Detroiter Landed a Split Window Corvette Once Owned by Rick Springfield

By Detroit Steel - July 20, 2016

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Even if you aren’t a huge fan of the split window, there’s no denying that the models play an important role in the legacy of the Corvette.

Just ask Stan Finsilver, a 67-year-old native Detroiter, who recently told the Wall Street Journal about his longtime passion for the model, which drove him to buy a ’63 split window coupe in 1998.

“In the fall of 1962, I was with my father in downtown Detroit when a 1963 Corvette split window coupe pulled up behind us,” said Finsilver. “In hindsight, I think I knew even then that this car was destined to be an icon. I also knew that, someday, I had to have one.”

It’d take the Detroiter 36 years to finally collect on his dream with this ’63 model, which apparently was also owned by the rocker Rick Springfield at some point. But you get the sense that Finsilver might have missed out on the car if it hadn’t been for some quick thinking on his feet.

“The price was fair, so I made an offer and the guy accepted it. But his phone was ringing off the hook, and he was giving people directions on how to get to his house,” he recalls. “The banks were closed, because it happened to be Labor Day. I knew that if I gave him a check and came back after the weekend, that car would be gone. Someone was going to show up with cash. I went on a mission to find someone to lend me cash, and I drove the car home that day.”