It's still not stellar weather out today.... So I wanna pose this Sunday Topic just ta spark some of yer grey matter an git them thought juices a flowin....

What does ownin yer vette mean to ya? Why do ya keep it around?

My 1st adventure in a vette was a 1972 blue vert with a white top. The dealers daughter used to pick me up and let me drive it. I still visit this car at the local GM dealarship to this date. It is covered up in a corner of their garage. (It is predestined to be mine ya know. The date is yet unknown and they don't know it. But I just know...)

That's the background... flash forward to the present. Tux came to me as a divorce buy from a guy that had him "stored". Battle scars were obvious and I walked away that day. 3 mos later I got a 2nd call and brought him home. Now he's a differnet ride that makes me an others smile to look at.

The White Zombie is a present day C5 vert which is very driver friendly. It is more of a trip car and is my choice in the sun. Oh yeah, and it is incredibly smooth fast!!!

Then there is this red C4 coupe ARRRGGG / oh my achin knuckles. It is a winter project that is startin to take shape. By spring it will be a great driver car (104 K mi).

Sometimes I just sit and look at em an smile I can't explain it. There kinda like my kids. Each need a little somethin different, an each give back somethin different in return.

For my wife an I we were hooked 10 yrs ago when we driven around Effingham at FunFest the 1st time. Vettes in a row both sides of the highway as far as you could see. Wave after Wave to & from people we didn't know but each smiled with extreme enthusiasm.

We share that passion today! Who says a 2 seater isn't a family car? It's just she & I the way we 1st started. Life without a vette now? Not as long as I'm suckin air!!!

YOUR TURN, HOW ABOUT YOU???
Tuxblacray2007-02-26 17:02:19

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Hmmm, you got my grey matter thinking.    I can trace my passion for the body of a C3 back to when i was 13, at least.  That would be 1974, although i am almost certain that it predates that.

   The Red Vette is a dream come true for me.  I have always admired the people who will cut into fiberglass and create something unique and beautiful, something one of a kind.  I have always wanted to create something myself, and have had project cars that i can play with over the years, but never a Vette.  The wagon back, i fell in love with that way way back when it first came out.  I have the original Car and Driver that it debuted in.

   So, when i came into a settlement that could allow it, i started searching the project cars on Ebay,  looking for one that had the custom fiberglass done for me.  Once i saw Cherry, i was in love.  I will have her until one of us  dies.

   The yellow Vette was a gift from the family.  We realized that even when finished completely, i wont be able to park Cherry anywhere and walk away.  It just isn't in me to do it.  So, one fathers day, the Yellow Vette showed up (havent really named her, just the Yellow vette)

   I almost gave her up when she caught fire this last month.  We were considering it seriously.  But, there is this 12 year old girl that loves that car with the same passion that i had when i was a kid.  I had made a comment to her a while back that if she kept straight edge and got good grades that i would let her borrow it when she got her drivers license.  After the fire, i learned that she brought her GPA up from a 1.5 to a 3.0 in one semester, and turned into a good citizen student (got recognized as such), all using the Vette as the reason.  Before evidently she got into a lot of fights, cheated, and such.

   Once i learned of that,  I knew that i had to keep it.  So, how to rebuild it was the question.  After much discussion, and realizing that the motor had to be pulled, the wiring had to be redone, etc.  Ronda and i decided to do what we are now.  We bought the donor car cheap, are rebuilding the motor in it, and creating mechanically the ideal Vette to drive everywhere.  All to give to a kid one day.  She doesn't realize it, but when she turns 24, if she keeps her life straight, she will own it.  But, one step at a time.  Right now, she is helping me rebuild it, when she has the time.
Itsdave925702007-02-25 10:08:31

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Lifetime Member #36

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My affection for Vettes started when I was 8 years old racing my brother on his Aurora AFX track! I always took the really cool C3!! As I grew up and during high school, I bought an old Pontiac Lemans and later, picked up my Chevelle SS396. Vettes were still merely a dream for me as I was always told how expensive parts were and how high insurance was. LukesVette2007-02-25 19:40:56

It all started in the mid 60's for me. I was just a young-en, well I still am I guess, and my dad brought home a 1966 coupe. He owned a radiator shop in Inglewood CA at the time and his friend who had a salvage yard had this new vette that had a dash fire. So he bought it, rewired and repaired it. When it was done, he took my cousin and I for a ride before he sold it. Then there was a neighbor down the street that had a C2 with the fuel injection which was in the late 60's. He use to pop the hood for me so I could look at its engine every once in awhile. Fast forward to a few years ago. I stumbled across this 76 that was in relatively good shape just in need of lots of little things. The price was to tempting to pass up so I brought it home. Figured I would sell the MG to cover its price. I forgot to mention I didn't ask the boss for permission. I told her I would sell the MG and she said "no way, the MG is my car now". The rest is history, I have two sports cars to work on now.

Well for me as long as I can remember from my childhood days I've always loved the looks and style of a Corvette.  I had no interaction with Corvettes when I was young but knew that someday I had to own one. cilrah2007-02-25 12:03:52

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MARK
LIFETIME MEMBER #117

Click here to see my new friend P-Racer
"Keep up the Pace"

Here I sit, a perky 32 years old...  lets rewind time a little...

74stingray4542007-02-25 13:54:56

Dad was the County Sheriff in illinois . so i was allways under the watchful eye of the law...  Never a chance to get a little crazy with his car (63 Plymouth with a Police 383 Special)..

1971 was the year I became a teenager and I had been hooked on Vettes since I saw the split window coupes.  When C3s were released in 68 I just couldn't keep my eyes away from them.  I have photos from motor shows and magazines that I'd drool over.  When I saw my first second hand one it was way out of my price range and not practical for the family.  So I had to wait until now..  I now have a vette from my teenager year.

Mine too started as a young boy in the late sixties. My dad built and drove circle track cars in the Carolinas. His buddies that had C2s would bring them by the house and leave them for my dad to work on. He bought and repaired many over the years and sold them for profit. I will never forget the first time I drove his 63 roadster. I would do anything to have THAT car back today. I owned a 63 hodrod in the early eighties but sold it and ended up buying a 76 that was in much better condition. I kept it a couple of years and traded up(I thought) to an 81. I never really liked it. I kept it until 87 and bought a never titled 85 from a local dealer. I drove that car as a daily driver until it had 200,000 miles on it. I sold that car to a local guy that owned a garage. He wanted it to hotrod it a little.

I was without a Vette for a few years and missed them terribly. I have had numerous C3s  since then that I use as weekenders and just for fun. I still long for a C2. I hope to have one in the next few years. I don't care about matching numbers as long as the car drives good and is reliable. Until then I will just keep the 75. It is a lot of fun. I would probably keep it forever if it was a 4-speed. I can't imagine being without one. Everytime I go out to the garage I smile. That's why I keep one.

Scott

Otay...I need clarificashun on da kweschun
Whut does WHUT mean? The car? Whish won?

We used to play a game on trips when I was just a wee feller knee-high to a grasshopper...similar to the old "Slug-bug" game, but with a twist. Our(mine, really) game was "My 'Vette". Played the same, but it was Vettes instead of Bugs.
I've had the itch all me life. A '72 Ontario Orange convert when I were in high skool started the disease. That car seemed to be a magnet for every blue-haired granma in town. It got hit too many times...insurance said "No mo!".
Then came the other '72 later. Turned it from a pukey brown rat-trap into a 12 sec. street/drag car. Traded it(less engine/trans) for a 63 ChevyII(Nova) drag car.

Then came life...and the LTDs, Cordobas, Toyotas, Cadillacs, etc.
The '74 came by accident(or DID it???). Took it from a turd of a "Survivor" into an award winning showcar I can't drive...well...I CAN, I just don't. I'ma skeered of da bluehairs...and the punk ricers.
The '85 is "Mama's" car...
What does they mean?
It means I have something that 99.9% of humans have always longed for. The only TRUE American Sports car.
We have the friendship of thousands of others like us.
We have a common "thing" that gives us a reason to do things we wouldn't normally do...shows, club meetings, parades, ROAD TRIPS!!!
We have something that holds the garage floor down, and keeps it from drifting away...
It gives me an excuse to spend thousands of $$$ on TOYS!
Corvette ownership is special. That makes ME special.(Don't SAY IT!)
Besides...iffin I didn't have a Corvette, whut th heck would I be doing HERE?!?
The passion is alive and well...some of us just tend to let it out more than others.

                                                 


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Joel Adams
C3VR Lifetime Member #56    
My Link


(click for Texas-sized view!)             NCRS

"Money can't buy happiness -- but somehow it's more comforting to cry in a CORVETTE than in a Kia"

it took me until i was 52 to get the car of my dreams. since i was a kid i always wanted a corvette (who didn't).  63-67 would be my number one choice to own. when i went out to buy my first car after saving up from jobs in the summer and on weekends, there was a brand new 73 vette on the showroom floor priced at $6400.00. begged my father to lend me $3000 to buy it but he wouldn't.

in 68 when they changed the body, it did take a while for me to adjust to the new look and they grew on me. i especially liked the 73. first year of the poly bumper and still had the tail in the back.

they go and change it again and again it takes a while to adjust. only thing was it was only half as hard as it was mainly the rear that changed. then the c4s were here etc.

to me the new ones really don't do anything for me like the old ones do.

past summer wife and i were talking and she asked me what i was going to do with a 66 mustang thats been sitting here for quite a few years as  it needs to be redone. i said i didn't really know but i would like to get an older car, pre-computer as i could work on it and something that i could drive around while i am restoring it unlike the mustang.

i mentioned that i saw a vette for sale that looked in good condition and she turned around and said to go and check it out and if it was in good condition (mainly drivable) and not beat to the ground that i could buy it for my 30th anniversary present.

as i always do what she tells me to, my pf flyers (tell me i am not showing my age) were on and went and bought it. for the most part it was in good shape. found somethings i didn't expect but nothing to really sour me on it.

i am dressing it up with some chrome details and such so i am always busy on it. want to make it look great but not to where i won't drive it (don't get mad at me joel). when i do cruise in it, it feels great and i wouldn't trade it for anything (except if i got a really great deal on a 63-67).

i guess being something i always wanted and the fact that it was a present from my wife is what makes it special to me. btw...of course i had to come up with a present for her so when she commented on a 5 carat tennis bracelet in the store, i told the clerk to give it to her. both she and the clerk thought i was joking until i paid for it.
eddie208752007-02-25 20:33:45

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LIFETIME MEMBER #97
THE DYNAMIC DUO

Questions:

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Dave hit the nail on the head with his answer .

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Lifetime Member #116
Dave's '82

   

DaveM,

Great deja-vu story... An HS pal of mine got a '63 roadster for graduation that would dust my '57 Ford. I ended up getting a surplus 1950 Milwaukee police Harley XLCH, which I chopped and built to run with his 'Vette.....

Great idea, Larry!  How can you pass up a cruise down Memory LN when the snow is on the ground and the salt on the road?  Besides, I loved reading your stories.

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great stories! mine started back in `66 when i was 6 . i saw a 63 split window  and went crazy.I was hooked. every time i went on road trip with my folks i`d pass the time away looking for vettes.I got my first ride at 8yrs old in new `67  427 coupe, my aunts new fiance, he was immediately accepted as my favorite uncle, he took me to his buddies  who had a new `67 427 roadster. Now this is just too much for an 8 yr old to stand, 2 brand new Corvettes and i had to choose which one to  ride in, no way. At 11 i drove my first vette A blue `71 coupe 350 auto. My uncle brought it over,knowing how much i loved these cars, I drove it a couple of blocks, smiling from ear to ear. I think I had my first sexual release right there! ooopss , sorry ladies.in 76 when i got my license  ,my aunt let me drive her 69 vert, which became my favorite year. 2 yrs later a buudy recived a settlement from an accident and i turned him on to  69 vert. so he bought one.we had some fun in that.as the rest of the stories here life got in the way , wife ,kids houses. vettes started to increase in price. Then in `04  a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to buy a vette. So i aske  ,is your brother selling his car, he had been out of work for awhile, and he said yes. I said get him on the phone, asked him a few questions, and when he said  10 grand  it was all over.Made arrangement to get the funds to him and ship the car. Basically site unseen. So now i am putting together the corvette hot rod i always dreamed of .

I was 49 years old (now 50), and  something tells me I won't live forever. So after all the years of regular suburban life, doing the normal wife, kids, house thing and working my ass off for it all, dammit!...I wanted something for ME!

I've been crazy about cars for as long as I can remember.  Never really had a favorite until "Route 66" hit the airwaves.  That '62 droptop will always be the dream Corvette I may never own.  The hook was set...!!!  It didn't help that a friend of my Dad's had a big block '67 droptop and a high school teacher had a '66 coupe (both cars I had the good fortune to get rides in!).

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Jim Olson 

"The Toys"...!!!  Save the Wave!

Where I've been in a Corvette...!!!

[QUOTE=Autom8r]DaveM,

Great deja-vu story... An HS pal of mine got a '63 roadster for graduation that would dust my '57 Ford. I ended up getting a surplus 1950 Milwaukee police Harley XLCH, which I chopped and built to run with his 'Vette.....[/QUOTE]

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Lifetime Member #116
Dave's '82

   

I don't remember when I first when corvette crazy, but I do always remember wanting one. A friend of my brother had a 78 pace car, and watching that car on the road, I knew one day I would have one.

In 85, at the age of 21, I bought a 79, white with a green interior. I was a Lance Corporal in the USMCR. In 87, when I went on active duty, I traded the 79 in on a 62. It had chrome mags, a 327, and a killer candy brandywine paint job. I sported that car until 89, when I traded it in on a 81. (Wish I still had the 62!!!) The 81 was charcoal with a charcoal int. A buddy of mine had a fender-bender while I was overseas, and when I got back, I had the car fixed and changed it to light blue metallic. In 93 I traded that in on 91 convertible, red on red. I had that during my last assignment, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. That car was made for the islands!! I got out of the USMC in 96, after a 12 year run, and got rid of my last vette then. I had a 10 year dry spell, and then bought the 72 in March of 06.

It feels great to be behind the wheel of a vette. There's nothing like it. It doesn't matter where I went in any of them, people have always wanted to talk about the cars. The people in the clubs have been great, and I've just had a blast with my cars.

That's my vette story.

Bryan

My uncle bought a brand new 65, when I was 10.  Once I got to ride in that machine I love it.  I liked it before, but then loved it.   In 68 a friend of my Dads bought a 68 yellow vert.  I thought it looked odd.  By the third time I saw it, it had really started to grow on me.  Then I got to sit in it.  I was in love.  A short time later I got to ride in a blue 69 coupe.  Up until that point it was the high spot of my life bar none.  I could not stop smiling.  Going down the road with those fender bulging really tripped my trigger.  The sound, the feel, the experience.  What machine could possibly be better?