The Chevrolet Corvette is sort of like a ’32 Ford or a ’49 Mercury in that it has become a canvas for others to customize. It is a starting point where people they feel they can improve. Some companies like Callaway and Lingenfelter have used this formula to great success. It is still a Corvette, but with a little more power and a little more style.
Others have tried to follow the same path, but have not found commercial success. One such company was Avelate, which was formed by former GM designer Don Johnson and Dean Arnold.
According to the website CorvSport.com: “The Avelate borrowed some design inspiration from the previous Corvette generations and incorporated all of them into the C5 model. Initially, the plan was to make 100 cars per year, but throughout its production run, only 25 examples were only built.”
The auction description says that this 2000 Chevrolet Corvette Avelate Z06 convertible is one of 27 builds produced between 2000 and 2002. It is finished in Copper Pearl with a black convertible top. The car has a 6-speed manual transmission. It was consigned to sell at the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction in January 2024.
The car has the stock windshield and side glass, though it has a custom body including door skins, hood, trunk, and front and rear bumpers. Studying the car, I see a C3-styled front end and C1-style scallops on the doors.
This car has Avelate logo floor mats and retro-style Fuel Injection and Corvette badges on the fenders.
It’s got a lot of customizations that make it unique from the herd of production C5s, but do the cosmetic customizations make it any better than a regular Z06? Honestly…no, they do not.
That sentiment was reflected in the final hammer price of $29,700 which is exactly in line with the prices of a C5 Z06 on Bring A Trailer. Only super low mileage cars go for more, and this car had 31k miles at the time of auction.
The Avelate Corvette is a unique curiosity for the right buyer, and another notch in the belt of small production manufacturers who thought they could do better than the OEM.
