The first electrified Corvette sells for more than $1 million

One of the world's largest private collectors of Corvettes — who once dreamed of owning just one — has now increased his collection of the iconic cars to 122.

Car dealer and NASCAR race team owner Rick Hendrick, 73, paid $1.1 million for the first electrified 2024 Corvette E-Ray on Saturday at the 2023 Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach Auction. The money will go to education nonprofit DonorsChoose, which helps teachers in low-income communities fund classroom projects.

Hendrick told the Free Press he appreciates being able to support good causes through the auctions, while at the same time fulfilling a dream.

"From electrified all-wheel drive to being the fastest Corvette ever made, the E-Ray is a true first-of-its-kind supercar," Hendrick said. "Before I even had a driver's license, I fell in love with the Corvette and daydreamed of owning one. For people like me who have watched its evolution across seven decades and eight generations, this represents a new chapter. As a Corvette enthusiast, it's a piece of history."

Hendrick is CEO of Charlotte, North Carolina-based Hendrick Automotive Group, which sells 25 brands including General Motors and Stellantis vehicles. He also owns 14-time NASCAR Cup Series champions Hendrick Motorsports in nearby Concord, North Carolina.

Hendrick, who is a member of the Corvette Hall of Fame Class of 2015, has one of the largest private collections of Corvettes in the world. It sits near Hendrick Motorsports in a luxury garage, dubbed the Heritage Center. The 58,000-square-foot building houses 220 of the rarest cars in the world, 122 of which are Corvettes. Getting inside is invitation-only.

Similar to the other cars in his collection, Hendrick will never drive the E-Ray because he considers it a collectors' item.

Three years ago, Hendrick won the bid to buy the first mid-engine 2020 Corvette Stingray, paying an eye-popping $3 million. That money was donated to the Detroit Children's Fund.

Last year, Hendrick won the bid to buy the first 2023 Corvette Z06 Convertible. It is part of the mid-engine C8 Corvette design. His $1 million check for that car was donated to the Thurgood Marshall College Fund's Teacher Quality and Retention Program, the nation's largest organization to represent Black colleges, universities and institutions.

The cars at auction are pre-production prototypes. So Hendrick gets to choose the color of the first car to roll off the assembly line at GM's Bowling Green Assembly in Kentucky. It will be black, consistent with all of his Corvettes with VIN 001.

Beyond selling cars for GM, Hendrick supplies parts for GM's subsidiary, GM Defense LLC. Last week, GM Defense awarded Hendrick Motorsports its 2022 Supplier of the Year honor. Hendrick's racing company makes the exoskeletons for Infantry Squad Vehicles (ISV) that GM Defense builds for the U.S. Army. An exoskeleton is the external frame used to protect drivers.

The E-Ray will start at $104,295 for the 1LZ coupe and $111,295 for the hard-top convertible. It will go on sale later this year, but GM has not given a date. It will be powered by a 6.2-liter small block V-8 in the rear and an electric motor on the front axle. It will produce a combined 655 horsepower and GM is calling it the fastest Corvette in history, able to go from zero to 60 mph in 2.5 seconds and blow through the quarter-mile in 10.5 seconds.

Chevrolet also auctioned the first retail production models of the 2020 Corvette Stingray and the 2023 Corvette Z06. The vehicles bring the total amount of money raised for charity by eighth-generation Corvettes at Barrett-Jackson auctions to $9.1 million, said Steve Majoros, chief marketing officer of Chevrolet.

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Contact Jamie L. LaReau: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more on General Motors and sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.