Filed under: Concept Cars, Time Warp, Coupes, Chevrolet
Barrett-Jackson 2008: Chevrolet Corvette Rondine Concept hits $1.76 million
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Pininfarina, meet Corvette. Corvette, Pininfarina. This one-off 1963 concept car was created for the Paris Auto Show and has been stored at the Pininfarina museum since new. Chevrolet commissioned the design house to build the car, which is based on a 1963 Corvette chassis and has a 327cid/360-hp V8 under the hood. The car has a much more European feel, and features fixed headlights and a "swallow tail" rear end.
Once in the spotlight, the Rondine drew more attention than any car yet. Bidding for the car quickly skyrocketed past $1 million and was finally sold for of $1.6 million, with a final price tag of $1.76 million after auction fees. That's quite a lot of change, but less money than other desirable concept cars have sold for in past years.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
CW 10:08PM (1/19/2008)
Forget this, the first ZR1 is on the block right now!
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Carlos 10:13PM (1/19/2008)
This Corvette is beautiful
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MemphisNET 10:20PM (1/19/2008)
Well.... ten of the ZR1's just sold..
wait - one! :D
Oh, and this Concept is absolutely stunning. I had never seen it before tonight.
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Torrent 10:39PM (1/19/2008)
I love the mean styling
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Mike 10:48PM (1/19/2008)
More proof the Italians build the most beautiful autos!
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Eek 11:21PM (1/19/2008)
I had never heard of this car before right now. It's very pretty.
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nate_687 11:29PM (1/19/2008)
It is very nice, I really like it. I never knew Pininfarina worked with American cars. It is true though Italians do make some beautiful cars.
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LoneWolf 12:56AM (1/20/2008)
Oh, a few Cars by american manufacturers were desigend by Pininfarina. Such as the Allante for example.
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Scott 1:05AM (1/20/2008)
Looking at this, I think Chevrolet and the Corvette would have been far better off if instead of that unfortunate styling of 68-83 they had let Pininfarina handle the design.
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Random Task 6:39AM (1/20/2008)
So many American companies had Italian houses do design concepts for them in 50s and 60s, and they never put any into actual production. That's the problem with the American car industry, and American companies in general, very little vision beyond today's bottom line.
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Tony 9:03AM (1/20/2008)
I was happy to watch this year as the auctioneers and Mr Jackson sqirmed, as high end cars were going for a lot less than expected. A Duesenberg went up to a million and Jackson stopped the auctioneer twice, trying to exhort the crowd to bid higher. The crowd didn't bite. This wasn't the only car that got the treatment. The bubble is starting to burst with collector car going for 20 to 40 percent off the record prices of the last few years. It looks good on them, LOL.
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petp 2:03PM (1/21/2008)
agree 100%, the overinflated market for (fairly) worthless concept cars is over and im soooo glad it is. i bet you that smug jackass from a few years ago with the ferrari hat and shirt that paid $3mio for some buick concept must be feeling pretty bad right now. hahahaha
also, anone else notice the market for hemi cudas has completely crashed...cars that were going for $500-600K last year, went for $250K this year.
Derek 9:03AM (1/20/2008)
http://images.google.com/images?q=Corvette+Rondine&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi
Google images for anyone interested in seeing the "swallow tail" rear. Seems the rear view made it to production in the Ferrari 365 California and the Fiat 124 Spider.
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Joop 9:42AM (1/20/2008)
Who is the new owner ?
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LoneWolf 10:27AM (1/20/2008)
Well, the back looks bad.
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MAOR 3:58PM (1/20/2008)
GM, that does it. Send ALL your cars for thier final designs to be finished by the Italians!!! Imagine what Pininfarina could do with today's corvette? Im salivating already. Damn I need to be rich!! haha
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Jim Delaney 11:16AM (1/21/2008)
Do any of you remember the Iso Grifo?
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