This car, Lot 107, sold for $7,705,000, including buyer’s premium, at RM Sotheby’s auction in Coral Gables, FL, on February 27, 2025.

Nearly 70 years ago, the Corvette SS was a mind-bender. Contextually, it was like an F-100 Super Sabre jet compared to a Stearman biplane, a barracuda among blowfish. Its lithe proportions, exotic materials and technologies such as De Dion rear suspension with inboard brakes were sensational, particularly for an American car.

Ed Cole, Zora Arkus-Duntov and GM design chief Harley Earl had lofty visions. As an engineer, Cole saw performance as a defining element for GM’s volume sales division. Zora, the expat Russian, Le Mans class winner and “Father of the Corvette,” understood how the Europeans did it. Earl knew sizzle. This somewhat unlikely team, cloistered within the GM megapolis, oversaw the build of this special Corvette that was so far from the gravitational center of the corporation, it may as well have been from Pluto.

Predictably, Zora ensured that the SS manifested his Eurocentric views. Mirroring top competition cars of the time, it used a lightweight chrome-moly tubular space frame that weighed just 180 pounds, heavily influenced by the Mercedes-Benz 300SL. The sensuous magnesium body was also feathery, its compact packaging surrounding a 92-inch wheelbase. Even the standard iron-block, pushrod 283-ci V8 was fitted with numerous experimental parts, including its aluminum cylinder heads and magnesium oil pan. Chevrolet’s Ram Jet mechanical fuel-injection system also emulated that of Mercedes, making 310 horsepower. At 450 pounds, the engine weighed 80 pounds less than a production Corvette V8.

Seeing the U.S.A. in your Chevrolet had traditionally meant behind the wheel of a lumbering sedan, not this 183-mph race car.

First-rate racer

The mission was to win the most important sports-car race in the country… and then maybe conquer the world. In the post-war decade, so much was new, including the Sebring 12 Hours, which had started just five years prior. The SS was reportedly completed on the truck en route, where a similar engineering mule was tested by drivers including Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss ahead of the race. (This second car later morphed into Bill Mitchell’s edgy Stingray concept that inspired the 1963 Corvette Sting Ray.)

In the race, the official cause of retirement for the Corvette is open for debate. There were suspension problems, and the magnesium body was said to transfer atrocious heat into the cockpit. Regardless, perhaps its failure in Florida saved the car from an eventual shunt, which often concluded with teams literally trashing race cars. So, the SS was unlucky and lucky all at once.

Top of the heap

At auction, the value of this singular Corvette was undisputably established — possibly way too low — the instant the gavel smacked the lectern. But still, what’s comparable in American iron?

The first 1962 Shelby Cobra 260 sold for $13.8m in 2016 (SCM# 6809503). RM Sotheby’s sold a GT40 from the same collection here for $13.2m. One of the six Cobra Daytona Coupes made $7.7m in 2009 (SCM# 141984). The top-priced production Corvette is a 1967 L88 that brought $3.9m in 2014 (SCM# 232093). Translation: The Corvette SS sold strong for a Chevy today, but that’s all.

Ultimately, there’s little use arguing whether this rarest (and now most expensive) “Corvette” was well bought or sold. What’s certain is that it’s among the five most important Corvettes extant, joining Bill Mitchell’s 1959 XP-87 Stingray (based on the XP-64 mule), the open-wheel 1959 CERV I prototype, the 1963 Grand Sport (five were built), and the mid-engine 1964 CERV II. It is also among the most identifiable post-war American cars, period.

Moreover, the Corvette SS could only have happened once. The convergence of Cole, Arkus-Duntov and Earl, the freedom of expression allowed in racing, the optimism of America’s post-war decade, and Zora’s ability to sell European ideas to GM’s brass and attract drivers like Fitch and Taruffi, Fangio and Moss at the time were all unprecedented. While it is unfortunate that the Corvette SS did not receive further development, most important is that the car existed at all, that it went to battle on the world stage instead of being merely another Detroit show pony. And it survived.

Given its value and recognizing its place in history, the car will likely never be driven at speed again — although it might see a few concours or turn a parade lap or two once in a blue supermoon. The Corvette SS truly has it all: design and engineering, pedigree and provenance, performance and exclusivity. This was a smart move for the buyer.