Making a Mistake on a $100,000 Corvette
A Risk Case Study
Corvette people are a different bunch. Get them together and you’ll hear lingo such as Big Block, Tank Sticker, Bonding Strips, Rock Crusher, Side Pipes and Matching Numbers. I know what these all mean, but I’m certainly no expert on Corvettes. Trust me, there’s plenty of other people that are, with astounding depths of knowledge about them. For this reason, Corvette people are sometimes thought of as prickly. Like the guy sitting at the baseball game entering in his own box scores. Don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely a fan of team Corvette. But no, I don’t need to join the club, don’t need to wear the merch, not interested in tailgate parties. Just here to watch the game.
Last October there was a real good one for sale locally and I went to go have a look. It was a 1967 coupe with a 427ci engine and 4-speed transmission - a fabled combo, but a pricey one. The big block motor had the correct VIN stamp for the car (matching numbers), the transmission was an M-22 (Rock Crusher) and the whole thing breathed through a set of side pipes that delivered one of the most legendary audio experiences to be found on Planet Gearhead. I really liked this car.
It was for sale by a dealer that I knew. You may ask how could anyone buy a car from a dealer and then expect to make a profit from it? Good question. The answer is called arbitrage. Years ago, when I first started selling cars, my brother-in-law described what I do as arbitrage. I had never heard that word before but it turns out that he had described my business perfectly. Buying a product from one market and then selling it in a more efficient one. Back in 2001, the inefficient market was the newspaper classifieds where I would find cars to buy and then sell them on the internet, a market play that most sellers still hadn’t capitalized on. Fast forward to October 2023 and my arbitrage method for this Corvette was now going to be based on buying a car from a dealer that didn’t want to bother with selling their cars in the new, efficient marketplace: www.bringatrailer.com
This dealer with the Corvette has been in business a loooong time. He has his system down, has a handful of employees, enjoys a great reputation and maintains a deep Rolodex of just about every car nut in the Pacific Northwest. After over 40 years of doing things his way, he doesn’t want the hassle of having to babysit a Bring a Trailer auction for seven days and answer pointless questions from people that usually have no intention of buying. Now, me, I don’t have any employees. No retail showroom. Low overhead. I’m used to answering pointless questions from commenters on BaT. If you want to ask me why one of the valve stem caps on the wheels are different than the others, by all means go ahead.
His dealership had the car priced at 110. It was Lynndale Blue with a gorgeous Teal Blue interior, a rare combo. It was sitting on knockoff wheels with redline tires. The engine bay was detailed to perfection. I fell in love pretty quickly. The salesman that I was dealing with knew Corvettes really well and had been working as the owner’s righthand man for over 20 years. He’s younger than me but knows about twice as much. A good guy, and someone whom I had made a number of deals with over the years, all on friendly terms.
“Now, Bob, if you want me to pull the car outside for a better look just let me know.”
It was a rainy Portland day in October. I had looked this one over pretty closely, there was no need to get it wet. I knew that I wanted this car. We settled on 100 and I got out my checkbook knowing that on this day, in my 22nd year of business, I had just bought a car that was going to claim a place in to my Top Ten Kickass Cars list.
They delivered it to me on their car hauler that afternoon. Watching it (hearing it!) roll of their ramp truck, I got the feeling that Christmas had come early this year. Once it was tucked away in my shop, I did a slow walk around of the car, taking in its majesty. It was rolling art, it was….hold on. I felt a pit in my stomach when I saw something that I hadn’t noticed before.
Sweet Jesus, this car was painted in two different colors.
Wait, this can’t be. I got up close. I stood far away. What the hell? Under the bright lights in my shop, this rare and unique color seemed to show a different hue on the doors and hood. Despite the shock, I actually knew what had happened, had seen this type of thing before. Sometimes on a high level restoration when the car is apart, they’ll shoot the doors and hood panel off the car separately. But when spraying complex metallic colors, if the orientation of the paint laydown is not consistent with the body on the ground, there can be a slight mismatch in hue that’s caused by the way that the metallic reflects light. But usually not on a restoration of this quality. Not on a $100,000 Corvette.
I didn’t sleep very well that night, and the following morning I brought my wife in to the shop to have a look. She’s an artist and knows color. I fully expected her to say “Well, you’ve really done it this time,” but she didn’t. She didn’t see what I was talking about. She got up close. She stood far away. “Nah, I don’t see it.”
Okay, that definitely made me feel better, but in the days that followed the car kept looking back at me. See? Yeah, I do. I can see it.
“Now, Bob, if you want me to pull the car outside for a better look just let me know.”
I hadn’t been the only one who could see it.
I photographed the car and then put it on Bring a Trailer, covering my head and bracing for impact. I had made a note to my auction writer about the color mismatch and he did include it in the description. I got ready to babysit my auction and tried telling myself that maybe I could break even on this one. But the comments about the paint never came. Some of the commenters started a discussion about the differences between handling characteristics of big block cars versus small block cars, but nothing about the color, other than everyone loving on Lynndale Blue. Seven days passed with me waiting for the other shoe to drop. These are Corvette people, they notice everything. Is it possible that I was actually more picky than these people, or was everyone colorblind this week?
After some spirited bidding in the last ten minutes, the car actually met the reserve and sold. I spoke with the buyer afterwards and was told that he and his wife would be planning on driving up to Portland from a nearby state with their car trailer. And yes, they were Corvette people, both of them. Belonged to the club, went on driving tours, owned a few of them already. And that was okay. I was actually glad to hear that they would be coming to see the car in person, and if they needed to unwind the deal after seeing it up close, well, I would understand. After we ended our phone conversation I realized that he had never asked me anything about the paint.
A week later they arrived at my shop towing an enclosed trailer. They weren’t prickly at all, just a really nice retired couple that loved Corvettes. The three of us spent some time looking over the car as I prepared myself for the big question, the one that I had waited seven days to answer in person. When we were wrapping up 30 minutes later it finally came.
“So, what’s this about the paint? The color’s off on the doors?”
I pointed out how the doors and hood were a slightly different hue. 10 very long seconds passed as he and his wife stared at the car from several angles.
“Hmmph. Don’t see it. Now, how do you want this check made out?”
After some paperwork, we started the car up and smiled as we all listened to the crack and burble coming from the side pipes, then got it loaded into the trailer. They seemed happy. I know I was.
I'm familiar with the story and yet I was holding my breath! Happy it sold and to people who will love it.