Summer, 2018 - How it all Began.

45 years after that memorable summer day seeing that dusty split-windowed beauty, I found myself looking online at classic Corvettes. We were living in New Braunfels, Texas, the kids were grown and gone from the house, my wife and I were financially stable, and the dream that never died suddenly seemed obtainable. I looked online for over six months, seeing cars all over the USA, but nothing jumped out at me until a beautiful Nassau blue 1965 showed up right next door in the neighboring town of Boerne, Texas. I was actually away flying a trip when I saw the ad but I convinced my wife (she was somewhat reluctant knowing little about Corvettes) to drive over and look at the car.

“It’s beautiful.” She said when she called me later that day.

One thing led to another, and in the summer of 2018 I bought my first Corvette. I never thought I would own a blue one (Corvettes are supposed to be Rally Red, right?) much less one with a white interior, but I fell in love the car. I also learned a lot about classic Corvettes, beyond the designations from C1 to C7. There’s a hierarchy among these classic cars. The most coveted, and the most expensive Corvettes (aside from the fancy restomods, but that’s for another discussion) are the ones that have low mileage, have a “numbers matching” engine and drivetrain, and come with documents that outline the history and ownership of the car. My ‘65 Coupe didn’t quite fit all the criteria to take it to the next level. The car is numbers matching, but that’s pretty much it. It has over 100,000 miles on it and has a lot of aftermarket parts like Vintage Air, off-road exhaust, and aftermarket leather seats instead of the vinyl seats that match the car’s Trim Tag. In addition, there is also almost no history on the car. The fine folks at Bird Imports (where I bought it) got the car from an auction out of Florida, and I did get a hit on the VIN number, finding it had once been registered in New Jersey some years before, listing the mileage at 103,000 but that was as far back as the trail went. Make no mistake, I didn’t mind the lack of accoutrements that win NCRS Top Flight Awards or earn Bloomington Gold Status, because lacking these extras brought the car down to my budget and I bought it to be a daily driver anyway, something I wouldn’t want to do with a low-mileage show car.

When I bought the ‘65 coupe, I thought I was done, but then something happened. I got the bug. I got Corvette fever. It didn’t take me long to understand why most of the folks in my local Corvette club owned multiple cars. It becomes a bit of an obsession. I found myself reading Vette Magazine, taking NCRS judging classes, and a year after my purchase I was still looking at the online classic car websites. I love the swooping lines of a C2 coupe like the one I bought, but I also love the manta ray shape and and the chrome bumpers of the early C3’s. In fact, I had struggled choosing between a C2 and a C3 in the months before my first purchase. I even teased my wife that there was room in our budget and our life for two classic Corvette’s. I had my ‘65 C2 car, but I continued looking at C3’s. I was in no rush, and this next car would have some of those Top Flight accoutrements my ‘65 lacked, namely a big block motor and a history.

I spent the last year checking eBay and ClassicCars.com from time to time, and my Facebook account alerted me daily to Corvettes in the For Sale section. Like all classic car owners, my fantasy was to come across a “barn find” and bring it back to life, though I knew the likelyhood of getting a car like that was highly unlikely.

Then, one day, the stars aligned.