazines or books published to date.”
The Mecum auction takes place August 13-15 at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa – Del Monte Golf Course. To see the full Ed Foss collection of low-mileage Corvettes, click here.
I know the original owner of this green 65 fuelie. He bought it new at Reedman Chevy in Langhorne, PA after frantically searching for one. He was unable to order a fuelie in march 1965. That’s because GM dropped the $538 option to focus on the 396. He knew the car would be worth money. He kept it about 11 years in his barn in Spartowbush, NY, just over the PA border in the Poconos. It did not come with KO wheels. He added them, but they are real KH wheels not. Cheap china junk. The engine did seize from sitting but he was able to get it turned over. It has only 100 miles on it in 40 years. It did not sell at $390,000 bid. The seller was wise to keep it. The original owner still has a red 66 conv he also bought new, or his brother did. It is under 4,000 miles. I saw the car in 1977 T his house c