2003 was an auspicious year for the Chevrolet Corvette. It was celebrating its 50th anniversary (not a lot of model lines get that far) and was in the midst of a winning streak at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
It must have been an easy decision, then, for the Automobile Club de l’Ouest to select America’s favorite sports car to serve as the official on-duty car in the endurance race that year, just like it will at this year’s Indianapolis 500.
Only too happy to oblige, Chevy sent over six Corvettes to western France for the occasion – two to act as pace cars and four positioned around the track’s perimeter to serve as safety cars. And one of those is now coming up for auction.
Decked out in a deep wine red with gold wheels and 50th-anniversary badging, the very special Vette features a 5.7-liter V8 rated at 350 horsepower, magnetorheological suspension, unique graphics, emergency lighting bar, on-board fire extinguisher, roll cage, racing harnesses… the works.
The race wouldn’t work out as well for the Corvette team that year as it did the rest of that decade. In between winning the GTS class the two years prior and the three years to follow, the American team lost to a Ferrari 550 campaigned by Prodrive, coming in 11th and 12th overall.
After the race was done, General Motors kept this car as part of its in-house Heritage Collection. But like so many of its assets, it was sold off after the industrial giant went bankrupt. That’s when its current owner picked it up, holding on to it and keeping it in original condition ever since. But now it’s set to hit the auction block this weekend in Auburn Spring, Indiana, where Auctions America anticipates it will sell for $25,000 to $30,000 – which doesn’t strike us as a whole lot for such a special and historical vehicle.
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