Back in 1960, four Corvettes competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race, making it the first time the Corvette made an appearance.

Briggs Cunningham entered three of the Corvettes, and the fourth one was entered by the Camoradi USA Racing team. It was the fourth one that finished second in its class and drove home into obscurity until it was found and restored.

Racing History

The Camoradi team had its base of racing operations in Modena, Italy. On the day of the race, someone from the team drove the 1960 Corvette to the race. The team also entered three Maserati Tipo 61 cars in a different class. One of the Briggs Cunningham cars finished eighth overall, and it also won the GT5.0 class, which only consisted of the four Corvettes. The other two Vettes didn’t make it to the end due to an accident for one and a fire for the other.

The Camoradi Corvette was driven by Fred Gamble and Leon Lilley. The car made it twice around the clock on a single set of tires to finish 10th place overall and second in its class at only six laps behind the Cunningham Vette. The regulations at the time required cars to complete a minimum distance, so the Camoradi Corvette’s result wasn’t classified due to not completing the minimum distance.

Camoradi Corvette Engine Lost At Sea

After its racing days were over, the car’s history took a turn for the very strange. Later that same year that the car competed in the Le Mans, it was involved in an accident in Switzerland. It remained in that country and went through several owners before ending up stored away in a disassembled state in 1981. In 1995, it was discovered by an American car collector named Loren Lundberg. He brought the car back to the United States to be restored.

Strangely, it was discovered that the car’s original V8 engine and four-speed transmission had ended up in New Zealand as part of a racing powerboat. The boat was eventually lost at sea along with the Corvette’s parts. Original replacements were found, and the Corvette was eventually restored to the same condition it was in when it competed in the Le Mans.

High Price Expected for This Corvette

You won’t find this car at any Chevy dealerships or a museum, instead, it’s being sold at Mecum Auctions on May 20 in Indianapolis. It’s expected to sell for around $2 million, which would make it among the five highest-priced Corvettes in history, not counting any models sold at charity auctions. The current record is $3.85 million, which was the price paid for a 1967 L-88 Corvette convertible in 2014.

Some enthusiasts are conflicted about whether this particular Corvette should command such a price. Despite its interesting and strange story, the fact remains that very little of the Vette is original.