1 of 3 Scaglietti Vettes is for sale

"StingrayJake" (stingrayjake) 02/16/2015 at 16:15 • Filed to: Scaglietti Corvette

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Remember the time Carroll Shelby dropped a roaring American V8 into a gorgeous, hand-crafted European body? Well, this !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! probably isn't the one you're thinking of.

Rewind a couple years from the well-known Shelby Cobra, swap the British A/C body for the craftsmanship of an Italian coachmaker, and put that gorgeous body on top of a 1959 Chevrolet Corvette — yes, I said Chevrolet and not Ford — and you get one of the rarest Corvettes ever made.

Only three Scaglietti Corvettes — which started as a joint venture between Gary Laughlin, Jim Hall (of future Chaparral fame) and Shelby before GM got briefly involved — were made before GM backed out and Shelby went a different route (notably leading to the only All-American overall victory at LeMans by the Ford GT Mk. IV in 1967).

Legend also holds that a cranky Italian named Enzo Ferrari, whose late 1950s race cars were designed by Sergio Scaglietti, threatened to stop employing the coachbuilder if he continued to work with the Americans, though I've only seen this mentions in a couple versions of the cars' history.

That being said, the whole GM moratorium on factory-backed racing, and the fact that the only completed Scaglietti Corvette wasn't delivered to Laughlin until 1961 (the other two were partially finished when work stopped —- one was delivered to Hall and the other was sold), were likely the biggest culprits in its demise.

Considering the history, the $995,000 asking price of the listed Scaglietti Corvette — the original car delivered to Laughlin — doesn't seem all that crazy. Sure, it doesn't have the racing pedigree of those classic Ferrari race cars, but why spend $50 million on 1 of 36 Ferrari 250 GTOs when you can spend a fraction of that on one of the rarest — and dare I say most beautiful — American(ish) sports cars ever made?

Manuιl Ferrari > StingrayJake 02/16/2015 at 16:23

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I WANT IT

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > StingrayJake 02/16/2015 at 16:55

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$995,000 asking price for this is like listing a house for $475,000 when the fair market value is known to be $600,000. Let the bidding war commence.

StingrayJake > Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) 02/16/2015 at 17:01

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It doesn't seem to be an auction piece, which is surprising considering the current owner is apparently some sort of broker that buys rare and high-end cars for the purpose of displaying and re-selling. This G&S Motors might be more interested in just dumping it for whatever so that they can move it fast and buy something else.

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > StingrayJake 02/16/2015 at 17:12

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Hmm, in that case maybe there will be a small bidding war between a few buyers. I kinda wish it were an auction though, just to see how high it goes.

JR1 > StingrayJake 02/16/2015 at 18:41

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That is amazing. I need to go rob a bank

3304HL > JR1 02/16/2015 at 20:02

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no are now being tracked by the NSA...