Nineteen-sixty-two marked the final year of the first-generation Corvette. It was this model generation—known as the C1—that had introduced “America’s Sports Car” to the public; importantly, it was also this model generation that saw the Corvette grow and develop from a stylish-if-underpowered cruiser to a street and racing machine with world-beating performance. The example offered here shows just how far the Chevrolet had come since its introduction in 1953: It was one of 1,918 equipped with the new-for-1962, 327-cubic-inch V-8 crowned with a Rochester fuel injection unit, good for a still-impressive 360 horsepower.

Finished in correct Sateen Silver Metallic over a red interior, this car was, in addition to its coveted “Fuelie” V-8, equipped with the close-ratio four-speed gearbox (RPO 685B), a 3.70:1 Positraction rear (RPO 645), and the straight-through exhaust (RPO 441), further increasing its performance and desirability. According to National Corvette Restorers Society (NCRS) research on file, this Corvette was produced on 18 April 1962 and delivered to through Harry Mann Chevrolet of Los Angeles, California. By the mid-1990s, the Corvette was in the possession of its fourth Californian owner, a captain in the Rialto police department; it had benefitted from some restoration work prior to his acquisition, and it had apparently always remained in the Golden State.

Its next owner of record, a resident of Lincoln, California, sought to bring the Corvette to the highest possible level. In 2010 he began a complete, two-year nut-and-bolt restoration to NCRS standards. Photos, as well as hundreds of pages of invoices for parts and restoration services (including fuel-injection work conducted by specialists Jim Lockwood and Jack Podell), document the comprehensive overhaul of this car.

Work on the Corvette was completed in March 2012, and the awards soon began to roll in. That same month, the car earned a Top Flight award at the NCRS Arizona 2012 Regional. Next came a Performance Verification Award at the NCRS Northwest Regional in Seaside, Oregon in May; a final Top Flight award came at the 2012 NCRS National Convention in San Diego, California—a fitting capstone tribute to a beautifully executed restoration.

Following its acquisition by the Dare to Dream Collection in 2012 (notably, its first recorded ownership outside the state of California), this Corvette benefitted from further service, including work performed by RM Auto Restoration of Blenheim, Ontario to ensure proper mechanical operation.

Now offered accompanied by its hard-earned NCRS awards, this 1962 Chevrolet Corvette wears its previous restoration very well today; it would be an ideal example for continued exhibition or, with its powerful, numbers-matching “Fuelie” V-8 rumbling underhood, a thrilling companion on the open road.