1960 Chevrolet Corvette

This 1960 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible is a beautifully restored C1 Corvette with an eye-catching look and a 4 speed manual transmission to boot! In 1952, General Motors celebrated its Golden Anniversary, recognizing its own achievement of 50 years of automobile production. As part of the Golden Anniversary festivities, GM tasked its marques with producing a show car. Cadillac launched the Eldorado, Buick introduced the Skylark, and Oldsmobile debuted the Fiesta. While all 3 of these cars would be put into production in the following 1953 model year, none of these seem to pale in comparison to Chevrolets Anniversary 2-seater show car, the EX-122. Featuring a revolutionary fiberglass body, the EX-122 was essentially a European-inspired American built sports car, something that was virtually unheard of in the day with the entire sports car genre completely dominated by authentic European imports. In fact, no major American automaker was making a 2 seater convertible in the early 50s. Ultimately, and like its GM brand contemporaries, the EX-122 would be put into production by Chevrolet but with a brand new name, the Chevrolet Corvette. Of course today, everyone knows a Corvette and the Corvette is as American as baseball and apple pie, and is arguably the most iconic GM car of all time. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly to car novices is that while the earliest Corvettes had that sports car look, they were pretty tame in terms of performance, powered by inline 6 cylinder engines under the hood and automatic transmissions. However over the course of the next decade or so, Chevrolet beefed up its Corvette with bigger and more powerful V8 engines, 4 speed manual transmissions, and other desirable performance-oriented options and features. By 1960, the Corvette had achieved its status as Americas sports car with a vast array of performance upgrades coupled with its iconic, timeless design, both inside and out. Retaining much of the same design elements from the previous model year, the 1960 Corvette is now known for being almost a bookend to this era of Corvette design since it was the final year Corvette to feature the tooth-grille design up front as well as being the last Corvette to have its taillights molded into the top of the rear fenders. In total, only 10,261 Corvettes were produced in 1960, though it was the first time ever that Corvette production eclipsed the 10,000 unit mark. This particular 1960 Vette comes to us from a California-based collector who cared for and stewarded the car for the past 10 years. Under the hood on this 60 Corvette is a 283 cubic inch V8 engine fed by a single 4 barrel carburetor that together were said to have produced 230 horsepower when new. The 283 V8 is backed by an optional 4 speed manual transmission that makes this classic first generation Corvette an absolute blast to drive! Exhaust exits this Corvettes V8 power plant via a dual exhaust setup that generates that terrific, iconic Corvette sound out of the rear tailpipes. The chrome and brightwork around the exterior of this 1st Generation Vette looks great and truly elevates the cars presence whether youre parked at the local car show or cruising down the road. Riding on a set of wide whitewall radial tires, each accented with Spinner-style wheel covers, this 1960 Corvette has a fantastic look and even better ride. A drivers side chrome outside mirror is a great addition to the classic Chevy Corvette since it provides extra piece of mind while backing out of your garage and while making a lane change on a busy road. The black vinyl soft convertible top looks to be in excellent condition and its easily raised and lowered by a single person. The iconic C1 fiberglass body of this Corvette has been refinished in beautiful Roman Red paint, accented with Ermine White side coves that together complete the wonderful exterior look of this fantastic collector Corvette. The interior of this 1960 Chevrolet Corvette is absolutely stunning! The driver and passenger sit in a pair of bucket seats that have been reupholstered in black. The black carpeting is BRAND NEW as are the optional embroidered black floor mats that together really further add to wonderful interior appearance of this Corvette. The correct patterned matching black door panels are accented with silver trim, and make it known that the Corvette was Chevrolets premium sports car back in 1960. The black 3-spoke Corvette steering wheel and black padded dash and passenger side grab bar also retain a wonderful restored stock look. As one can expect on a high-end sports car, this 60 Corvette comes loaded with instrumentation from the factory including a 160 MPH speedometer, 7,000 RPM tachometer, amp gauge, oil pressure gauge, temperature gauge, and fuel gauge. The dash is finished off with a center-mounted chrome rear-view mirror under which a retro-style AM/FM radio, clock, and heater/defroster controls are found. Whether youre buying your very first classic car or youre adding to your existing Chevrolet or Corvette collection, this 1960 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible would make an excellent choice. Give Ellingsons a call today at 763-428-7337!