Super Fresh Fixed Roof Coupe Corvette Has Us Back on the C5 Train
With low mileage C5 Corvettes, it seems that the question is whether to daily drive or modify for maximum performance.
When we came across this 12,000 mile C5 Corvette on Bring a Trailer, it brought up a discussion about what to do with something like this – An unmolested, very low mileage, 1999 Fixed Roof Coupe (FRC) Corvette.
On the one hand, speculation has been rife that the C5’s time to start appreciating is soon. However, prices have been holding steady in the affordable zone for quite some time. And, let’s face it, a lot of people back in the day bought them thinking they would appreciate later as collectors cars, so there’s still quite a lot of low mile garage queens still out there. That means this is a great time to pick up a daily driving ‘Vette and have a decent possibility that the miles will do little for the depreciation in value later on. Plus, not a lot of Fixed Roof Coupe Corvettes were made for 1999-2000, before the launch of the 2001 Z06.
On the other hand, the Fixed Roof Coupe added a solid 12 percent increase in structural rigidity that really helps the suspension deal with the 5.7-liter LS1 V8’s 345 horsepower over the convertible. We also know that it doesn’t take a monster budget to unlock extra power and to add some bolt-on 21st-century technology use that rigidity to turn a C5 into a slayer of more modern and pretentious performance cars. And, with just 12,000 miles on the clock, it’ll be a slayer with a long life ahead of it.
It’s an interesting point in the C5 Corvettes timeline as people make these decisions. The more C5s that are molested, the more valuable unmolested and carefully owned examples will become. What we think is worth remembering though, is that Corvettes have never been designed as collector’s pieces, and are built to be driven and enjoyed.
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