My Corvette Story goes back a long way. The start was back in high school when I first got my drivers license. In 1963, I was sixteen and my 13 year older brother bought a brand new Silver/Blue Split Window Coupe. I started driving my parents 1962 Chevrolet Impala convertible, but when my brother showed up for Christmas dinner with the Corvette I was hooked.
A few years later, I was preparing to go to college and wanted my own car. I wanted a Corvette. My best friend had a 1961 White/Black Fuelie. It was an eighteen year old’s dream. I found a 1962 Red/Red and agreed to purchase the car. It had a rod knock, but I felt I could repair it myself. I had just about enough money to buy it, after I borrowed $100 from a buddy. When I went to pick up the car the seller wanted an extra $100 for the almost new tires. That put it out of my budget, so I used the money I had to buy an MGB instead (His mother called me about a month later and offered me the car for the original price to get it out of her garage!).
In 1967, I needed a bigger car for my fledgling family and bough a new 1968 Z28. I didn’t have the extra $400 for a 1967 Corvette, and having only two seats would have been a hard sell to my new wife. That was it for Corvettes for almost 20 years.
In 1984, I bought a new Silver/Silver coupe. That was a nice car, but a year later I found a Blue/Blue 1985 Convertible, which I traded the 1984 in on. I sold the 1985 car to buy parts for an airplane I was building. That was the end of Corvettes for a while.
Last year, in 2014, I came across a beautiful 1964 Silver Blue/Dark Blue convertible. It’s a driver quality car with no history, non-matching numbers, and a bunch of owner modification that render it useless for NCRS showing, but I loved the look, and I felt it was the car I would have built as a teenager in 1967 when correctness was not an issue. Hurst shifter, mag wheels, 67 BB hood, etc., the same route I took the Z28 down. Now I only drive it on sunny days for short distances. I was shocked when I had it delivered to my home. I had forgotten how barbaric those cars were back in 1964. I love driving it, but I am getting too old to drive it more than an hour or so anymore. The side pipes are thunderous! The seats are painful, and the drum brakes leave a lot to be desired. Still, I think it’s the most beautiful car I have ever seen!