Vehicle Description
1978 Chevrolet Corvette Indy Pace Car - 350ci V8 - 185 Horsepower -
Automatic Transmission - 15k Miles Shown - Black Exterior - Silver
Interior By the late 1970's the Corvette Hobby had begun to evolve.
Vintage examples were beginning to sell at elevated prices, and
organizations such as the National Corvette Restorers Society
(NCRS) had established guidelines for what was correct for top-end
restorations and correct stock assembly and even what part numbers
were correct for installation. This set a precedent for the
correctness and grading of restored and unrestored Corvettes
helping to establish the collectible values of America's Sports
Car. This later influenced the collector car market for American
Muscle cars which began to soar in the 1980's thanks to the
Corvette's collectability influence. With selling prices on
collectible Corvettes rising, Corvette owners started to fantasize
about what if they had the forethought to purchase a highly
collectible Corvette model back in the day and store it for sale
later in the future. In 1978, the Chevrolet Corvette celebrated its
25th anniversary of production and was chosen to pace the Indy 500.
The initial announcement from GM was they were only going to build
300 units of the 25th Anniversary Indy 500 Pace Car Chevrolet
Corvette. Of course, this created a buzz among Corvette enthusiasts
that this model Corvette would be an instant collectible, leading
dealers to pressure Chevrolet to produce at least 6000 units, one
per dealer. Chevrolet ended up overshooting that target with a
total of 6,502 Indy 500 Pace Car Replica Corvettes being produced.
These Pace cars had a two-tone silver and black paint scheme, their
own production sequence number, and raised white letter tires. The
Indy 500 door stickers that made this model of Corvette truly
special, were delivered inside the car for dealer installation in
case the buyer didn't want them on the car. Naturally, the
speculation of the collectability of these cars led many dealers to
sell these cars over sticker, and for many buyers to trailer their
precious Pace Cars right off the showroom floor to storage, keeping
the mileage to a minimum. Featured here is a very nice example of
this collectible model of Corvette showing only 15,000 miles on the
odometer. The two-tone finish on this 1978 Chevrolet Corvette
presents as original with some minor chips here and there in the
finish but overall has been well maintained and shines with a very
nice brilliance. The correct Official Pace Car decals are present
commemorating the 62nd running of the Indianapolis 500-mile race. A
special Corvette emblem is mounted on the gas door commemorating
the 25th anniversary as well as limited edition decals on the front
fenders. A major design change for 1978 was the fastback rear
window that gives more storage space behind the seats, and this car
features the electric defogger option. This Corvette features
removable glass roof panels, which in 1978, only 972 Corvettes came
equipped with. The driver's side roof panel does have some minor
damage on the corner. Inside this Corvette's silver cockpit is in
very good condition with some minor wear in spots. The silver
leather seat upholstery shows some very light wear on the driver's
side and there is a small tear in the driver's door panel. The
original carpet is present, protected by the factory-carpeted floor
mats with the Corvette emblem embossed on them. There is some light
wear and soiling on the driver's side carpet, otherwise, the carpet
is well-preserved throughout the rest of the vehicle. The
leather-wrapped steering wheel features a 25th Anniversary center
horn emblem and sits on the top of a tilt steering column. Full
factory gauges adorn the dash and monitor the engine vitals.
Options include intermittent wipers, power windows, power locks,
air conditioning, cruise control and Delco AM/FM with an 8-track
cassette Stereo player. It should be noted the vehicle comes with
several 8
