128 Original Miles: 1978 Corvette Pace Car
We see many of these Indianapolis Pace Car Corvettes come up for sale with low miles, but this one may be out in front: it has just 128 original miles and presents as-new. The price is an eye-watering $79,078, with the option to submit a best offer. It’s a lot of dough, but if you want a brand new 1978 Corvette, how many more are you going to find? Check it out here on eBay with two days left in the listing.
The tricky thing is, if you can live with a few thousand miles on the clock (and there are LOTS of those Pace Car editions running around), why would you blow $80K on a car you can never drive? Of course, if you’re seriously considering a specimen like this, it’s no longer about driving the car – it’s about displaying a practically new-in-the-wrapper Corvette in your garage mahal.
The aspect I enjoy the most about cars like this is the interior – even in the examples with a few thousand miles on the clock, none of the cabins look as new as this one does. The leather bolsters are perfect, the carpets still fuzzy and the dash plastics unmarred. No matter how careful you are, it seems the Pace Car editions with just slightly more use expose their mileage in the low-quality surface plastics of the era.
The gauges are also crystal clear with no sign of cloudiness; the black plastics don’t need Armor All to shine up this well. Of course the original AM/FM radio remains in place, too. This may be one of the few cases where an owner actually sees a modest return on their initial investment, but it’s likely marginal at best once inflation is factored in. Would you pony up the cash for a survivor Pace Car like this?
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Comments
That car would not be worth $80 grand if it was the one actually used as the pace car…driven by Jim Rathmann…and he was still in it.
Scary.
Just a car that the rich bought as an investment.Wonder how many actually made any money??
Some folks paid $70,000 for these in 1978 because they thought a production run of 6500 cars would make them rare. That is about $280,000 adjusted for inflation today. Ooops!
Nobody made any money.
A large portion of the cars were purchased to be put away thereby creating a glut on the market. That has never gone away. You can always find a 1978 Pace Car for sale somewhere.
I still don’t think enough time has passed for these to have any value.
Most people would agree. You have to remember it is based on a 1978 Corvette which was not a good car to begin with.
Sad to say, but it was good enough for 1978. Choices were pretty limited at that point. An L-82,FE-7, four-speed was fun to drive. Trust me.
40 years has gone by, LOL!! I think if these things’ time was gonna come, it would have come by now.
This was really the first car that I can remember that people bought solely as an investment. It was a bad one.
@Super- Oh yeah, and repeated in 1990 with the $100,000 ZR-1’s you can now buy for $25,000 all day long. My dearly departed dad was a stockbroker and he would always say “The best way to make a $1,000,000 in the market was to start with $2,000,000”
Fact is they do bring big $$ it’s about the lowest mile ones still in plastic
This wasn’t the first car people bought as an “Investment Vehicle” (’76 GM convertibles come to mind) but it IS one of `the best known. You had these, the ’90 454SS pickups, the ’87 GNXs, ’90 ZR1s, etc, etc… and it’s easier to find a factory-fresh example (if you really want one) than one rode hard and put away wet (“don’t you know what these will be WORTH?!?”)
@PA Tina – Yup. And 25k is for a cream puff ZR1 with delivery miles and wrapped in bubble wrap in a climate controlled garage to the right buyer. I recently saw a ZR1 on the West Side of Chicago at a buy-here-pay-here lot. It probably has 25″ dubs and a payment Lo-Jack on it now. Very undignified and illustrative of how wasteful and dumb it is to preserve any car and not drive it.
Ummm, there are many of these out there… Just do not understand the sellers expectations and his justification for it.. 80 grand? If I had that amount in my Corvette buying budget, I would spring for a 67 coupe with a 427 in it.
It doesn’t even have the optional L-82 or a 4 speed. Low mileage and decals doesn’t make a car valuable. Too many of the pace cars were rat holed away to ever justify this price.
Steve R
Maybe your right about a few things, but low mileage unrestored cars like this do bring much more money than restored examples.
That is true, but this car still isn’t worth anything close to $79,000+.
Over the last 3 months the most expensive Corvette Pace car sold on eBay, an 8,700 mile, NCRS top flight, L82, AT went for $25,000. The next highest was a 10,200 mile L48, AT which sold for $20,800. There are several others with between 20,000 and 50,000 miles that sold from $9,500 to $16,000. None of these cars were restored. Auction prices may well be higher, but I can’t see them being that much higher.
If you compare the prices of the Pace Car Corvettes to that of the 78-81 Trans Am, they don’t come out looking very favorable even though they sold in the tens of thousands. Why, because they were attainable when new, that’s what you saw driving around everyday. Same thing goes for the 86-87 Buick Grand Nationals.
Steve R
Yes, that can be true but exactly what are you buying here?
It would still need to be recommissioned and you already have $80K into it.
You can’t drive it this way. By your reasoning, it’s low mileage would be increased thereby dropping the value.
The value of this car would have to significantly increase to make it worthwhile.
I don’t see it.
Nice girls car with automatic and only 60 grand over priced 😜
Sorry for that price it’s a 427 vette or 63 split
window to drive and enjoy.
Put miles on this and your toast on and residual 💰💰
An amazing deal! There are only about 4,000 similar or better equipped Pace Cars available for 1/4 of the price.
Dozens of these were put away. I have a different special-edition Vette. I know many of them were put away too & mine will never make me wealthy. So I drive it. I maintain it but I drive it. The original buyer should’ve done the same. He could’ve gotten $300,000 worth of memories put of it, L82 or not.
1978: Hoarded by delusional collector.
2018: For sale by delusional dealer.
Great comment.
Simple market research should have provided a wake-up call, prior to the eBay listing. seems as though that wasn’t done here.
If I had the cash to spend on this, I’d add some, then invest it in a much more rare anniversary car: The C7 “Carbon 65”.
Simple market research shows one just sold this year for 70k + so he’s not to far off.
No, ONE sold for $68K and it was likely an aberration, i.e. bidding war. That doesn’t mean that they’re all now worth that much.
Kris good call yes only sell one at a time, I could do more research but that came right up. There are more
Better ones out there still in plastic and lower miles. Auction one just sold @ 68k not including fees. Car was 44 mile car
There are so many more interesting muscle cars on the market than the Pace Cars, for less money. I don’t know why someone would bother.
Steve R
128 miles is comparatively high for a 78 Pace Car. Most are still stuck away in storage, with less than 50 miles on them. As an NCRS judge, I’ve judged 5 or 6 over the years, that all had less than 50 miles on them.
There’s a former Chevrolet dealership in Delaware that still has their 78 Pace Car (former because they lost their franchise in the 2008 Government purge of GM dealers). It’s a never titled, L-48, automatic, with 18 miles on it. They’ve had it 40 years, and haven’t found a buyer for it yet, at the $40,000 asking price.
The only really rare Pace Cars, are the ones that have been driven.
From one NCRS Judge to another, I would respectfully disagree. There are plenty of them on the road. I have also judged a few, and they have been all over the mileage map. Most of the folks hoarding Pace Cars are just causing problems for their survivors and estate executors.
One just sold 70k + this year
Yes, you’ve said. Multiple times.
Back in 1983 I heard stories about suicides caused by these cars.
Guys bought some of these thinking they were going to skyrocket in value and when they crashed, it was like the stock market.
I don’t know if the stories were true, but it is plausible.
Read the front page piece in the March 27th 1978 edition of the Wall Street Journal.Great information regarding the buying/hoarding frenzy
That or they decided to finally take the cars for a spin and realized how overall bad they were..
Too many middle aged men buy Corvettes and somehow think they are worth a ton of money. Mostly because they can afford to not sell them. This thing is worth not even half of that 80k.
Trouble is it will bring close to that!
The original production run plan was to build 500 cars. GM also planned on having “Corvette” white-lettered tires made for them. That would have been an $80,000 car today (Maybe)
This model in particular always kind of struck me as the Beanie Baby of the Corvette world. Similar return on investment,too.
Hahahahahahahaha and I thought my day drinking was bad until I saw this ask By price. There will always be plenty of other with a lot less miles.
One just sold for 70k in 2018!
Could you get one without that rear spoiler, as a very special order? The later year vettes with the spoiler that’s part of the rear bumper looks so much better.
Would those tires be safe to drive on now, if the car was always stored indoors & there were no cracks in sidewalls or bulges when you run your hand all the way around the tread surfaces? I know of several garaged old cars with similar looking Grand Prix/Am GT radials(also RWOL) from the 90’s that still drive around on them!
I heard tires made back then(QUIET S rated) had more real rubber in them & lasted lot longer than today’s EXPENSIVE & NOISY!! > 7yr old cracking H, V, etc. rated tires.
Patience is a virtue. These mothballed “limited edition” 78 pace cars pop up often. Usually in the 28-32K neighborhood.
People do the same thing with guitars, thinking it’ll be some great investment, then sticking them in a closet all lonely and rusting away. Guitars are made to be played, cars are made to be driven.
I remember these and other Silver Anniversary Corvettes as delivered to dealerships….priced at 14-17 grand. Hard sells went to other dealerships at a “rarity” surcharge, and sold to collectors waiting. Most went into storage and never were enjoyed by first owners. Shame, as a Hot Wheels car never out of package, but “Collectible”. Is rare to see a saved one at over 99 miles…most way under 50.
Let me think. I have $79K, which should I buy? This shiny sub-200 hp museum piece, or a brand new C7 for $10K less. Hmmm. I’ll get back to you on that.
I’m back. C7. 1978 illusions of grandeur. I would think you might be able to buy an actual 1978 Indy Race car for $79K, albeit with a bit more than 128 miles. The race car may be even more reliable. I got rid of my leisure suits, too.
Somewhere I once read that the Worst Vettes ever built were the 1978 ones.
I had a friend who had a 1978 Pace car with around 500 miles the only difference was his was a 4 spd. He thought that his car once he decided to sell it would be enough to pay off his house, guess what it never happened. He did sell it but for around $20,000.00 his own words. These are ok cars but not $80,000.00 ok
Dude just take a look at this years auctions one just sold for 70k+, that’s what they bring 2018.
If someone was stupid enough to pay 70k for one that does not mean the other ones are worth 70k. Get a grip.
He’s said the same thing in every comment thread on this page. Is he the flipper – er, seller? Because he certainly is trying to make all of us think that one sale = the new norm.
Only way it’s worth $80k is if there is $65k cash in the glovebox😎
Insane in the membrane
I’m sometimes tempted to post a higher-mileage one, as this is the most over-collected car ever made and it’s almost more common to find an undriven one then a nice, driven, working example!
Even if it brought the 80k, as far as investments go that would’ve been a bad one. In 1980 my dad invested 5k in a mutual fund that today is worth nearly 200k. Id guess the vette in 1978 cost at least double that .
I do remember these as a wee lad of 18 that year, working at a Chevy dealer. Ours was wholesaled to a sister dealership after they became disgusted with the footprints(!) of small children on it. L-82 option, they wanted 27k for it. You just had to love those space suit-looking seats! Best job for a kid ever…
Could have bought one 27 years ago for 5k..had the keys in my pocket then decided against it because 2 baby seats just wouldn’t look cool in it, or fit in it for that matter..young man that owned it had a just about matching trans am that daddy had bought him when he got bored with the vette, although he was a racing nut, he took great care of his cars… Oh if I could turn back time… Would still love to have one, but one that I can drive and enjoy not a 80k trailer queen
ProTeam Corvette in Ohio. L-82, 4-speed, 1100 miles. $40,000. End of story regarding these being $80,000 cars.
LOL 1142 miles is like 20k on these cars
1142 VS 123 apples oranges.
Had a cherry 79 till 3 years ago. One of the best days was waving to new owner as he pulled away.