78 Pace Car trivia

[David W.]

Might anyone venture a guesstimate as to how many of the 6502 78 pacers might still be alive and well? My guess is 50-60% of them but nothing to support that.

[Rick A.]

Re: 78 Pace Car trivia

Nothing to support it, but am guesstimating 75-80% with many of them being parked in garages with the hope they were going to be valuable

[Edward B.]

Re: 78 Pace Car trivia

I agree Rick. Most of the people that bought the 78 Pacer were looking for investments, not something to actually drive. I might even put it at 90-95 percent. And they haven't gone up much in price either. You can still get a solid, low mile 78 pacer for under 20k.

Ed

[David W.]

Re: 78 Pace Car trivia

Guys this is kinda why I asked the question. Hagerty shows an uptick in the last quarter of 2014 with L82's #1 condition car at $60k with #2s at $34k. I agree a daily driver you can get for around $20k. Its been 37 years since it was thought to be a collectible. I think the 78 pacer is finally getting its due and people maybe became impatient over the 37 years and decided to drive them rather than store hence finding there way to the scrap yard. I dont know just a hunch. I dont know how many may be overseas but there are a few for sure.

[Edward B.]

Re: 78 Pace Car trivia

I don't know where Hagerty is getting their info from, but if you check out the SOLD LISTINGS on ebay, there's not one there above 20k!

Ed

[David W.]

Re: 78 Pace Car trivia

You don't put #1 and #2 cars on ebay. Check Hemmings or BJ and mecum. Hagerty insures them so they better know what their doin.

[Rick A.]

Re: 78 Pace Car trivia

But Haggerty is caught up in all the hype from days-gone-by with these cars - they are NOT worth more than about $20-25k Ed indicates. Everything else is still wishful thinking and people NOT understanding the value of the very under-powered car they are. And, they were NOT a small-batch car by any stretch of anyone's imagination.

[Michael J.]

Re: 78 Pace Car trivia

I think the really low miles ones that have been left totally original are kinda neat, but not worth over $25K or so. You also have to remember they were not the best built cars. Al Unser has the exact one that was an actual pace car when he won the Indy in his museum. It has about 1K miles on it, and the paint is just cracking and checking away. I asked him if he left it outside in the hot NM sun the whole time, he laughed and said it was rarely driven and was in his garage, under a cover most all the time, "just sorry paint" he said.

[Ara G.]

Re: 78 Pace Car trivia

Mine is still in the wrapper from GM. Only 71 miles from new. My father bought it new and gave it me for my 40th birthday since it was my favorite since I was old enough to walk. Love the car. I don't care about value, it's priceless from a sentimental standpoint to me. Really cool to go over the car with an "NCRS" eye now and see how the General made them back then. I love it.....ARA

[David W.]

Re: 78 Pace Car trivia

All Hagerty does is tab bills of sale in their database to graph their trending charts. It is what it is. A 5 star Bowtie, McLellan, BG, Triple Crown, Multiple National TF's L82 with 2900 doc miles untouched sold for $42k private last year in my neighborhood. Another with 300 mi sold for $38k in Boston that i looked at. St Louis had its issues with many C3's. Yeah the power is down but blame the feds not chevrolet. They still have decent 0-60 times. Lacquer shrinks and gets brittle over time. Lacquer was used in STL until they moved to Bowling Green. Its all about storage. Time to give these late C3 cars the respect they deserve. Now back to the original question........how many remain in existence?? Thanks men....

[Jack M.]

Re: 78 Pace Car trivia

Some additional trivia on the '78 Pace Car:

This has long been a favorite of mine and I hope to purchase one someday. I fully realize the lack of power and the horrendous paint (had my new '79 painted at the dealership before I took delivery), but I still get the feeling that it looks sinister every time I see one. When I was running the 'Corvette Dream & Drive' for New England in the early 90's, I was discussing my admiration of the '78 Pace Car with Dick Guldstrand and John Gibson. Mr Gibson asked me if I knew the reason behind the color scheme. Since I had no clue, he proceeded to remind me that back in '78, most magazines were still printed in B&W... and they chose that color scheme because it photographed well in B&W. Kinda simple when you think about it...

[Tom R.]

Re: 78 Pace Car trivia

Guys this is kinda why I asked the question. Hagerty shows an uptick in the last quarter of 2014 with L82's #1 condition car at $60k with #2s at $34k. I agree a daily driver you can get for around $20k. Its been 37 years since it was thought to be a collectible. I think the 78 pacer is finally getting its due and people maybe became impatient over the 37 years.

As a Pace Car enthusiast, researcher and writer, the trend is upward and reflected, as you state in the values published by Hagerty for #1's and #2's. I know of several that were shipped overseats, after purchase here, in the $40k range while others in the past year have fetched $75k - $80k. Top of the food chain but shows values are upward for the well documented, original, low mileage, models.

Everything else is still wishful thinking and people NOT understanding the value of the very under-powered car they are.

Power has nothing to do with it. A statement of the nature you wrote suggests a lack of understanding for other dynamics involved in Corvette values in the modern age. If you think about, 1978 Pace Cars continue to trend because it was the first of a kind for Corvette in many respects. For example,

1. Pacing the Indy race,
2. Paint, decal schemes became a new method for marketing Corvettes when power team were out of vogue
3. A dozen Corvette Pace Cars have paced Indy since 1978 are throwback props, continuing to bring attention to the first
4. There is a collector class, whether stateside or overseas, where a Pace Car is one sought for their collection.
5. The Indy 500 is a premier automotive race event, Corvette tagged its heritage to it and continues the ride.
6. Bloomington Gold has hedged its future that an association with IMS will lead to a revival of the BG event.

The future of the collectibility and therefore value for the 1978 Limited Edition Pace Car will remain deep-seated in both automotive and Corvette history

[Walter F.]

Re: 78 Pace Car trivia

One in my neighborhood sitting in a garage for years. Last time I checked one in show ready condition according to Vette-N Vestments was worth $38,000. Can't retire on that.

[Dan D.]

Re: 78 Pace Car trivia

Some really useless trivia!... Reading this thread reminds me of an incident that happened when that car came out. As we know that car was a limited edition and the dealers were only to get one vehicle. I was a Pontiac road man at the time,and, the Pontiac dealer in a town north of Pittsburgh was down the street from the Chevy dealer. Of course, one day when I was calling on my dealer I went up the street to take a look at the pace car. Lo and behold, the Chevy dealer had decided to "auction" the car to maximize his profit. It was more like a "silent auction" as he actually had a lock box in the showroom and there were forms there on which you could write your name, address and phone number and your offer. He had a date posted as when the box would be opened and the "winner" would be announced. I couldn't believe the sheer stupidity. I went back down the street to my dealer and I told him how stupid the Chevy dealer was. Of course, he immediately defended the Chevy dealer...saying, "He's a business man...it's a limited edition...he's entitled to make as much money as he can..."you know bla, bla, bla, I told him,"yea, this is true, but what he was really doing was to alienate the people in a community in which, it took his father almost 40 years to build a good solid reputation...What he should have done was to put stanchions around the car with a sign on it saying that the car was not for sale... that he was keeping the car in his private collection."Now, we all know everything is for sale...at a price...sooner or later someone would come by and say," I see what the sign says, but..." The car disappears from theshowroom and if anyone inquires...it's in storage. As an aside, I'm sure it wasn't for just this reason but the kid was out of business in less than three years after inheriting a great Chevy-Buick dealership in a town within 30 milesof Pittsburgh Metro. Let's face it...you gotta be some kind of stupid to do that. Also... one day, a year or so later, I walked into my dealer and there sat a limited edition Trans Am with the stanchions and a sign.

[Brian M.]

Re: 78 Pace Car trivia

At 60K that # 1 car better have $25K in the glove box. JMHO