3 Sales That Caught Our Eye from the VanDerBrink Corvette Hoard
Last weekend, VanDerBrink Auctions hosted a sale of Corvettes and Corvette parts that Bill Slavens accumulated over a lifetime of collecting. The hoarded cars and parts included Corvettes from 1953 and 1963, lots of C3s, some C4s, and rare manifolds from some of the most desirable C1 and C2 Fuelies.
Restorers looking to return their mechanical-fuel-injected cars with original parts had more than a dozen lots to choose from, most of which included complete fuel injection manifolds. Another highlight included a 3×2 427 manifold complete with Holley carbs and the trademark triangular air cleaner.
Drool though we do over those cool Rochester units, we gravitated to three lots in particular, each of which stood out for very different reasons. Here are the auctions that we followed most closely, but check out the listing and see what other excellent buys were made.
1963 Chevrolet Corvette coupe
Hammer price: $134,000
This Ermine White 1963 Corvette Sting Ray is equipped with air conditioning, a rather rare option with fewer than 300 examples built for 1963. The coupe retains its numbers matching 300hp L75 327 V-8 and is paired with a Powerglide automatic transmission. Pulled from storage where it sat for more than 40 years, the coupe will require some serious cleaning and the brightwork on the engine shows the effects of prolonged storage. That said, it’s a pretty complete car and brings lots of its original parts as well as desirable options including power steering, power windows, and the aforementioned A/C. Its hammer price of $134,000 puts it above its current #3 (Good) value of $122,000.
1972 Chevrolet Corvette Coupe
Hammer price: $11,500
Several chrome-bumper C3s were sold for project car prices at this VanDerBrink auction, but they were legitimate project cars—most of them didn’t run and several had sat long enough that the brakes were locked up. Still, they made for tempting buys considering that the Corvette tax doesn’t really apply to generic small-block parts and any ol’ Chevy V-8 would do the trick for most of us.
This 1972 Corvette, originally Ontario Orange, looks like it cleaned up rather nicely. Despite sitting for quite some time, its repainted red shone after the dust was knocked off. This is a 350-powered automatic car with air conditioning, however, the engine casting number, 14016379, shows it’s not the car’s original small block. For those that want to work on something and have a fun weekend driver, a numbers-matching engine might not matter much. The price came in about half its #3 (Good) value and $5,000 under the current #4(Fair) value for an L42 1972 Stingray. A $5,000 parts and detailing budget would go quite a long way to getting this car into weekend cruiser shape.
1963 Chevrolet Corvette split-window roof section
Hammer price: $3600
We’re trying to figure out how this scalped 1963 Corvette coupe came to be. We hope that it came from a wrecked car and the rest of the body was also parted out, because we’d hate to imagine the alternative. This piece of an unfortunate 1963 Corvette coupe is probably the closest a lot of us could realistically get to owning a real split-window, and one of the Hagerty media staff was already scheming how they’d mount the fiberglass on the wall of their office. We’d like to know the fate of this piece, because as much as we’d like to hang it on the wall, it would be interesting if it made its way onto a damaged 1963 to put this piece of Chevy fiberglass back on the road.
The value of the split window skin is of course in either a repair or a restomod, in which case that’s probably a steal. $134K for a Powerglide car seems very stout, but could well prove to be a good investment.
Always thought the split window glass on the 63 looked like the Riviera back glass.
Actually its the other away around…the 63 was first!
I always thought that too and that is exactly what prompted me to get my 71 Riviera. I only wish I still had my 63 Vette so they could be parked side by side at the shows.
Any C2 is worth a lot, spit windows will always bring a premium and a smile
I would buy the SWC roof just to hang on the wall.
Me too.
I wonder what a new ’63 roof section goes for?
Yes, it could be used as a body on a low end restomod or, heaven forbid in this day and age, a body repair.
Why did I say “low end” restomod?
At B-J Scottsdale a few years back I was doing a feature for a magazine.
I asked the builder of one of the featured very high end restomod C2s why they used a donor car.
It seemed a bit pointless since their builds had new chassis, custom interiors, and a new LT-something crate motor.
And you can buy new bodies.
So why spend $20-50,000 for a wrecked or tired donor when you won’t use much of it?
He said it was for the VIN number, which gave it an identity and legitimacy. Without it, it would be seen as a kit car.
And when you’re spending $250-300,000 car, what’s an extra $30k?
That split window part isn’t pretty with that missing corner. Still it would be useful for somebody.
There is a red convertible 63 coming up for auction here in Canada. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Not sure the wife will let me mortgage the house for it, but a guy can dream..
Fascinating, and a little sad….. The auction description touts “over 10 fuel infection units” – I’ll be calling them that from now on!
Looks like an interesting auction of Corvettes and parts. Would have enjoyed the opportunity to attend as the early Corvettes are very interesting. Thanks for the article.
Show of hands … how many of you are envisioning the Spit Window Fiberglass for the FRONT of a custom body car.
Only now that you mention it am I envisioning it but yes, both my hands are up!
I like the ’72 for value. Chrome bumper C3s aren’t cheap anymore (the malaise era C3s are still fairly cheap) and this one looks to be in really good shape for a really good price. Not thrilled with the slushbox, but for the price I could live with it.
You lost me at Powerglide.
Yup…no powerglide anything.
As I understand it, back in the day, owners weren’t overly thrilled with the split back window on the ’63s since the “missing” part of the back window was right in the middle of the rear view mirror and made it hard to see, which is probably why it was a one-year-only feature. Once the ’64s (and up to ’67) came out, there were places that would cut the split window and convert it to the full rear window, meaning there are some ’63 non-split window cars out there (along with all the cut and flared cars). Returning a previously converted car back to actual split window status would obviously add significant value back to the car, so this piece would be well worth the $3600 to someone in that position.
Not sure if you still can but Ecklers had the “strut” to replace the removed split.
Man oh man , this only makes me wonder just what the split window I had would be worth today .
Mine had 20 miles on it, yes 20 original miles, with the window sticker still in the window , the plastic still on the rear package tray and on the side panels and it had never even hit the road and she had every single available option. Likely worth at least $50 bucks now I’d think ? LMAO
To Bad , my first wife ended up with it after our divorce,,DOWWWWW ! That car I’d bought as an investment but did drive the other one I had years later that was well used when I got it . That one I did do OK on though as it had always been well taken car of .
I do recall hearing stories about people removing the split window when the 64’s came out so as not to date their car.