Le Mans Veteran Briggs Cunningham Corvette Sells for $785K at Auction

This Briggs Cunningham Corvette was one of the last raced at Le Mans and was found after disappearing for 37 years.

Back in April, we reported that a rather famous 1960 Briggs Cunningham Corvette once raced at Le Mans was hitting the block at this year’s RM Sotheby’s Amelia Island auction. The historic racer was expected to fetch somewhere between $900,000 and $1.3 million, a hefty amount of dough for a well-worn race car missing some parts, but this is no ordinary race car, of course. Regardless, when the dust settled, the Briggs Cunningham Corvette hammered for a “mere” $758,500.

Developed in conjunction with General Motors and Zora Arkus-Duntov himself, this particular car was Briggs Cunningham’s main racer at the 1960 24 Hours of Le Mans and one of three cars fielded by the team. It was also the team’s very last effort at the historic race, which was both successful and disappointing at the same time, depending on how you look at it.

This Corvette wasn’t the lucky one of the trio, though it was highly competitive in the opening hours of the race. But once it started raining heavily around 6 pm that evening, the team was forced to roll into the pits and make some adjustments. With new tires and driver Bill Kimberly behind the wheel, all was going well until both hit a wall of rain at the Maison Blanche corner.

Kimberly lifted off the throttle and promptly lost control, spun out, and flipped the car twice, after which it promptly caught on fire. He managed to escape unscathed, but the car was finished for the day. The second Briggs Cunningham Corvette also wrecked and later suffered an engine failure, though car #3 finished eighth overall in the GT-5.0 class.

All three cars made their way back to the U.S. and promptly changed hands several times over the years. But shortly after this particular racer was sold in 1974, it disappeared for 37 years until it was rediscovered in 2011. Today, the car remains in the same condition as it did then, a decade ago, the original engine long gone, along with several other components from its racing days.

Cars #2 and 3 have since been restored to their original 1960 Le Mans condition, and with any luck, the new owner of car #1 will do the same. If nothing else, we hope we don’t have to wait another nearly four decades to see this historic racer once again.

Photos:RM Sotheby’s

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