Ohio Man Buys New Special Corvette in 1982, Drives It Home, Forgets All About It Until Now

In 1982, the Corvette turned 29 – a beautiful number, but not exactly befitting a fastidious celebration. However, a Collector Edition version of the model was put on sale – it was the only variation from an otherwise pretty lackluster Corvette. It was also the first Corvette to surpass the magic $20,000 milestone, but that’s something to blame politics for, not General Motors.

The Collector Edition signaled the end of an era and the introduction of a new generation, so the car was tempting for one reason: investment. The same logic was applied in 1978 with the Pace Car edition, which had grown into a short-term bubble when the car hit the showrooms. Collectors rushed in and bought the cars to save them for future profit. That’s why we can still see extremely low-mileage examples changing hands today.

The pattern repeated in 1982 with the last of the third-generation Corvettes: buyers paid the $4,247.52 surcharge for the Collector Edition and then kept the cars for years or decades without taking them out for a spin. But one farmer in Northeast Ohio puts everyone to shame in that respect. He has a collection of three C3 Vettes, and all three combined have less than 2,000 miles on the clock.

The final addition to this magnificently time-proof collection was a 1982 Corvette CE (collector Edition) that he bought, drove home, parked in a garage, and never moved again. Not even that, but it would appear as if he never touched the car in the past 42 years, judging by the thick layer of dust that accumulated on the vehicle in the past 42 years. Also, the temporary license plate suggests that this incredible car made one trip in its entire existence.

The merry lads from WD Detailing revealed the previous two Corvettes to the world—two spectacularly original, decade-forgotten 1978 Silver Anniversary and Pace Car specials. One had 1,599 miles on the clock, the second, just 293. But this crown jewel from 1982 boasts a triple ‘3’ on the odometer, and it’s probably the lowest-mileage example from that final C3 production year.

Just to clear the confusion, if there’s any, allow me this hint: ALL the digits on the clock are either zero or three. There’s a point between the second and third of those 3s, so there you have. It should be pretty clear by now that 33.3 miles is (or rather was) the distance from the dealership to the garage. That’s what it says on the odometer: 33-point-3 miles (53.59 kilometers). This unlikely Chevy is so time-capsule-like that it even smells like a 42-year-new automobile.

Granted, we can’t yet emulate the sense of smell through video and the internet, so we’ll take the YouTuber’s word for it. But looking at the interior of this car is proof enough that the solid Vette is finger-snapping impeccable.
It’s also very rare—out of the total production (base and Collector Edition versions) of 25,407 examples, 6,759 were the coveted celebratory models. But this individual has one more ace up its Rarity sleeve.

With a Manufacturer-Suggested Retail Price of $22,537.59 (equivalent to $72,945.19 in May 2024), the pricey sportscar was a step up from the $18,290.07 on the regular car. It also described, in a very direct fashion, how the American economy had evolved since the C3’s introduction in the fall of 1967 (as a 1968 model).

The first third-generation Corvette was priced at 4,663 US Dollars. In just 15 years, the price had gone up nearly four-fold (five, if we take the CE as a reference point). Apart from migrating away from the gold standard, the two oil crises of ‘73 and ’79 also took their toll on America.

One of the side-effects of those energy crunches was the introduction of the 55-mph (88 kph) speed limit in the mid-seventies. This, in turn, took a turn for the hilarious when federal regulations forced carmakers to put speedometers with a maximum reading of 85 mph (136 kph).

That is amusing today, but imagine what it was like to go into a dealership, cough up twenty-two thousand George Washingtons, and drive away in a sportscar that could only show 85 mph. The mandated numbers were enforced by a law that stipulated greater accuracy for the onboard speed meters and more fuel-saving driving habits.

Granted, the 200-horse V8 upfront was no dive bomber, but it was encouraging progress from the Malaise's low ratings. The 1982 Corvette was not only the last of its generation but also served as a test bed for several technologies that would adorn the following C4 models. The fuel injection system was probably the biggest news.

After a 17-year hiatus, the Fuelie was back—although this time, it was an electronic-governed setup. Dual throttle bodies fed the venerable 350-cubic-inch V8 (the famous 5.7-liter Chevrolet small block), which boosted power to 200 hp and 285 lb-ft (203 PS, 386 Nm). It wasn’t particularly sporty, with a zero-to-sixty time of 7.9 seconds and 16 seconds to reach the far end of the quarter-mile test.

The Cross-Fire injection (named after the induction architecture, in which each throttle body sent fuel to the cylinders on the bank opposite to it) may have been a step up from the carburetors. Still, the four-speed automatic box was not the best option for speed trials. Curiously, the engine and the transmission were offered as the sole options—there were no alternatives for the powertrains.

On one hand, the 1982 Corvette was foretelling the future of the nameplate; on the other, it paid respects to past technologies. That year was the last year the dated 8-track system would be offered. The cassette tape was becoming the norm, and the aging format of the seventies was on its way out.

The car freshened up by the WD Detailing vloggers is one of the 923 examples (out of the 25k production, not just the Collector Edition vintage) that has that antiquated entertainment tech. In an effort to get in line with the trend of the era, the 1982 Corvette also offered cargo bay access from the exterior, thanks to the all-glass hatch. Not a trunk by it's standard definition, but it was a major improvement - the previous Corvette to sport a lid over the luggage compartment was produced in 1962.

Despite its status and symbolism, the last of the C3 family is not something collectors chase day and night. Sales values are disappointingly low compared to other special iterations of Corvette’s third-generation cars. The highest price paid at a public auction for one original survivor 1982 C3 CE was $60,000 this past January.

That car was sold with a little 1,078 miles (1.735 km) on it, while the lowest-mile example I could find changed hands two years ago for $41,000. It came with 68 miles on it (110 kilometers), just twice as much as this spectacular survivor in the video below.

It's undebatable that a car like this isn’t valued using the same metric as other regular Corvettes from that day. When it comes to something like this original survivor, a collector buys the odometer first and foremost. But, given its relatively low market, what’s the right price for this stunning example?