Although the cars built from 1953 to 1955 introduced the Corvette to America, it was the 1956 second series that truly earned the title “America’s Sports Car.” The clean good looks of Harley Earl’s new body design struck a chord with the American public, and it quickly outsold the older style by three to one. In addition, Zora Arkus-Duntov and Chevrolet Engineering had dramatically altered the personality of Chevrolet’s sports car with powerful small-block V8 engines and improved handling.
For 1958, the Corvette featured greater comfort, and its appearance was revised with the first quad headlights. 1958-only touches including a louvered “washboard” hood treatment and twin chrome decklid strips, consistent with the increased use of chrome. Performance continued to be emphasized, and the 245-hp, dual-quad 283 ensured the Corvette was competitive, with quarter-mile times in the 15-second range.
Chevrolet produced 9,168 Corvettes in 1958, and it was the first and only year in the C1 generation that yellow was available; only 455 were produced. Yellow was not offered on a Corvette again until 1965. And while most people assume that all 1956 to ’61 Corvettes had a contrasting color in the cove, it was a $16.15 option, and only 37% had it. Of those, only 190 of the Panama Yellow cars had white coves.
Displaying a full professional restoration completed in 2008 by Rick Adams, owner of RadAir in Minnesota, this fine Corvette received a 97.9% score for its originality and quality, earning the coveted Bloomington Gold Award in 2008.
As expected of a show-quality restoration, the Corvette’s fit and finish are outstanding. The car is one of 2,436 dual-quad 283s, with hydraulic lifters for easier maintenance. It has a 4-speed transmission, Positraction rear axle, signal seeking radio, courtesy lights and charcoal upholstery, as well as both tops. Award-winning and rare, this Corvette is an excellent example with a striking Panama Yellow finish.
SCM Analysis
Detailing
| Vehicle: | 1958 283/245 Convertible |
| Years Produced: | 1958–60 |
| Number Produced: | 1958, 9,168; 245hp, 1,417 |
| Original List Price: | Base: $3,591. As equipped: $4,525.45 |
| SCM Valuation: | $44,000–$83,000 |
| Tune Up Cost: | $200–$400 |
| Distributor Caps: | $35, NCRS approved reproduction |
| Chassis Number Location: | On left door hinge pillar post |
| Engine Number Location: | Partial VIN and engine ID code stamped on pad located in front of right cylinder head |
| Club Info: | Solid Axle Corvette Club; National Corvette Restorers Society |
| Website: | www.solidaxle.org |
| Alternatives: | 1955–57 Ford Thunderbird, 1954 Kaiser-Darrin, 1954 Woodill Wildfire |
| Investment Grade: | B |
This Corvette sold for $129,800, including buyer’s premium, at RM’s Automobiles of Amelia Island auction on March 14, 2009. Nicely presented in an eye-catching color, it was a tribute to proper restoration and how it should be presented. Restorer Rick Adams was with the car for most of the two days, answering questions and showing a trunkful of documents detailing this car’s history, restoration, and the 17 judging sheets from the Bloomington Gold award, with judges’ comments on hundreds of nit-picking details. It scored 97.9 points and had fewer than ten miles since its beautiful restoration.
A 1959 with similar mechanicals, a 245-hp dual-carb, 4-speed car, sold at the Branson Auction in Missouri for $61,800 a month later. That car, in silver with white coves, was also described as having a complete restoration, yet sold for less than half the price of the Amelia Island car. So what accounts for this huge difference in price? There are strong lessons here about what “restoration” means and its validation in the Corvette world.
Let’s look at the difference between a ’58 and ’59
The catalog for the Branson 1959 Corvette stated: “Inca Silver with white coves and a red interior. Powered by a numbers-matching, 283-ci, 245-hp V8 with dual factory 4-barrel carburetors. A complete restoration has been performed, including a new interior, new paint, and excellent chrome. Options include Wonderbar radio, heater, and both hard and soft tops. The trunk is fitted with the correct spare, mat, board, and cardboard.”
Let’s compare the two cars. There’s not much difference in desirability between the ’58 and ’59, although some critics decried the trunk chrome spears and the 18 fake hood louvers of the ’58 when it was new and still consider them styling excesses. But while the ’59 and ’60 models are practically identical, the ’58 belongs to a category by itself, and you either love it or hate it. Today, because of its uniqueness, it tends to bring higher prices.
Of four popular price guides, three value the ’58 higher, by a few thousand dollars, although some enthusiasts say the ’58 is worth up to $10k more. Still, the big difference in the prices achieved at these two auctions has to be the bidders’ perception of what type of restoration they were getting. The cost of an NCRS Top Flight restoration vs. a “driver” restoration adds about $15k–$25k to a body-off restoration that already runs around $80k–$120k.
Another factor played up in the catalog descriptions was the rarity of the color scheme—only 190 ’58 Panama Yellow cars with white coves were originally produced. The combination of silver with white coves, on the ’59, only appeared on 220 cars. But there’s a hitch: rarity of color means nothing on these early Corvettes, since the original color is not documented anywhere on the car’s data plate, and there are no factory records to validate color or equipment.
Any color, with or without contrasting coves, is permissible, so long as the colors were available in that year. So it is entirely possible that of the 190 yellow/white cars, only 400 have survived, and the national judging bodies don’t deduct points for color changes. Color is a preference, not a rarity or value factor. And while the yellow car attracted a lot of attention, CM’s reporter on the scene at Branson, Chuck Leighton, said “the silver looked amazing,” at least from 20 feet.
Nobody around and no documentation
However, when he got close it was evident that the “restoration” was not recent, not to NCRS standards, and had not held up well. The paint had cracks, and the door jambs showed masking tape lines. The interior indicated recent dyeing. The dash appeared to have been removed to either dye or replace the vinyl pad and now didn’t fit and “was obviously forced into place.” The perhaps once-correct engine bay had fuel-stained carbs, and the repro factory stickers had been damaged by none-too-subtle pressure washing. So it was basically a decent driver with an older, tired restoration. And there was nobody around and no documentation of the restoration or any hint of it passing scrutiny by marque judges. All of this adds up to the difference between the two prices.
So buyer beware: solid-axle Corvettes are not rare, and in most cases, there isn’t any way to determine what colors, options, engines, or transmissions originally came with the car. Value depends heavily on whether the restoration has passed the scrutiny of Top Flight or Bloomington Gold judging. As Rick Adams, the restorer of the yellow ’58 said, “I’m not much of a salesman. I find it difficult to say a car is NCRS ready or restored to NCRS standards. I just get them judged and provide the judging sheets to the buyer so they can see what they are getting.”
The way to buy a proper Corvette is to examine the judging sheets, which represent over 100 hours of scrutiny by knowledgeable judges, or to buy a driver at half the price and just have fun using it. Decide what you want and how much you want to spend. I would call both of these cars fairly sold and fairly bought, with prices representative of the quality of the underlying restorations