Most Expensive Chevrolet Ever: 1963 Corvette Grand Sport

A 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport more than doubled the marque record when sold for $18,705,000 at the RM Sotheby’s Monterey Car Week 2026 classic car auction.

The 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport, chassis #003, sold for $18,705,000 at the RM Sotheby’s Monterey 2026 auction to become the most expensive Chevrolet, Corvette, or GM car ever. It was presented in the livery and number 2 it wore when finishing second in class at the 1964 Sebring 12 Hours. This Corvette was the first of three Grand Sport coupes — a race car developed without support from GM’s top management.

Record Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport at RM Sotheby’s Monterey 2026 Sale

The 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport, chassis #003, sold for a marque and model record $18,705,000 at the RM Sotheby’s Monterey 2026 classic car auction. The result was well above the pre-sale estimate of $11,000,000 to $13,000,000.

The result increased the marque record by $11 million. The previous highest price paid for a Corvette was $7,705,000 for the 1957 Chevrolet Corvette SS Project XP-64 at RM Sotheby’s Miami 2025 sale.

At the time of the sale, this was the third-most expensive American-built car ever sold at public auction.

1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport, chassis #003

The 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport, chassis #003, was one of only five ever built and the first of three coupes. It was presented at the Monterey 2026 auction in the blue number 2 livery it wore at its most memorable race: the Sebring 12 Hours, where it finished second in class in 1964 (and 3rd in 1965). At the 1964 race, A.J. Foyt famously started 62nd and passed nearly 50 cars on the opening lap.

Chassis #003 had mostly long-term owners who maintained it as a running car with participation in historic racing events.

Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport Project

The Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport was largely the vision of Chevrolet engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov, who produced much of the car as a secret project. His main aim was to compete with the Shelby Cobra.

GM management was opposed to factory participation in motor sport. A major fear was that GM’s market share in the US could increase from around 55% to over 60%, at which stage it was expected that the Department of Justice would insist on splitting up the company. (In 2025, GM remained the largest carmaker in the USA but without any fear of a monopoly market share.)

Early attempts to race the new Corvette Stingray Z06 were largely unsuccessful due to the car’s weight. Zora Arkus-Duntov thus basically developed the Grand Sport as a new racing car with the look of the road-going car but with weight reduced from around 3,200 pounds to only 1,800. The race and road car had almost no components in common.

Corvette Grand Sport Racing

The Corvette Grand Sport was developed and raced with the assistance of private teams, including Dick Doane and Mecom Racing. The cars competed with some success in SCCA races and the Nassau Week in 1964, where it picked up the accolade “Snake Eaters.”

Delmo Johnson described the Grand Sport as: “Brute horsepower. It was like a dragster—the only car I ever drove that would lift the front wheels off the ground in all four gears.”

At Sebring 1964, #003, driven by A.J. Foyt and John Cannon, finished second in class behind its sister car, #005, driven by Roger Penske / Jim Hall. #003 finished third in class a year later.

GM finally cut off the illicit support of its engineers, and the Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport project was abandoned with only five chassis ever completed: two roadsters and three coupes.

Previous Top Chevrolet Corvette Prices at Public Auction

Prior to the sale of the 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport, chassis #003, the most expensive Chevrolet and most expensive Corvette ever was the 1957 Chevrolet Corvette SS Project XP-64 that doubled the marque record when sold for $7,705,000 at the RM Sotheby’s Moda Miami 2025 sale. This was GM’s first purpose-built race car and the only Corvette SS completed and raced by General Motors. It competed at the 1957 Sebring 12 Hours but retired early with mechanical issues. Shortly after Sebring, GM again withdrew from factory-supported racing.

Before the sale of the SS Project XP-64, a 1967 Chevrolet Corvette L88 Coupe held the record for over a decade with $3,850,000 achieved at the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale 2014 sale.

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