Posted on 03/21/2014 10:39:13 PM PDT by servo1969
People generally buy a Chevrolet Corvette planning to drive the wheels off it, but examples with absurdly low mileage have to come from somewhere. Cars suffer a small breakdown and are parked for years, owners suddenly pass away and their children don't know what to do with the cars, vehicles get donated to museums... the list of usual suspects for something like this is pretty limited. But the story of this unrestored and completely original 1967 Chevrolet Corvette with just 2,996 miles on the clock is a new one for us. Here's what we know:
Don McNamara turned 30 in 1966, and celebrated his retirement from the United States Marine Corps with a trip to Las Vegas. Unlike a great many visitors to the city, McNamara actually hit the big time right out the gate, winning $5,000. That was big money at the time, and McNamara knew what he wanted to buy when he got home to Colorado Springs: a brand new Chevrolet Corvette. His father was a car salesman, so ordering a Corvette was a done deal. McNamara bought his 1967 example equipped with a four-speed manual transmission, a 3.36 Positraction rear end, tinted glass, a telescopic steering wheel and an AM/FM radio. The car came with an ermine white exterior with a red stinger strip over a red leather interior. The young veteran got the car of his dreams, and by all accounts enjoyed driving it. At least for a while.
McNamara drove the car very sparingly during the first few months... and then his friends never saw it again. When asked about it, he told people that he no longer owned it. But the truth of the matter was that the car was still in his garage, with the odometer showing just a little over 2,000 miles. And so it sat in his garage for the next 45 years.
McNamara passed away in 2011, and only then did the neighboring couple who inherited his entire estate find out that he had a Chevrolet Corvette with 2,966 miles on the odometer in his garage all this time. The car had accumulated most of those miles just during its first year of ownership, and evidently when it came time to renew the registration, McNamara simply chose not to. McNamara reportedly drove the car for the last few times in the mid-1980s, only driving it late at night. So why wouldn't someone drive their dream car after essentially getting it for close to free?
By all accounts, McNamara was a very private individual, never had kids and never married, portraying himself to the few friends that he had as just barely making ends meet. Whether this was indeed the case is undetermined, though we do know that McNamara never had a credit card and never opened a checking account. The car left the garage for the first time in years in 2012, having been found wrapped in a car cover with a blanket decorated with Marine Corps flags draped over it.
The Corvette is said to be completely original throughout, aside from the addition of polished Edelbrock aluminum valve covers and four Corvette emblems mounted on the air cleaner. The car was purchased by Dr. Mark Davis from the estate in 2012, and has subsequently only been displayed at the entrance to the Bloomington Gold Great Hall.
Despite the lingering mystery (a Corvette couldn't have been that expensive to run in the '70s and '80s given the fact that McNamara owned a house), what we have is one of the most well-preserved low-mileage examples of a 1967 Corvette anywhere in the world. The car comes with all the accompanying items like the original window sticker, a showroom brochure, a Chevrolet warranty book with Protect-O-Plate, the original keys and fob along with a duplicate set of keys, as well as the original owner's manual. Only three people are known to have ever sat in the car, and it is said that no one has ever even sat in the front passenger seat!
Mecum Auctions is slated to offer this Corvette during its April 10-12 sales in Houston at The Reliant Center, and they're estimating this car to sell between $600,000 and $800,000.
Any man who would even consider marrying her should have his head examined, no matter how attractive she might be. That sounds like a predator, not a spouse.
She must be real bossy.
I think she got the car in the divorce.
Yes, I’d assume so, and crowing about it afterwards makes her a real catch for the next guy in line, now doesn’t it?
She looked like she was really bossy. I bet she bossed and hounded the poor guy something terrible. A bossy bully woman, for sure. LOL
She probably has or will have a “Hitlery 2016” bumper sticker.
Oh no, not necessarily. Watch this thread for a while. You’ll see.
As far as the Senate race, all I can say is I hope that Mary Landrieu is tossed out of office. In the primary my vote will be going to Rob Maness, a retired Air Force Colonel and farmer. If Maness is able to defeat Bill Cassidy then my vote will be going to him. If not Cassidy will get my vote.
I could have sworn the 73 had a split plastic rear cover.. I think that was the year I had.
Exactly like that. The element was a sort of foam, long before those things were popular. Confused the heck out of me, not being much of a car guy at the time.
No trunk, just open space behind the seats.
That was the 74 with the ugly split rear plastic bumper.
The 73 had the plastic bumper up front and the chrome bumper in the rear.
I was just talking about it with a friend who had seen the show. He said they had scenes filmed at the Corvette museum, the one that was just partially swallowed by a sinkhole...talk about timing...LOL
You’ve got nice rides...enjoy them. The triple black must be a beaut. Long time ago, my daddy told me to watch out for fast cars and faster wimmen..(g)
Oh no, not necessarily. Watch this thread for a while. You’ll see.
I’m still waiting. LOL
Beautiful vehicle! Love the laker pipes too....
Holy crap, I’m sporting wood....
What a BEAUTIFUL car...
Between that Corvette, and 1967-68 Shelby Mustang GT-350 and GT-500s, they’re pretty much “My Dream Cars” of all time.
Won’t ever be able to OWN one, but hey... I can dream...
Fast women for sure, fast cars, NAH!!!! Just make sure you do it safely and out of site!!!
At your current rate of driving, you’re less the 2.5 years away from that new truck!
I knew you would appreciate this ping. ;D
Omg... that car is frigging beautiful. That body style - starting from 1963 - is my favorite Corvette style.
Isn’t it something how you gravitate towards certain body styles of a car? My favorite Mustangs were 1967-1968 Fastbacks. I like ALL Mustangs, generally, but those two years were my favorites. Same with Vettes.
Dodge Chargers, years 1968-1970, are also up there in my pantheon of “Cars Hale Must Have - But Can’t Ever Afford”...
1970 Plymouth Road Runner... hubba hubba...
HAD a 1969 Chevelle SS 396 convertible as my first bought car. It was beat to hell... but it was mine. Miss that old girl. She was hell on wheels.
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