John Greenwood liked to race Corvettes. When he wasn’t racing them he also liked to make street ‘Vettes that looked like his racers. Today’s Nice Price or rack Pipe Greenwood GT is just such a car, and it comes with a price asking a lot of your green.
Okay, audience participation time: what would be your ultimate drivetrain from one car/body shoved into the chassis from another? I ask you that simply because yesterday’s 2000 BMW 740i with an M5’s naughty bits certainly wasn’t. Not only that, but its $21K price tag was equally unpopular, carrying off a massive 86-percent Crack Pipe loss.
That’s too bad for the seller as, per his ad, he built the car just to sell. Sucks to be you, my friend.
John Greenwood and his brother Burt also built cars out of other cars, but their efforts weren’t just taking apart and reassembling other people’s work. Instead, they built street cars that looked a whole lot like the race cars John just so happened to be driving throughout much of the early ‘70s.
The racers were notable for their stars and stripes paint schemes and the fact that Greenwood didn’t just do driving duties, he was also an accomplished engine builder. That gave him an edge on the track by knowing just how to eke out every last pony.
Greenwood, who passed away in 2015 at the age of 70, built cars not only for his own team—which in 1971 included comedian Dick Smothers—but for other teams as well. That inevitably led to the building of street editions, including this Corvette-based 1977 Greenwood GT.
Thirty-two of the GTs were built over the course of three years—’75, ’76, and ’77. All of them featured a widebody design that emulated Greenwood’s pole-winning ’75 Daytona entry.
This one is claimed to be #24 of that 32, and has the riveted-on serial number plaque to support that claim.
The seller declines to provide much else in way of description about the car. You know, information such as why it has an odd stainless steel Kamm tail in place of its urethane endcap. That’s just weird.
It also lacks the Greenwood GT badge on the B-pillar which would be damn-near impossible to source today. It does seem to have a set of American Racing Vector wheels which are correct for the car, so it’s got that going for it.
The paint looks to be a respray, the lack of the proper John Greenwood GT script on the rear spoiler being evidence of this. Tape on the headlight buckets and big-ass lake pipes on the sides are additional bad omens.
No interior shots are offered, but then the GT didn’t see any updates there over the factory Corvette. Likewise, no mention is made, nor pictures offered of the mechanicals. Back in the day you could get massaged suspension and steering on your Greenwood, but there’s no mention of this car having any such extra curricular activity
What’s the long-story-short on this csutom ‘Vette? Who knows? In fact, the seller is so disinterested in giving it up for us that he offhandedly mentions that there is a Greenwood Corvette site on the web but then doesn’t even extend the common curtesy to offer the address. I’m much more accommodating than that, so here it is.
We do know that the car has an apparent 46K on the clock, and it is equipped with an L82 and four-speed as you would want. Also, the title is clean so no shenanigans at the DMV should be necessary.
Despite the dearth of info, we can determine that this is one rare bird. Not only that but it represents a fairly substantial bit of Corvette history as well as a direct connection to the Corvette’s halcyon days of racing. What might that all be worth?
Well, the seller here is asking $27,000. Yep, I think we can all agree that’s a lot of moolah for a ’77 ‘Vette. The question is, would it also be for a Greenwood GT?
You decide!
Columbus, OH Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Jason Mauch for the hookup!
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