By Dean Larson

Photos: Seller, Craigslist

It’s easy to shy away from a deal that seems too good to be true, but everyone once in a great while, good fortune may send you an opportunity, and the willingness to roll the dice often makes all the difference. In this case it’s a 1963 Corvette Grand Sport replica that’s selling for half price, but there’s just one catch — you have to put it back together.

In these circles everyone’s familiar with what the C2 Corvette Grand Sport was, or more importantly could have been. We’re talking about an insanely rare, clean-sheet Corvette race car developed to take on the Cobra and any other would-be challengers in sports car racing. But of course, the program was shut down after just five of the planned 125 cars were built, making it unable to compete with the Cobra directly on most days.

Grand Sport kits are out there, thanks to the abundance of Corvette parts on the market, and can generally be found as complete chassis-up builds or rebodied C2s. This Grand Sport project car is the latter, as it sports a fiberglass Grand Sport body from D&D, and it’s based on ’63 C2 chassis and running gear. It’s allegedly powered by a small-block Chevrolet with Weber carburetors and a rebuilt Muncie four-speed, and rolls on Grand Sport-style knock-off wheels. Definitely above average kit for a budget buy.

But of course the elephant in the room is that the car is disassembled, which invites all sorts of questions about what you’ll spend getting it into shape. However, the big positive is that the owner states the bodywork and paint are in great shape, which is one huge expense off the table. The car was allegedly disassembled in order to refinish the chassis, in addition to refurbishing the suspension and running gear, and many parts are included to finish those tasks. All things considered, that seems like a favorable outcome, as these tasks could be accomplished at home in your garage, as opposed to paint and body for most of us.

If the car is indeed as the seller has explained it, then I’d say this one’s worth the pursuit. This caliber of Grand Sport can bring as much as $80,000-$90,000 completed, and the mechanical refurbishment on this car shouldn’t break the bank. Provided the driveline is in good shape, I don’t see how you can lose on this one.

Check out the D&D Grand Sport here on Ocala Craigslist.