1978 Corvette Pace Car Replica

by Mike Vietro

In the mid-’70s, emissions regulations caused engineers at General Motors and elsewhere to spin their wheels (without horsepower) trying to make old-technology engines burn clean. They did it by robbing vast amounts of performance. To keep selling cars, they had to offer something new to the public. It wasn’t ponies, it was styling. 1978 was the 25th anniversary of the Corvette, and all 1978 Corvettes received 25th anniversary badges. The car had a new “fastback” rear window that provided better rear vision and more storage behind the seats. A 350 ci V8 was standard, and the base version produced 185 horsepower. In 1978, the Corvette was also the official Pace Car of the Indianapolis 500. A sleek two-tone version paced the race at Indy for the first time and all 6,502 Chevy dealers were promised one replica. With a list price of $13,653, Pace Car replicas often sold for more than $20,000. (The base 1978 Corvette sport coupe was $9,351 and a total of 40,274...