“We Bought It When Gas Was Cheap”: Family Sells 1962 Corvette Only Pulled Out for Parades

“This Corvette isn’t pretending to be a flawless museum piece.” That’s how the owner describes this 1962 Corvette that’s been locked in a garage for the last 20 years. “It was pulled out only for local parades and weekend cruises,” he continues.

This Corvette checks many big boxes, beginning with previous ownership. The car has never left the family that took it home from the dealership. It’s been properly cared for since 1962, but one thing you should keep in mind is that no service records are available.

You might be able to get more data on all these repairs, but if you’re specifically interested in receipts or a logbook, it won’t be the case with this Corvette.

Chevrolet produced 14,531 Corvettes in 1962 as the final year of this generation. The car was only available as a convertible, with a coupe debuting a year later with the famous split-window design. All Corvettes were assembled at the St. Louis plant and came with 327ci engines.

The base configuration offered standard produced 250 horsepower, while RPO 396 allowed buyers willing to pay more to increase the output to 340 horsepower thanks to a higher compression ratio. RPO 582 used fuel injection to produce 360 horsepower.

The fuel-injected engine was the rarest configuration in 1962, also due to its price. It carried a price of $484 on top of the base Corvette, and only 13.2% of the buyers agreed to pay that much for this engine upgrade. This means only 1,918 Corvettes were born with this engine.

The rarest Corvette option in 1962 was the 24-gallon fuel tank. Only 65 buyers thought it would be worth paying $118 on this option, so if you ever come across one of the 0.4% of the Corvettes that have this fuel tank version, you’d better not think twice before making an offer.

I wish we knew more about the man who owned this Corvette between 1962 and 1973, but the car is being described as a “family-owned” car that has already received a repaint in the early 1990s.

The pain now shows its age, and this isn’t a surprise. You’ll find the typical cracking and chips, but if you’re a big fan of patinas – I’m not, and considering this is a 1962 Corvette, I would rather prefer a respray for a flawless appearance – you can very well remove the spots of surface rust and retain its current look.

The Corvette wears a new black soft top, and the original hard top is also included in the sale.

The mileage is also unknown, considering the odometer isn’t working, so the best thing you can do is to send your mechanic to inspect the car and determine what fixes would be necessary to fix those things.

Otherwise, the odometer shows 66,000 miles, but that’s not at all relevant, considering the aforementioned issues.

My advice, if you haven’t already decided to walk away and look elsewhere, is to call the seller and arrange a live inspection. Nothing beats an in-person verification, especially if you are interested in the engine under the hood. The car runs and drives, and “it makes you feel something,” and the only way to experience this is by going there in person.

I believe the car isn’t supposed to be a museum piece, and all these changes, mixed with its condition, are the living proof. However, it’s still a final-year C1 whose previous ownership properly cared for it, so maybe it’s worth a second chance.

This Corvette is selling at auction, and after 36 bids, the top offer has reached $33,000. The only problem is that the owner also configured a reserve, and it’s still in place at the time of writing. With only 2 days remaining until the auction closes, this is concerning, as nobody might manage to trigger the reserve before it’s too late.

The car is parked in Petaluma, California, and it should be able to leave for a new home on its own wheels.…Read more by Bogdan Popa