Corvette Generations:
C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8
Corvette: Year by Year
1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 19631964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974
1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985
1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Classic Corvette Purchasing Tips
Part One
A case in point. Jay Leno, well known car collector, wrote a guest editorial in AutoWeek a number of years ago. He spoke about a problem that often plagues celebrities: "hangers on" that do odd things to attach themselves to famous people. In his case, they will call up in response to an ad for a classic car and pretend to be his "representative" and will say something along the lines of "Jay saw your ad and asked me to call for more information". Jay wrote that if someone gets a call like that they are definitely talking to an impostor. He never has anyone call on his behalf when it comes to classic car shopping; if he sees your ad and he is interested, he'll call you himself.
Beyond saying something about Jay as a person, the article said a lot about the car collector hobby. It is fun. Lots of it! Researching and deciding what collector car to buy is fun. Shopping for them is fun. Buying them is a real blast. Owning them, maintaining them, driving them, preserving them, showing them and yes, eventually selling them is a source of pleasure.
As the saying goes: "It's not the destination, it's the journey!" Enjoy your search for a Corvette as it is almost as much fun as owning one.
You are best off if you can limit your search to locally available Corvettes. The logic here is simple: investigating and purchasing is much easier if access to the car and the seller can be easily done in person. But that can limit you if
- You live in a sparsely populated area
- You are looking for a "special" Corvette, i.e. one that is not commonly available
If your circumstances are such that you cannot find what you want nearby, then a wider search is necessary. There are also the many online auction sites, starting with the industry leader, ebay.
Classic Corvette Purchasing Tips, Part Three
Classic Corvette Purchasing Tips, Part Four
Classic Corvette Purchasing Tips, Part five
Classic Corvette Purchase: Which one? (Part One)
Classic Corvette Purchase: Which one? (Part Two)
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Comments (2)
There was a typo in the article, I meant to say "There is also a sellers fee". Mecum, just like other auction houses, gets a commission from both the buyer and seller. As I recall, they charge the seller 8% if the car is offered at no reserve and 10% if the seller wants to put a reserve on it. Occasionally they will alter those percentages to make the sale at the time of the auction, but this is rare.
Great tips, thanks. Pls clarify: In the last paragraph under Corvette Buying At An Auction, you say "Mecum charges the buyer a 10% fee." Then three paragraphs later you say "There is also a buyer's fee that varies based on the hammer price of the car." Why the double charge? And what does Mecum charge the Seller?