Chevrolet's iconic Corvette is one of the most quintessentially American cars that the world has ever seen, and has now been produced for over six decades, making it a true automotive icon.
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few months, you would've heard that the Corvette is going mid-engined and coming to New Zealand next year, making it the C8 the first to do both.
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If we turn back the clock, and go back to the 1960s, when mass producing mid-engined cars was (mostly) reserved for the Italians, we come across the second-generation Corvette, complete with a massive V8 and a tiny body.
Over 117,000 examples of the C2 Corvette were built between 1963 and 1967, but only a handful of these ones were built — making it quite a rare piece of American history.
Listed for sale by Corvette Mike, this yellow beauty is a 1967 L88 model, and is the last L88 coupe to exist on earth. While Chevrolet manufactured 20 L88 Corvettes throughout 1967, most were entered into racing series, leaving them as mangled piles of steel.
Offered as a package that could be ordered directly from the factory, the L88 option boosted the performance of the Corvette significantly. Under the hood sits a 427ci big-block V8 with a four-speed manual transmission attached, that sent power to the rear wheels.
Back in its day, the L88's engine was good for over 550hp or 410kW, which was more than enough to keep things interesting back in the day.
Thanks to the race car nature of the L88, every car was delivered without a radio or a heater. To save some extra weight, the engine didn't have a choke either, making the L88 a nightmare to keep running until it warmed up.
Other upgrades included the heavy-duty brakes, racing suspension system, and racing harnesses in the cabin.
Out of the 20 L88s that Chevrolet built, just 10 survive today. Because of the choke-less nature, seven of these cars have been engine swapped, leaving just three with the original L88. Two of these are convertibles, meaning that this is the only original coupe on earth.
The seller states that this car has undergone a meticulous ten-year restoration, and has only clocked up 424km on its odometer. It is set to go up for auction next year, where this "holy grail of Corvettes" is predicted to fetch around $6 million.
Back in 2014, one of the other surviving L88s crossed the auction block at Barrett-Jackson and sold for a hefty $5.8 million.
