The C2 Chevy Corvette, launched for the 1963 model year, is what vaulted the GM sports car into becoming America’s sports car. Now, a one-of-a-kind example that’s the personal vehicle of one of the Vette’s designers is heading for auction via Mecum.

And not just any designer. Peter Brock drew the sketch that GM vice president Bill Mitchell based the initial C2 design study on in 1959. In 1963, the car was ready for customers, at first with a split rear window that looked the business but was changed for subsequent model years following customer complaints about visibility. Brock’s personal 1963 Corvette features that split rear window, along with a bevy of updates to make it a more modern machine, including improved ventilation, bigger windows, racing seats, and air conditioning.

There is also, of course, the motor under the hood, a supercharged 6.2-liter V-8 engine making 725 horsepower, or more than double the power that was available originally. That engine is mated to a five-speed manual transmission. The suspension and brakes have also been upgraded accordingly.

In other words, this is a 1963 Corvette built as though it was made in the 21st century. Brock first showed the 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Studio Concept Split Window Coupe in November in Chicago. The car is personally owned by the creative, and now it’s being personally offered by him. The Vette is, in many ways, the culmination of a designer who has been thinking about the C2 Corvette his entire life. Brock was just 21 years old when he made the first sketch.

“Whoever ends up with this car,” the designer told Mecum, “it is a personal interpretation of what it should have been.”

The majority of C2 Corvettes fetch in the high-figures, with rare examples getting well into the six-figures, and some even surpassing half a million dollars. The auction house does not provide an estimate for Brock’s Corvette, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see it go for around $500,000 as well. The car will be auctioned on January 16 in Kissimmee, Fla.

Click here for more photos of the 1963 Chevy Corvette Concept.