Kelly 1961 Corvette by Vignale--when the Kelly family sold it, what did it go for?
10-28-2013, 08:58 PM
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Kelly 1961 Corvette by Vignale--when the Kelly family sold it, what did it go for?
Just yesterday at the Art Center Concours of Design concours I saw the 1961 Corvette bodied by Vignale, designed by a Brooks Stevens designer, a Mr. Kelly, way back in the Sixties. I gather it was in the original family's hands for six decades, and picked up a booklet on it, beautifully photographed, but I missed the part of the story on how much the family sold it for to Chuck Rahn and John Breslow or maybe just to Breslow. They bought it from the estate of the owner who died in 1995.There's a couple pictures of it on this website
1961 Vignale Coupe - Corvettes
http://www.corvettes.nl/other_specia...ale/index.html.
The wheels look so modern I can't believe they were done 60 years ago, but on the other hand the 1962 Pontiac Grand Prix had similar wheels so maybe they are that old. Thanks for any clues on what this car went for and what you think it would be worth today (incidentally I think the bill for custom building an alloy body today from scratch today would be around $250,000 in Italy)
1961 Vignale Coupe - Corvettes
http://www.corvettes.nl/other_specia...ale/index.html.
The wheels look so modern I can't believe they were done 60 years ago, but on the other hand the 1962 Pontiac Grand Prix had similar wheels so maybe they are that old. Thanks for any clues on what this car went for and what you think it would be worth today (incidentally I think the bill for custom building an alloy body today from scratch today would be around $250,000 in Italy)
10-29-2013, 04:34 AM
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I recall seeing "Mr. Kelly's Krazy Korvette" on a Car and Driver magazine cover circa 1961. It was red and had the 8-lug Pontiac aluminum hub/brake drum wheels. Back in the '60s these attractive finned wheels only came with 14" steel rims as OEM.
Never understood why these high performance wheels weren't offered on the mid-size GTO.
Never understood why these high performance wheels weren't offered on the mid-size GTO.
10-29-2013, 04:53 PM
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Answer to the question
The reason some people know the price is if the car was everadvertised for sale in a classified , for instance on the Grand Sport 002 wintersteen advertised it for a set amount in Autoweek (something like $6500 with motor, $5500 without). That doesn't mean that's what it actually sold for but establishes what you could have bought it for at that point in time. In this case the Kelly Corvette actually was advertised by the owner for $8900 in the Boston Globe but a magazine editor talked him out of selling it. It was only sold after his death by the estate.There is a guy who collects all those old ads who sometimes publishes them on the net to amaze and astound us who didn't see the ads the first time around...
Incentally Mr. Kelly aid he had $13000 in the car which figures out right, about $3000 new for the car, $1000 shipping and the rest for design and fabrication in Italy
Incentally Mr. Kelly aid he had $13000 in the car which figures out right, about $3000 new for the car, $1000 shipping and the rest for design and fabrication in Italy
