Still Cruisin' In My Dream Car... 47 Years Later

Shown is my all-original, one-owner 1972 Bryar Blue Corvette convertible with 90k miles. Here's my Corvette Story. I was drafted out of college into the Army in 1969, got seriously injured and after seven months in hospitals I was medically retired in November 1971. I was discharged with a 100 percent disability and went back to college in Indiana. I was receiving a nice compensation from the VA so I went looking for a new sports car. I tested a Porsche 911, Datsun 240Z, Jaguar XKE, etc. but fell in love with this 1972 Corvette the minute I set eyes on it. I was finishing my BS degree at Ball State in Indiana and was Big Man on Campus with this car. I was commodore of the university sailing club and we drove around campus with a sail on it to recruit members. The picture and story was featured in the Corvette News Oct/Nov1974 issue. It was my daily driver for seven years until I got married in 1978 and started a family in Indiana. Then it sat in the garage more than it was driven. My wife called it the storage shelf in the garage. In 1998 we moved to Southern California for great job offers and weather. I left the Corvette in Indiana with a friend who had a body shop and painted custom cars. He worked on it in his spare time for about seven years and finally shipped it out to me with a new paint job and interior. Here in Huntington Beach, Calif. I have a friend who owns an auto shop, and he did a lot of the necessary mechanical work, keeping it as original as possible. Now that I am retired, I drive it more often, especially with the nice weather here at the coast in Southern California. Everywhere I go -- I get looks and a thumbs up, and when I stop people always ask about it. Almost everyone says this is their favorite model. Donald Skiver Huntington Beach, CA