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It Doesn’t Get Much More Legit Than the 1960 “Camoradi” Corvette
No single make and model has a longer history in racing than the Chevrolet Corvette, and one very early piece of that racing history is coming up for auction. A 1960 Corvette that stormed its way around Sebring, Le Mans, Havana, and the Nürburgring, the motorsport veteran is estimated to fetch between $1.0-$1.3M at Broad Arrow’s 2025 Amelia sale. Let’s take a closer look.
Based in Florida, Lloyd “Lucky” Casner’s Camoradi U.S.A. (short for “Casner Motor Racing Division”) was one of America’s top teams in international sports car racing during the first half of the 1960s. Its biggest achievement was winning the 1000-km race at the Nürburgring twice, in 1960 and 1961, with a Maserati Tipo 61, but the team also ran Porsches, OSCAS, and Corvettes. In 1960, Camoradi was able to acquire two “competition optioned Corvettes plus spare parts, technical advice as needed and a financial testing contract” with a little help from Corvette engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov.
Delivered via Don Allen Chevrolet of Miami, the cars came with 283-cubic-inch/290-hp fuel-injected engines, heavy-duty brakes and suspension, and larger fuel tanks. The Corvettes started their racing career off right, with one cruising to an overall win at the Gran Premio de la Habana, then following up three days later with a GT class win at the Gran Premio de la Cuba finale.
At Sebring this car, chassis number 00867S102272, finished second in the GT 5.0 class. Its sister car finished third in class, but things later went awry. The team borrowed a fuel line for it from a street car in the paddock, and then a Camoradi mechanic returned the car to the owner; the next time someone started it, the car caught fire, leaving the Camoradi team with just one Corvette to tackle the World Sportscar GT Class Championship.
The team entered chassis 00867S102272 in the Targa Florio but didn’t get it shipped in time to make the race, so its next outing was the Nürburgring. Although Camoradi’s Maserati took an epic overall victory with the dream duo of Stirling Moss and Dan Gurney driving, the Corvette suffered a wheel bearing failure early in the race and retired. Le Mans was a better showing, with consistent pace and no major issues netting the Corvette second in class (behind the Cunningham team’s Corvette) and 10th overall by distance. However, that finish wound up being “not classified” on a technicality, that the car hadn’t traveled sufficient distance relative to the displacement of its engine.
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Next up for the white and blue Corvette was the Swedish Grand Prix in Karlskoga, where it finished fourth in class. Still in Sweden and en route to the next race at Goodwood with Bob Wallace (engineer and future Lamborghini test driver) at the wheel, the car flipped and wound up in a ditch. Wallace was fine but the car wasn’t. As far as Camoradi was concerned, it was toast. The engine and transmission were removed, but the rest of the car remained in Sweden and faded into obscurity.
Thirty years later, an Arizona Corvette aficionado named Loren Lundberg decided to track down the missing Camoradi Corvette. It took a few years and a lot of persistence, but he eventually learned that the car had been repaired and returned to the road in Sweden in 1966 and that its latest owner had been keeping it since 1979. Lundberg bought 00867S102272 and shipped it to the U.S. in 1995. A restoration followed, and though he tried to also find the car’s original powertrain, he learned that it went on to power an old Maserati 250 F Grand Prix car and later a powerboat that eventually sank in the Tasman Sea. Since the restoration, 00867S102272 has been an award winner at multiple concours events, including The Amelia.
This important piece of Corvette history went to Mecum’s Indianapolis auction in 2023 but did not sell at a $1.1M high bid. Now it’s back, with a similar presale estimate of $1.0M-$1.3M. Such a number wouldn’t make it the world’s priciest example of America’s sports car (a 1967 L88 sold for $3.85M back in 2014), but it would put it among the most expensive Corvettes ever sold at auction. It has been consigned for Broad Arrow’s Amelia auction on March 8.
It’s a neat story, but hey, $1.3 mil for non-numbers-matching? Pass. 😉 (like I was gonna bid on it anyway, right?)
It’s a very interesting car. I do wonder how much the missing original motor is hurting the vehicle’s sale? It would appear to be a decent amount.
How deep is the Tasman Sea where the racing boat went down…
I wonder how many old race cars really have their original engines (or transmissions, rear ends or suspension components). The article says this car was heavily damaged in a road accident, so how much of the body is original? The Cobras that won the world GT championship in mid 60’s had engines changed very often (well documented), that doesn’t seem to hurt their value.
You are spot on. Matching numbers in a race car powertrain are not as big of a deal as they would be in an original “investment quality” trailer queen, where provenance determines authenticity.
It ain’t a trailer queen, but it sure is investment quality!