Donna and I became members of the club in late 2018. We had purchased our first Corvette in July of that year. A 1968 Corvette 327/350 was our choice. I had always wanted Bill Mitchell’s slick design since High School!
But the ’68 wasn’t my first contact with Corvette. My Dad liked Corvettes also. Although, he didn’t think of them the way we do! He was a WWII veteran. He was an engineer. He was a racer. Yes, this was our ‘other’ car.
But he preferred Corvettes as his ‘daily driver’. So, I grew up around a 1954 Corvette and subsequently a 1957 Red Corvette with white scallops. This is the Corvette I remember the most.
Believe it or not, we used to pile into that car for trips to the DQ, etc…all five of us! Of course, us kids were still pretty small! But that Corvette was cool! The Corvette was part of the family from 1958 till around 1963 or so. I was 5-10 years old. But I loved that car. The car was sold after it caught fire in the Kroger parking lot across from Frisch’s Big Boy, one of the local ‘hang outs’. The car was repaired and repainted and sold. Wish I knew why!
(The whole story around this incident is a part of family lore; a story for another time. It is also in dispute by my Sister). Also, we had another Corvette during this time-frame. And it was all mine!
YEP…A Blue 1958 Corvette yard kart. I drove that thing around the yard as much as I could. I even learned how to siphon gas. Mom’s car got the worst gas mileage!! I created a path around the perimeter of our yard. Dad just smiled…Mother not so much!
My next contact with Corvettes was in the early ‘70s. My Sister (Yes the same one) had married by then and they purchased a 1967 Maroon coupe. It was, originally, an SS396 car with a four speed. Well, something happened to the engine in the car. They made the decision to replace the engine. A sprint car engine was purchased from a local speed shop….It made about 550HP on Injectors and Methanol. So, probably less than that on Carb and pump gas.
But, still, it was a wild thing to drive. And, yes, I got to drive that car for a while. I tried my best to get Mother to buy it. But, she priced insurance for a 17 year old to drive it and ‘that was that’!! The car was sold and that ended my Corvette contact until the 1968 was purchased in 2018.
The ’68 was a ‘fixer upper’. This was project car for myself in retirement. I have thoroughly enjoyed re-building and re-installing the original 327; replacing numerous ball joints and bushings and so forth. We drive the car on local cruises and to a few car shows.
However, the wife had decided we needed a ‘little nicer and dependable’ Corvette. So, we purchased a 2006 C6 Corvette Z51; a very nice car. We used this car for the 25th anniversary caravan to the Corvette museum. We drove that car for about 3years to various cruises and shows.
Then, we became interested in the styling of the C7 Corvette. The 2006 was traded for our current 2017 LeMans Blue Corvette. What a ride!! We have been on two long distance cruises with this car _ Black Hills of South Dakota and to Colorado. We plan to have this car for a while