Austin, Texas has a lot to offer. A lively music scene, plenty of restaurants that offer tasty and unique dishes (and, of course, BBQ), and beautiful scenery are just a few of the things you can enjoy here. (I know from years of experience.) If you happen to be here on Saturday, September 10, you can also bid on some rare, low-mileage C6 Corvettes.
The Austin Classic Car Auction at the Palmer Events Center will have a variety of American cars up for the winning, but the ones it’s featuring at the front of its September 10th catalog are 10 limited-production sixth-generation Corvettes. According to the auction site, the most common one is a 2009 ZR1. It’s less powerful cousins may have lower horsepower ratings, but they also have lower production numbers. The site says, “Two special edition … Corvettes were produced in 2009: Competition Sport Edition and the GT1 Championship Edition,” which was a rolling commemoration of Corvette Racing’s 10 years of success in American Le Mans racing. Chevy only made 125 GT1s in coupe, convertible, and Z06 forms.
Some of each will cross the auction block. You can compete against other bidders for the keys to an LS3-powered 2009 GT1 4LT convertible – 1 of 10 in Velocity Yellow, one of the GT1’s two available colors. It only has 20 miles on it.
The rarest C6 of the lot has even fewer miles. The 1-of-7 black 2009 GT1 convertible with the 4LT package and the LS3 under its hood only has 13 miles on its odometer. Hit the Dan Kruse Classics link below for more information about it and the rest of the cars that’ll be up for grabs at the Austin Classic Car Auction.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
