Having never watched the Indianapolis 500 growing up, my understanding of Indy pace cars was taken strictly from seeing them at car shows or auctions. What I gathered from seeing them at those places was that they were something like the tip of the pyramid when it came to boomer collectibles. This latest listing at Mecum is for 18 Indy pace cars all up for sale as a single lot and, yes, they’re all Corvettes. Friends, we have reached the mountain top.
Getting past the fact that this same collection went up for auction exactly four years ago—boy, how time flies—the cars in this collection are not all actually official pace cars. In fact, just two of them are. The others are either IMS-authorized replicas or Corvette Pace Car Editions built by Chevy. That being said, they’re all low-mileage ‘Vettes with unique liveries, and two of them—although only one is pictured in the listing—are mid-engine C8s.
The collection is estimated to be sold for between $1.5 million to $1.7 million. Obviously, some are going to be worth more than others, however, the highest mileage machine here, a 1986 C4, has just 17,342 miles, and the low mileage cars are practically new. The oldest vehicle is a 1978 C3 Pace Car Edition, and it has just 50 miles, while the newest 2022 C8 Pace Car Replica will be delivered with less than 100.
Not all of the cars are that interesting, to be honest. Many are just regular Corvettes with especially low mileage and a nice coat of paint. Others are probably worth more than the roughly $90,000 estimated average price for each car, though. Both C8s, the 2022 and a 2022, are definitely worth getting, as is the low-mileage 2006 C6 Z06, or the 2013 C6 ZR1 with just 34 miles on the odometer.
In fact, a lot of them are worth getting for that average price if the entire lot is indeed sold for that roughly $1.6 million figure. There are a few regular ‘Vettes in there that could definitely be had for less, sure, but overall it’s a solid collection. It could also be one of the easier ways to get two low-mileage C8s.
All of these machines will be sold together, so there’s no getting just a few of the more desirable ones. The group will be auctioned off between May 13 and 21 at Mecum’s Indianapolis auction, just ahead of the 2022 Indy 500.
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