The curious case of Dale Earnhardt Jr.s alleged Corvette on eBay
Earlier this week, the Fairfield Auto Group in Pennsylvania put a 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 up for sale on eBay for $97,978. The car had only 1,523 miles on it and came in an apparently exotic custom color combination. In other words, it was “a cherry example of the breed,” as the Drive put it.
Oh, and the ad claimed the car once belonged to Dale Earnhardt Jr., a gift from Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick.
“This is a very rare 2009 Corvette ZR1. It is the 23rd built and was bought and special ordered through Rick Hendrick for Dale Earnhardt Jr,” the listing said. “This was, in fact, his personal car and features a special color combo that customers could not order out of the factory. Just over 1,500 miles on the odometer and a clean history.
“The car includes documentation showing that this was, in fact, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s car and also includes a signed center console.”
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But as you can see from the yellow strip at the top of the above photo, the listing was taken down because there was one small problem: Earnhardt himself said Thursday on Twitter that it wasn’t his.
Photos that accompanied the listing showed a “Hendrick” label across the top of the windshield and what appeared to be Dale Jr.’s autograph on the center console. But alas, he shot down its lineage and now it probably won’t be fetching anywhere near $97,978. The eBay listing itself is now completely gone, though we were able to get the image of it before it was taken down.
But here’s where the story gets a little strange: Fletcher Quigley, an assistant manager at Fairfield, says the car indeed was purchased by Hendrick for Earnhardt and that he has the paperwork to back up that claim, including the certificate of origin with Hendrick’s name on it that shows the Corvette was shipped to a dealer in Charlotte, the build sheet and the window sticker.
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“It truly was a car that was in his possession at one point,” Quigley told The Post in a telephone interview. “He drove it for Chevrolet for PR purposes and for demonstrating.”
Quigley said the company acquired the car plus all the relevant documentation from Barrett-Jackson, a renowned auto auction company out of Arizona, and pointed The Post toward the original Barrett-Jackson listing that contained the following description:
Right out of Rick Hendrick’s Heritage Collection, this 2009 Corvette ZR1 has barely been over 1,500 actual miles since new. Custom-ordered by Rick Hendrick for Dale Earnhardt Jr., this Corvette was used as a demonstrator by the NASCAR driver and sports his signature on the car, as well as that of his Hall of Fame car owner.
Quigley also claims that he personally was told by Dale Ledbetter, an employee at Hendrick Motorsports, that the car belonged to Earnhardt.
The company took down the original listing only because its employees were receiving death threats and threats of legal action after Earnhardt’s tweet, Quigley said, but now is sure that it has an original Earnhardt car. In fact, it re-listed the Corvette on eBay on Friday afternoon, softening the language to say that it merely was built for Earnhardt:
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This rare 2009 Corvette ZR1 was one of the 4 ZR1’s Rick Hendrick bought and gave to his drivers. This particular car was ordered and built for Dale Earnhardt Jr. This car was bought from Barrett Jackson in Scottsdale, Arizona in 2017 right from Rick Hendricks collection. Please see photos for more details as well as the description listed below. Right out of Rick Hendrick’s Heritage Collection, this 2009 Corvette ZR1 has barely been over 1,500 actual miles since new. Custom-ordered by Rick Hendrick for Dale Earnhardt Jr., this Corvette was used as a demonstrator by the NASCAR driver and sports his signature on the car, as well as that of his Hall of Fame car owner. Produced in limited numbers, this supercar is one of 368 finished in Classic Black and the 23rd ZR1 built for 2009.
The nearly $100,000 price remains the same.
As for why Earnhardt would take to social media to say the car wasn’t his, Quigley said he wasn’t sure it was even the famed NASCAR driver who was doing the tweeting but rather one of his representatives. But Quigley was puzzled as to why Earnhardt — or whoever has the keys to his Twitter account — would dispute the provenance of the car when the company is so sure of its origin.
We’ve reached out to Earnhardt’s reps for clarity and will update this story if and when we hear back.
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