In 1981, General Motors opened a state-of-the-art plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky, where Corvette production began anew. With the debut of the Collector Edition, GM marked both the conclusion of one era and the start of another, leading to widespread speculation about the future of the aging C3 Corvette.
The 1982 Collector Edition Corvette, despite its hefty price tag exceeding $20,000, attracted buyers keen on investing in a piece of automotive history. Similar to the Pace Car edition of 1978, which saw a surge in demand from collectors, the Collector Edition Corvette was purchased with the intention of preserving it for future value appreciation.
One particularly notable example is a 1982 Corvette CE owned by a farmer in Northeast Ohio, boasting a mere 33.3 miles on the odometer, making it possibly the lowest-mileage example from that year. This meticulously preserved car, untouched for over four decades, epitomizes automotive timelessness and nostalgia.
Despite its rarity and symbolic significance, the Collector Edition Corvette doesn’t command the same premium as other special variants of its era. However, for collectors, the odometer reading often outweighs traditional valuation metrics, making cars like the 1982 Corvette CE highly sought after.
