A US$45,000 winning bid for a Corvette driving and heritage tour package has pushed the Bring a Trailer and Drive Toward a Cure partnership to nearly US$160,000 across eight charity auctions.
What is a day behind the wheel of a Corvette worth? On Bring a Trailer, one bidder put it at US$45,000, and the money is going to people living with Parkinson’s disease.
The online auction platform ran the sale with US non-profit Drive Toward a Cure and Ten Tenths Motor Club. According to the charity, the partnership has now raised nearly US$160,000 across eight auctions.
What the Winning Bidder Gets
The lot was the complete Ten Tenths experience. Its centrepiece is driving time in Chevrolet Corvette C8 Z51s, the mid-engined Corvette with Chevrolet’s Z51 performance package.
The package also includes a special tour of the Hendrick Automotive Group Heritage Center. So the winner gets both seat time and a dose of automotive history in a single package.
Where the Money Goes
Proceeds go to Drive Toward a Cure and its Special Assistance Grant Fund. The fund helps individuals and families affected by Parkinson’s, particularly when unexpected events add financial strain.
Bring a Trailer is contributing more than its platform. It waives its usual auction fees on these charity listings. It also donates the buyer’s premium it collects back to the charity. Nice.
That detail matters. Fees normally take a slice of any sale, so dropping them means more of each winning bid reaches the cause.
Eight Auctions and Counting
This isn’t a one-off. Earlier auctions in the series involved partners including Goodyear and Penske Motorsports. NASCAR champions Jimmie Johnson and Joey Logano also gave their time for meet-and-greets.
One previous winner spent a day in the pits at the NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400. Other lots have covered memorabilia, private collection tours and commemorative items. Most offer the kind of access that is hard to buy any other way.
Founder Deb Pollack credited Bring a Trailer and Ten Tenths for making the offerings possible. The winning bid was exciting, she said, “but the impact is what matters most.”
The Charity Behind the Auctions
Pollack founded Drive Toward a Cure in 2016 in honour of her mother. It is a national 501(c)(3) non-profit that pairs automotive and lifestyle events with fundraising for Parkinson’s awareness and support.
The organisation says it has raised more than US$1.5 million to date. That money funds research, patient care and educational outreach. It also supports grant programmes including Access to Care, Special Assistance and the Family Fund.
Why It Works
Nearly US$160,000 from eight auctions is a meaningful share of that overall total. More telling is the formula behind it. Enthusiasts will pay handsomely for experiences they can’t get elsewhere. With the platform waiving its fees, a Corvette day out becomes direct support for families dealing with Parkinson’s.
