SOLD 1978 Indy Pace Car Corvette 4 for sale Corvette Mike com.avi

3,773 total miles!!

1978 Chevrolet Corvette Indy 500 pace car
The other leader of the pack

This was the 25th anniversary for the Corvette, and Chevrolet introduced the most extensively redesigned Corvette since 1968. Twenty Five years after the birth of "America's Sports Car", the Corvette finally got a chance to pace the Indy 500 in 1978 and was the first Pace Car in history to use an entirely stock drive-train. It was driven by 1960 Indy 500 winner Jim Rathmann and was his fifth time behind the wheel of the Indy pace car.

1978 was Corvette's 25th birthday and GM engineers had the challenge of producing something special to mark this major milestone. Confronting this challenge head on, engineering and styling departments pulled out all the stops in an effort to hit a home run. Engineering managed to squeeze more horsepower out of the L-48 (up to185 hp) and the L-82 (up to 220 hp). Styling added a new fastback rear window, vastly increasing usable interior space and giving the Corvette a brand new profile. The instrument panel was freshened up and a real glove box was added. All 1978s had special emblems on the front and rear commemorating the 25th anniversary. The end result of these changes was to give the car an appearance significantly different from the '77 Corvette.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway chose the Corvette as the pace car for the 1978 Indy 500, marking the first time Corvette had been selected. Also for the first time, Chevrolet planned to build a limited number of the special edition pace cars for sale to the public. Initially only 300 pace cars were planned, a number equal to the number of Corvettes produced in the first year of production, 1953. There was a problem though; there where about 6,000 US Chevrolet dealers at the time and every dealer wanted the car. To prevent dealer discord, GM changed the number of cars to be produced to 6,502, one pace car for each dealer in the US and Canada. This appeased the dealers, as each dealer was well aware of the sales potential of the first limited edition Corvette.

To separate the pace car from the other 1978 Corvettes, it was given a unique paint scheme, a black upper portion and a silver lower portion separated by red pin striping. The interior was equipped with a special silver interior which included seats that were originally designed for the '79 Corvette. Silver tinted glass T-tops topped off the black & silver theme. Special polished slotted wheels with red pin striping were also included in the pace car package (RPO Z-78) as were a host of other Corvette options. As if the above changes were not enough, GM assigned the pace car with its own VIN numbering sequence, also a Corvette first.

In late March, the Wall Street Journal ignited a feeding frenzy among Corvette enthusiasts, car enthusiasts and investors looking to make a quick dollar or two that was unparalleled in automobile history. In March of 1978 just as over 6,000 Chevrolet dealers were beginning to receive their allotment of one pace car each. The approximate delivery price of a standard 1978 pace car was $13,800 and for one with the optional L-82 engine, it was $14,300. That is, that's what the prices were until March 27, 1978 when The Wall Street Journal ran a front page story about this new limited edition Corvette pace car and how much of a collectible item it would be. As soon as the story hit the streets, every Corvette fanatic, every car guy and every investor looking to make a buck or two wanted a pace car. Dealers quickly realized that the demand for their product greatly exceeded the supply and did what any red-blooded American car dealer would've done in that situation, they raised the price. Within days, asking prices for pace cars shot up to $20,000 - $25,000 and the rarer L-82 4-speeds commanded up to $40,000. Remember, this was 1978 and $40k was a ton of money. For example, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the year at 805, the cost of a new home was around $54,800 (let's see, a car or a house?), the average Income per year was $17,000, average Monthly Rent was $260.00 and a gallon of Gas cost $0.63!

Dealers in larger metropolitan areas and enterprising entrepreneurs scoured the countryside for dealers in more remote areas who were willing to sell their allotted pace cars for a quick profit. These cars were then re-sold in more populated areas for even more money. As the buying frenzy continued, it became a news story in and of itself, and papers across the United States chimed in with their own take on the madness. This, of course, only exacerbated the situation. There was even a report of one enterprising dealer who hired an armed guard to stand by the pace car in his showroom. No doubt it made for a good news story and probably drew in a few more customers.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• 1978
• Indy
• Pace
• Car
• Corvette
• for
• sale
• Mike
• com
• Troy Worrell
• Jeff Romm
• Mike Vietro

[Reynaldo923]

I give you $500000

[CorvetteMikeCom]

I was :( It is now sold. Sorry

Troy @ CorvetteMike. com

[spikeri812]

very nice ...for sale??