This was my first Franklin Mint Corvette.  At the time, I had heard a little about these, but didn't know much.  What I did know was that diecast C3 models were extremely hard to find.

I bought this from a vendor at the Indiana State Fair.  The vendor was a specialized pedal car company who had traded some pedal car parts to a Franklin Mint connection for some models.  For the next few years I used that pedal car vendor to buy a few Franklin Mints and other Corvette things.

The purchase of this model marked a significant milestone in my commitment to collecting.  I had never, ever, paid $90 for a single item until this.

Diecast Reproductions Limited edition of 427.  The story goes that 12 of the 427 Apollo Corvettes contained a special certificate for a "reverse color" version of this car (base is black, accents in gold).  See below.             

Undoubtedly this is the one of the rarest Franklin Mint Corvette Models in existence @ 1 of 12.  It's definitely the most desirable and special of the "super rare" FM Corvettes.  I bought the first one I've ever seen available for sale.

This car was added to my collection early in the days when I had recently started to buy the Franklin Mint cars.  It was early 1996 and I still only had a hand full of FM Corvettes.

This is a personal story.  I had just started dating Nancy right after the holidays.  This car was a gift from her for Valentine's day.   When you think back to our financial situation at the time, this was a significant gift.

Nancy and I were married at the end of 1997.  And she's been putting up with Corvette madness ever since.

It's all hit or miss.  When this car first came out I had high hopes because this was a limited edition.  Arguably the 1978 Corvette Pace car is the most popular of the Corvette Pace cars.  It was the rebirth of the 'Vette in the late '70s, and the memorabilia and collectible stuff is very desirable. 

Apparently Franklin Mint thought this was going to be a winner as well.  I tried to order more than one car and they would not allow it.  So I ordered one, my wife ordered one, and I had my mom order one for a total of 3.  Hot?  Not.

The car is wonderful.  The interest was not there yet.  Slowly these are starting to sell on ebay near the original price.  But I think it will take a while before these earn a respectable gain over the original price. 

Franklin Mint never offered a limited edition before this car.  To my knowledge, this was the first.  The L.E number of 6759 was tied to the actual production number of the 1982 Collector Edition offered by Chevrolet (...thanks S.M. in New Mexico for the info!).  The car itself was magic.  It also featured a hand painted tag.  Hand painted LE tags are something you will not see anymore as the tags are now created on a machine.

I believe the popularity of this car sparked Franklin Mint to start offering limited edition Corvettes.  Before this car it was rare to see a Corvette get retired.  Now most all of the cars are limited edition.