I'm 68, overweight, have been for 25 years, kids are gone,very little connection with grandkids, know it ain't a good idea to get another motorcycle. Already went through the Harley phase years ago.
When us late 60's guys were kids the Corvette was the ultimate high performance car, no muscle cars for another 10 years and the Corvette was just the car we all wanted even when we were 10 year olds in the 50's.
We got our drivers liscense in the middle 60's, [most of us} and we were the ones buying the 55-57 Chevys and finding out how easy it was to change the engines and build them up with the parts we wanted either from the speed shop, junk yard or at that time fairly reasonable from the dealership. $25 for a factory Corvette solid lifter cam in 1966 for example.
We learned from eachother and through magazines what to get and what worked and what didn't and the Chevrolets were by far the most interchangeable of the rest. That's why the tri-5s are so sought after today but the best part of it all was we learned how to do it ourself.
Of course the majority of the things we all wanted were already on a Corvette but for most of us we might as well went out to Seattle to look at a Boeing 707 as go to a dealership to look at a Corvette or any new car or even a good used 60's car for less than a thousand dollars.
I don't think there would be less than 95% of us that it we could have any car then we wanted back then it would have been a Corvette. We considered ourselves lucky if we could just get some parts from them here and there if nothing less to brag that we had a Vette cam, heads or whatever.
The car itself was just out of the question even a 57 Vette in 1967 was pretty high and a 4 speed transmission at that time put you in an insurance situation out of our range but we still liked them.
So the years go by, you go in the service, brag about your tri-5 Chevy and add some lies like everybody else did but the Vette is still in all our minds, it was like Marilyn Monroe or something way beyond anyone of our grasp.
So we get out of the service expecting to go back to the hot rod world we left and half the friends are gone or married and the next thing you know we are too. Then for another 35-40 years it's the family thing with a nice truck or something now and then {Chevy} preferably, still wanting to work on them if nothing other than an exhaust system for at least the sound, maby some wheels and tires. By the way had a few big Buicks too Park Ave.'s and such.
Then life goes on, parents die, kids grow up and move away, grandkids are too far away to communicate with but you still just keep going to work and one day one of us gets a nice used C-4 for a toy. We are driving Hondas now or the equivilent for the good car but our buddies C-4 gets us all talking about this stuff again and suddenly it's 1966 again and we realize these things are actualy within our reach now. Then the boss gets a nice C-6 {still out of our range) but the C-5 isn't and I get interested and realize I can actualy get one of these now.
By now the Vettes have changed so much like everything else but to us old Chevy lovers it's still the ultimate car, at least the image and the sound, That's why they sell Harley's, we know because we had them to for the same reason. Sure there are faster cars out there but to us it brings back our memories from the past along with a feeling that his slinky looking thing sitting in the driveway makes us feel we finally graduated or something similar and we feel good and young again.
Think about the movie American Graffiti, we can all relate to that period and the things we did then. Everybody wanted to be (John Milner) and sometimes we think we were. But in reality most of us were (Toad), I know I was and still am but when I just think about my Vette or clean it or tinker with it in some way I think about John and those days and I'm young again for a little while. By the way a Corvette is what John would have eventualy been driving one the street if the story lasted longer don't you think? God knows what kind of engine he'd put in it though.LOL.
I guess by the time you get this far reading this you will probably be ready to fall asleep from the boredom but we can't just answer "What's The Attraction" in just 3 or four words like the text world is today.
Some of us have had Vettes for a long time, I just got my C-5 this Summer {first one} and a convertible yet.
I've had a lot of vehicles over the years since about 1964 but nothing ever made me feel like this thing does, you don't have to go fast in it to feel good, burn the tires off or rattle the windows or whatever, you're already there.
And I guess most of all when I look in the mirror I see John looking back instead of Toad for a little while. At least I found out this last couple months That's what the attraction is to me.
I bet a lot of the other Vette guys are laughing at this but I know the other old, fat,bald or whatever form of decay has befallen the other old Dinosaurs like myself aren't.
But that goes away with a twist of the key, or the push of a button now.
I guess it's about bed time now, time to pop a few Prozacks, put on a fresh diaper for the night, grab my walker and try to find the bedroom. No I think I'm just go out in the garage one more time and sit in the Vette tonight for a while and look in the mirror, John always cheers me up!
Moral to the story is "There is a little John Milner in all of us, even in a Toad but to find him I needed a Vette to get back there."