Lock it Down: The 2020 Chevrolet C8 Corvette Has "Instant Collectible" Written All Over it

The all-new 2020 Chevrolet Corvette C8 has arrived. Mind you, the Corvette C8 isn’t just the latest-generation Corvette to arrive. Everyone who has waited to see a mid-engine Corvette can finally breathe a sigh of relief. It’s here, folks! After 60 years of waiting — it’s been a long wait that included many prototypes that almost made it to production — the vision of Zora Arkus-Duntov has finally come alive. There are a lot of firsts that come with the arrival of the Corvette C8, not just for the model itself, but for Chevrolet as a company. It stands to reason then that this could be one of the most important models of the Chevrolet Corvette in its long and illustrious history. And as one of the most collectible cars in the auto industry, you can be sure that the C8 has “instant collectible” written all over it. Don’t be surprised if the first-production model ends up in an auction house sometime in the latter part of the year. All bets are off if that happens, ladies and gentlemen. If you thought the $2.7 million price tag the final-production Corvette C7 fetched last month at the Barrett-Jackson auction is too much, wait until you see the frenzied bidding that will come in the auction of the first-production Corvette C8.

It’s hard to imagine that it took almost 70 years for the Chevrolet Corvette to get this dramatic a makeover. It wasn’t for a lack of trying, though. Zora Arkus-Duntov, the man many consider as the Corvette’s godfather, was the first champion of a mid-engined version of the sports car. Not only that, but he also led the charge in making the Corvette a real sports car, complete with fuel injection, an independent rear suspension, and four-wheel disc brakes. Arkus-Duntov is best remembered, though, for his unbridled passion in bringing a mid-engine Corvette to life. Numerous times, he tried to persuade Chevy execs to build a mid-engine Corvette, citing, at one point, competition from the likes of Ford as one of his reasons.

Undaunted by previous denials, Arkus-Duntov spearheaded the creation of the XP-882 Concept, which débuted at the 1970 New York Auto Show to great acclaim. Give the man credit, though, for his persistence. Shortly before his retirement, Arkus-Duntov made one last-ditch effort to convince GM execs to build a mid-engined Corvette. He and then-GM president Ed Cole agreed to give it a shot, only for the Wankel engine, which GM had just purchased, to torpedo his dreams. And so, Arkus-Duntov’s dream of launching a mid-engined Corvette remained a dream until his death in 1996.

Why is all of this important? It’s important because it tells the story of a man and his dream that never came to be. It took almost 70 years, and more than 20 years since his death, but General Motors and Chevrolet finally came through and did right by Arkus-Duntov. The engineer’s dream to build a mid-engined Chevrolet Corvette isn’t a dream anymore; it’s a reality.

It has, in many ways, become the Corvette-that-was-never-meant-to-be. Funny how time and huge changes in the automotive landscape can turn that narrative completely, huh?

The all-new 2020 Chevrolet Corvette C8 has arrived. Naturally, it comes with significant changes compared to its predecessor. It has an all-new look, a new LT2 engine that’s an evolved version of the LT1 unit that sat under the hood of the Corvette C7 Stingray. Even the eight-speed automatic transmission is new. None of that, though, compares to the importance of where the LT2 engine is placed. For the first time in history, the Corvette’s engine sits behind the driver, and it precisely that reason — and really, that reason alone — why the Corvette C8 has earned “instant collectible” status among die-hard Corvette aficionados.

All the pieces have fallen into place. There’s a reason the Corvette is often referred to as “The Star-Spangled Sports Car.” Likewise, there's also a reason classic car insurer and valuation firm Hagerty calls it “the most collectible car of all time.”

"The Corvette has existed in a category all its own as an American car," Hagerty CEO McKeel Hagerty told USA Today. "It’s a pretty magical story through and through. It's very evident they're about to do it again."

Yes, Chevrolet did it again, only this time, they did it while also satisfying the decades-old demands of Corvette enthusiasts, a lot of whom have pushed General Motors to create what Zora Arkus-Duntov fought tirelessly and passionately for. This isn’t your typical next-generation Corvette, folks. This is a history-making next-generation Corvette.

It’s precisely that reason why I think that, if Chevrolet sends the first-production model to the auction block as it has done many times in the past with other first-production Corvettes, the first-production Corvette C8 could become the most expensive Corvette ever sold in an auction setting.

Last year, Chevrolet also auctioned off the first-production 2019 Corvette ZR1 and it sold for $925,000. It’s a pittance compared to what the final-production Corvette C7 went for, but that’s not the point. The point is that anything and everything Chevrolet Corvette will fetch a king’s ransom in an auction.

Now, compare the provenance of those two models with that of the first-production Corvette C8. Guess what? There’s no comparison. Neither of those models has any historical significance beyond that they were the first and last models built of a specific Corvette model. The first-production Corvette C8 has that, too. It also happens to be the first-production mid-engined Corvette in history. For starved fans who have waited this long to see a mid-engine Corvette, that’s the recipe for potential auction bids that could go through the roof.

So, here’s where we stand. The $2.7 million, last-production Corvette C7 ranks as the fifth highest-selling Corvette to go through an auction setting. The 1969 Chevrolet Corvette Rebel Convertible Race Car comes in at fourth when it sold for $2.86 million back in 2014. Coming in at third place is the 1967 Corvette L88 that sold for $3.2 million in 2013. The 1967 Corvette L88 Convertible sits at the runner-up spot after selling for $3.4 million in the same year the L88 did. Taking the top spot (for now) is the 1967 Chevrolet Corvette L88 Coupe that sold for a record $3.88 million in 2014.

While I do think that top two L88 models will retain their spots on this list, I’m confident that, if Chevrolet decides to auction off the first-production Corvette C8, it could clear the $3 million threshold easily. Whether it can beat the $3.2 million price of tag of the 1967 L88 is unclear, but if Corvette fans think that the first-production mid-engine Corvette C8 is important enough to fetch that amount, I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t.

Call it in, folks. I predict that, if auctioned off, the first-production 2020 Chevrolet Corvette C8 will sell for $3.3 million!