At $41,000, Is This 1980 Chevy Corvette IMSA Homage A Wildly Good Deal?

Today's Nice Price or No Dice C3 Corvette is for anyone who feels that too much is never enough. That's due to its over-the-top IMSA-esque bodywork, which assures that it will stand out in any crowd. Let's see if it has an outstanding price as well.

Contessa is the Italianate version of the title Countess. It arrived before the English version as both derive from the Latin 'Comit,' which means to accompany or attend. In the panoply of noble titles, Countess is the equivalent of Earl, and an Earl's spouse is referred to as a Countess or Contessa.

Another use of the Contessa title was that of a small series of cars built in the 1960s by the Japanese industrial company Hino. We looked at one such car on Monday, a 1967 Hino Contessa Coupe that the seller claimed was one of just two in the U.S. Despite such rarity, and the model's interesting racing provenance, few of you were willing to accompany the Contessa to the DMV for a title transfer at the seller's $19,950 asking price. When the dust settled, and the tiaras were tilted back in place, that price tag had fallen in a hefty 85% 'No Dice' loss.

Automotive racing in 1970s America was a wild affair. Unencumbered by the constraints of emissions, safety requirements, or the national 55-mile-per-hour speed limit, the track served as the only outlet of any sort for pent-up automotive adrenaline. As such, the cars of the era, especially those in the IMSA (International Motor Sports Association) GT and American Le Mans Series, evolved into wild-looking machines only vaguely reminiscent of their production-car counterparts.

One company building racers for IMSA and other series was Greenwood Corvettes, founded by brothers Burt and John Greenwood in the early 1970s. Their efforts bore fruit with John Greenwood winning the Trans-Am series title in 1975 in a heavily modified Corvette.

This style of racer—ultra-wide fenders, covered headlamp buckets, and a wild ducktail rear spoiler that could probably serve as a wading pool following a good rain—was emulated in a body kit for street cars from Corvette specialist Eckler's. Today, we're looking at an example of that completed kit on a 1980 C3 Chevy Corvette.

According to the ad, this Eckler's Daytona Corvette was built in 1994 by the seller's friend and his father, both of whom were trained auto mechanics. The seller says this was the last project the father-son team completed before the father's passing.

It remains a nice tribute to the skill of both, and to the dad's memory. Not only is the bodywork some of the most audacious and ludicrous imaginable—I mean, come on, just look at that booty—but it also appears to be extremely well executed and carefully maintained. Box flares encompass a substantially widened track and house gold-painted basketweave alloys wrapped in Cooper rubber. Those fenders flow into lengthened front and rear clips, and everything is festooned with scoops, vents, and air extractors, just like on one of the track monsters.

Naturally, it won't perform like a track car, though. Under the hood is a factory-installed 350 CID Chevy L82 V8 with stock intake and exhaust, and no internal upgrades. From the factory, that engine made an almost inconsequential 230 horsepower and 275 pound-feet of torque. Backing it up is a THC350 three-speed slusher. Yes, this is a cruiser, despite the bodywork's implication that it's a bruiser.

Regardless of its era-appropriate performance (and yes, the speedo does only go to 85, per the ludicrous law of the time), it still looks to be a nice place to hang for cruise night or a car meet. The interior sports full factory accommodations, including leather upholstery on the surprisingly modern-looking bucket seats and on the fat-rimmed three-spoke steering wheel.

According to the seller, the dash houses a fully working AM/FM radio and 8-track player, and for the "right deal," a collection of tapes will be thrown in with the car. Everything on the car is said to be in working order, right down to the A/C, which we might safely assume is still forbidden R12. The car's excellent condition (save for a small chip in the paint on the fuel filler door) is attributed to a history of care and maintenance, including parking in a garage between exercise sessions. Per the ad, the car has a mere 27,887 miles on the clock and will come with a clean title.

Unlike Monday's Hino, which many of you commented looked like a Chevy Corvair with bad Botox, today's Corvette is instantly recognizable for what it is—a 1970s race car homage. There is one odd bit about the ad, though: while it's posted on the Phoenix, Arizona, Craigslist, it specifically states that the car is located in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Weirdly, the Grand Forks Craigslist doesn't have the ad at all (but a Facebook Marketplace listing from Fargo, ND, a year ago, has the same car priced at $42,500). I only bring this up in case any of you live near Phoenix and want to see this magnificent beast in person. To that end, it ain't there.

We'll now have to consider this Corvette's $41,000 asking price to see if it's worth the scavenger hunt to track it down.

What's your take on this crazy, but well-executed, race-car homage Corvette and that $41,000 asking price? Does that seem fair, given the provenance and audacity of presentation? Or at that price, is this a wild-looking car that you just can't get worked up about?

You decide!

Phoenix, Arizona, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

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