US customs authorities handed the 1968 silver roadster over to Alan Poster in the California town of Carson after officers stopped the vehicle being shipped out of the United States to a new owner in Sweden.
The car, which was originally blue, was stolen from Poster in New York City in 1969, a year after he bought it new, and after nearly four decades, he never expected to see it again.
"It's a miracle, it's a dream," Mr Poster said at the ceremony.
The vehicle was discovered in a container at the California port of Long Beach when customs officials asked police to run a routine check on its origins, said Mike Fleming of the Department of Homeland Security.
New York police began checking their records, confirmed that the car was reported stolen in 1969, and contacted Poster, who now lives in California.
"The odds against finding it so many years afterward were phenomenal," Mr Fleming said.
The Corvette is in generally good condition, although the fuel tank is missing and the car has a transmission that police say was stolen, Mr Fleming said.
The Stockholm-based buyer of the car did not know it was stolen and no one has been arrested over the theft.