My love for Corvettes started when my father was a General Manager at a Chevrolet Dealership in Tennessee. I was 11 years old. We had two brand new 1960 Corvettes hidden in our basement garages before they were ready for the new car reveal. I was home alone and noticed the keys were in the cars.
Yes, I did the unthinkable; I started up the one with automatic transmission and drove it around the block. I never told anyone about it, but knew from that day forward I would own a Corvette someday. (Many years later I admitted the story to my father.)
July 1974 I was having my 1972 Impala serviced at the same dealership where my Dad and I had both worked and two Corvettes were on the showroom floor, both demos the dealer needed to sell before Chevrolet would let the dealer order any 1975 Corvettes. The choices were a white 1974 small block, automatic T-Top base car or a Metallic Yellow 1973 454 T-Top automatic with every option except the tilt wheel. I didn’t like the two piece urethane rear bumper of the 1974. Also the deal was better on the 454. Remember the pending 1973 Oil Embargo? I still own the 1973 Corvette today. Three months after I bought the car they had to put a new short block engine in it. The dealer’s daughter who drove the car abused it more than he admitted. Other than the engine block, it is all original.
In Nov. 1988, I drove my 2 year old son to the hospital to meet his new little sister. This was the last time I drove the Corvette. When I put the battery in and took it off the jack stands the spring of 1989 it would not start. I was in the Air Force Reserve working long hours, flying late nights, going on deployments and with a new house and two small children, the car was low on my priority list. It stayed in the garage back up on the jack stands until the fall of 2015.
My wife said I should get the Corvette running again! You don’t have to tell me twice! Through a friend of a friend, I found a guy who has been working on Corvettes for 40 years. He and I are waking it up and are about 80% mechanically done. Almost 27 years to the day I last drove the car, we had it running again. It’s an original, one owner survivor. Not a show car, but it is my first and only Corvette. My goal is to have it home for my daughter’s wedding in May. She reminded me she has never had a ride in it and I only let her sit in it once. I told her she could have the car for the wedding. Now I need to finish up the other 20% to make it mechanically sound for the big day!