This Rare Corvette Sold for $2,695,000 – But Did It Set the Record?

Talk about the big bucks – this incredibly rare 1967 Chevrolet Corvette L88 not only dropped jaws, but it also emptied pocketbooks with an incredible sales price at the Mecum Auctions event in Glendale, Arizona. Other outlets have reported that the $2,695,000 might seem like a lot, but it’s not. Um, what? Yes, that’s a lot of money. The real question here is if it broke a record?

The Sunfire Yellow coupe is in rare company. Only 20 cars that have the L88 option package were built in 1967, which includes a high-performance drivetrain, brakes, and a racing V8. The car is beautiful and is truly a work of art and shouldn’t come as much of a surprise for netting a 7-figure price tag.

Despite being fully-restored and potentially the only L88 in existence with the original numbers-matching engine, it still fell short of the auction record for this specific model and all Corvettes. That belongs to an L88 coupe in 2014 that sold for a gut-wrenching $3.85 million. Too bad it’ll probably sit in a garage and never get driven.

John Wiley, the Hagerty Manager of Valuation Analytics describes the price paid for the Mecum car as two percent below its expected value today, which shows a strong market for classic cars. However, the 2014 car crossed the block during a peak that, at the time, coincided with an available tax exemption on those types of that. It has since expired.

Although it wasn’t record-setting, the Mecum car’s value rebounded from a 2018 auction when it reached a high bid of $1.7 million – it wasn’t even enough to clear the reserve price. With the sale, it becomes the third-most valuable 1967 L88 and fourth-most valuable Corvette that’s ever been sold.