We’ll find out in January, when this star attraction, known affectionately as “the Caboose” and legally as the “Last”(tm) Corvette, rolls across the block at Barrett-Jackson’s annual Scottsdale auction-cum-media-circus. If it hammers at the magic million mark, it won’t have been by accident. Nor will it necessarily be a bad buy, despite having no ultrarare options. It will, however, represent a 44-fold increase in value in 13 years. Holy portfolios!
A bit of background: On July 12, 1967, a nicely equipped Corvette coupe painted Silver Pearl with a black “stinger” on the hood and equipped with an L36 390-horse big-block, side pipes, a close-ratio four-speed manual, a 3.55:1 Positraction rearend, A/C, and a few other goodies rolled off GM’s St. Louis assembly line bearing serial number 122940 and with no cars behind it. An unknown owner, presumed to be a G.I., bought it in Houston, Texas. Hard use from two subsequent owners resulted in the original 427 being sold off and later blown by a dirt-track racer. The car was repainted red and thereafter stripped to primer. By 1990, it was an ugly hulk and a likely candidate for the crusher. Its fourth owner, California concert promoter Bill Barr, paid $4500 for the car, intending to build it up as a Pro-Street racer until he noticed the VIN and realized he might be sitting on a gold mine. He advertised it for sale in 1994, which is when current owner Terry Michaelis first caught wind of it. As owner and purveyor of ProTeam Classic Corvette Collection and Sales, his interest drove the price up from $18,000 to $25,000, an insane amount for an engineless beast. Terry passed, and Corvette collector Bill Mock negotiated a price of $22,940-a dollar for every 1967 Corvette built.