A Vintage 1963 Corvette Race Car Is Discovered After 44 Years!

In a world where almost everything is available on the internet, imagine discovering a rare, 1963 Corvette Race Car in the classifieds section of a local newspaper.  In a story originally published by Motor Trend magazine, that’s exactly what happened…and we were so blown away by this incredible story, and even more incredible discovery, we just had to share it here as well.

The story begins with Todd Evans, a Corvette enthusiast living on the west coast.  Todd had spent his evening reading the Sunday classifieds section of a local newspaper that serves the High Desert areas of California and Lake Havasu, Arizona, when he came across an ad that read simply: “CAR COLLECTION FOR SALE: 1963 Corvette cpe, 4 sp, SCCA race car w/spares.” Although the ad also included a handful of other cars, a trailer, and two motorhomes, it was the Corvette that immediately caught Todd’s eye….along with the seller’s phone number at the very bottom of the ad.

Todd was elated, his pulse quickening at the potential of what this classified might be advertising.  Although the listing admonished would-be buyers not to call after 9 pm, Todd was simply too excited by the posting to wait until the following morning to call.  In his own words, Evans explained “It was 9:30, but there was no chance I could wait until morning.  I would have gone clinically insane.”

The voice at the other end of the phone number belonged to John Lloyd, the amicable owner of the Corvette race car in question.  After apologizing repeatedly for the post-9 pm phone call, Evan listened as the good-natured Lloyd explained how he had purchased the car, which had been a stock 1963 Coupe when he found it for sale back in 1968.   It was Lloyd who transformed the car into a “dream racecar” in the early 1970s.