The manufacturers’ weakness
A 1969 Corvette C3 L88 was recently listed on Bring A Trailer. The L88, as radical readers will know, is something of a holy grail among Vettes: a 7-litre engine with aluminium cylinder heads, a sharp camshaft, a 12.0:1 compression ratio, quad Holley carburettors, officially rated at 430 bhp, but in reality significantly more. 216 examples were sold between 1967 (still as a C2) and 1969; they have long since commanded prices well into seven figures, with the record standing at $3.85 million.
Expectations were therefore high on BAT – a beautiful car. But soon the first rumours began to surface in the comments (which are well worth reading not only on radical but also on Bring A Trailer), with talk of a ‘clone’. The seller defended himself, putting forward strong arguments – such as ‘Bloomington Gold’ (the oldest Corvette show in the US, where the judges are considered highly competent and a Gold award is regarded as the ultimate accolade) – and the fact that the car came from the collection of the legendary Otis Chandler. But the doubts grew louder and louder – and then a true connoisseur stepped in from behind, describing the vehicle’s true history very briefly and bluntly. There was a brief flinch from the seller, BAT got in touch with the ‘authority’ – and shortly afterwards, the vehicle was withdrawn from the auction.
This happens quite often on Bring A Trailer. BAT is huge and very successful in the US, but this also means that a great deal of knowledge accumulates there – and if an L88 isn’t actually an L88, or a supposed 911 Carrera RS 2.7 turns out to be more of a 911 E, or a 300 SL has been ‘treated’ by Kienle, it doesn’t take long for the crucial questions to be asked. And then, more often than not, the correct answers follow. The fact that Bring A Trailer moderates the comments but keeps the forum very open can be described as exemplary – and is what makes this sales platform so popular. After all, nobody can ignore collective wisdom these days. This would also be a good opportunity for other auction houses to achieve greater transparency.
In this discussion about the aforementioned ‘clone’, another topic resurfaced: the role of the manufacturers in this game. Naturally, Chevrolet has all the information on every L88 ever built, particularly the ‘build sheets’. But these are not accessible; they must be painstakingly pieced together and analysed one by one by dedicated individuals or clubs through painstaking detective work. Now, nobody really cares about this when it comes to an ’87 Malibu (or a tired ’91 911 E or a 190 SL), but with the 216 L88s (or a Carrera RS 2.7 or a 300 SL), there is certainly some public interest, as there is also a lot of money at stake. It is not merely a shame, but absolutely incomprehensible, why manufacturers do not get more professionally involved in this.
We have more exciting stories about ‘genuine’ classics in our archive.
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