1978 was a special year for Corvette. Not only was the sports car celebrating its 25th Anniversary, it was chosen to pace the Indianapolis 500. GM celebrated the event with a special Indy 500 Pace Car replica, a fully optioned Corvette painted Black and Silver and featuring silver interior and polished aluminum wheels. When the Wall Street Journal published a front page story on March 27,1978 reporting on the special edition Corvette, prices went wild and many of the 6502 replicas were purchased as investments by collectors.

And such was the case as this 1978 Corvette Pace Car that pulled from a Store and Lock last month in Detroit, Michigan. With just 13 miles on the odometer, the interior still has the factory wrapper and that new car smell is still evident.

The original owner bought the Corvette as an investment in 1978 and so he never drove the car. In 1995, he sold his house and moved into a high rise apartment. With no place to keep the car, he parked it in a Detroit-area Store and Lock, locked the door and walked away. Needing some cash, last month he called up his friend Bud Schoenleben from Bud’s Chevrolet in St. Mary’s, Ill and offered to sell the car.

The Corvette Pace Car was buried under boxes and had never been covered. Schoenleben said he pumped up the tires, pulled it out of the building and brought it home. But he didn’t keep it long. The Corvette was purchased by Mike Millian and is now at Corvette Mike New England in Plymouth, MA.

The dealership has been tweeting about the barn find this week and CBS Channel 4 in Boston has even covered the story about the 33 year old brand new Corvette.

?The car had everything original, even the battery, and it fired right up. The window sticker is on it. Everything from 1978. And it’s even got some rare options, which was the CB radio.? Mike told Channel 4.

?(There’s) no extra charge for the dust, but that’s part of the unique character of this car, that it was a barn find. That it hasn’t been touched in 30 years, basically,? said Corvette Mike New England’s sales manager Jason Francisco.

?If somebody buys it, they can wash it,? said Millian.”

How hard would it have been to throw a cover on it? Head over to the Forum and see what members are saying about this time capsule!