Image via Jerry Heasley/YouTube
A guy who wasn’t even searching for anything happened across a Corvette Motion Manta Ray, which is a find of a lifetime. It’s not every day a rare car, one of only three ever built, which was believed to have been lost forever is discovered, so this is a huge deal in the Corvette world.
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Back in the 70s, Baldwin-Motion built three of these cars using C3 Corvettes. While the collaboration between Chevy dealer Baldwin Auto Company and drag racer Joel Rosen (Mr. Motion) seemed to have promise, the Motion Mana Rays were by far the most impressive result.
What was believed to be the sole surviving Corvette Motion Manta Ray GT was auctioned off by Mecum at its Indy 2021 event back when prices were climbing as covid shutdowns were still a thing. It pulled in a cool $80,000, which isn’t too bad considering.
Of course, the quickest way to identify these oddities is the body modifications, like the front fascia with round headlights, side exhaust pipes, ducktail spoiler, and custom wheels. Under the hood of this car is the 300ci V8 you get in other 1973 Corvettes, only it’s been modified for an extra 75-horsepower.
In this case, the guy said a friend reached out to him and said he thought he had a Motion Corvette in his possession. Even better, the friend revealed he had owned the unique sports car for some time. In other words, as the car world was freaking out about what was believed to be the only surviving example as it went to auction in 2021, the guy was sitting on another one and didn’t say a thing.
Even more amazing, the rare one-of-three Corvette was sitting in a literal barn and wasn’t it too great of shape. But the guy bought it off his friend upon realizing what it was. You really need to hear the entire story from the guy, it’s just so interesting.
Check out Jerry Heasley’s video about this amazing discovery here.
Image via Jerry Heasley/YouTube
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