Revette

A sad 396 story for you. In '65 I was at Union Grove dragstrip in Wisconsin when a new, white, '65 396 coupe came in on a trailer. When the owner made his first pass on the strip, it began with a huge holeshot that resulted in the u-joint on a halfshaft breaking and much fiberglass and assorted parts departing from the white '65 coupe. When they got the car back on the trailer I heard there was under 100 miles on it. It was a very short but expensive trip to "the Grove" for the owner of that car.

capevettes

I was gassing up my 61 a couple of days ago and the guy gassing up in the next row asks me if it's a 63???? I replied that it was a 61 and he had a puzzled look and said "really?" Kind of like I may not know the year of my own car

mashinter

I had someone remark "Wow...it's a turbo!"

midyearvette

yeah i get that too and it is funny....zippy car youths will see turbo jet 427 on the side badges and look long and hard for the turbo.....i tell them it is hidden under the floor pans so ncrs won't find them....then they nod and smile in appreciation!......great stuff...

DZAUTO

Oh ya!!!!!
I know that one well!
BUT, when they continue to be insistant, I revel in making them look like a fool in front of their co-workers (HEY, I'm that kind of a guy). I request that they pull out the books (computers don't have info that far back) and go to engine information. USUALLY, there will be one or two other guys in the store at the same time who DO KNOW that 302 Chevy engines existed in 67-69. Once I have totally humiliated them (ONLY if they continued to insist no such thing existed), then I rub it in and tell them maybe they should listen to some old timers who were there when it happened.

And on a different note, The tag on my 70 Chevelle says 4SP-406 (everyone knows a 406 Chevy is a .030 over SB400). I had a guy in a parking lot ragging on me for having a Ford engine in my Chevy! Oh well---------------- (I presume you guys remember the 62-63 tri-power 406 Fords).

Tom Parsons

midyearvette

this is a great thread............thanks for the laughs,ron....

65747785

Those are all good stories. Like you guys I heard them all too. The 100 mile 396 is a sad one, but I'm sure it got fixed and possibly still running around today.

savewave

This is a fun thread. Thanks to the OP and those who posted for the stories.

I had a similar experience that floored me several years ago. I had parked my '65 BB convertible in a shopping mall garage while I ran in to do a quick exchange. (I was familiar with the garage and knew there was a parking spot with cement pillars on each side of a single parking space, where the car would be protected from other parkers. And I have to admit I get some perverse pleasure out of driving the car through a garage because the BB roar coming through the sidepipes often sets off alarms.)

When I returned to my car, there was a 16-year-old girl and her 10-year-old brother looking at my car and taking cell phone pictures of it. As I approached them, the girl said, that's a beautiful '65 L78.

I was speechless for a few seconds, but then said, "Wow, you really know your Corvettes." She said her father had a solid-axle and she was a big fan of Corvettes.

My first Corvette was a '73 L82 coupe. It was my daily driver for almost 25 years and I put 240,000 miles on it, but kept it looking good and running well. In the '90s, when the car was probably worth about $5-6K, it amused me how people would compliment the car and say they wished they could afford a Corvette like that one. Most of them were driving cars that were worth two or three times more than mine at the time.

In similar situations, I get people who will see my '65 and say, "My cousin had an '85 just like that one."

I've heard that, too, after people see the 396 Turbojet emblem on my fenders.

Yep, that’s the bottom line as far as I’m concerned.

jim lockwood

I'm driving my '60 (yes, the one with the "supercharger") from SC to CA and have a CB radio tuned to the trucker channel.

One trucker comes on the radio and opines that my car is a '55 and another corrects him that it's a '64.

Jim

jkuzzy

I love these stories.....
I actually had a woman who was a meter reader for the local power company come by one day and she walked up to mine and stopped in astonishment. She said "I can't believe you have a 64!". I was stunned, but she later admitted that she was born in 64 and always wanted one.
More times than not, I get questions like "when did they change to fiberglass?" or the big block question. Since I just rebuilt to a .060 over on the motor, I need to change my plate to "337" and see what goofy questions that brings....

63 340HP

When my Wife & I got married one of my Wife's Brothers flew in from Australia a few weeks before to mix in some business. We spent a few days tracking down performance Mustang and Torino parts for him to ship home (they swap with the Mad-Max XC Falcon's in OZ). A 65 Sting Ray coupe was parked in front of one of the Obsolete Ford parts stores and the Brother in law's comments that the 60's era Sting Ray's were outlawed in Australia for being too fast .

I don't think I opened the garage the whole time he was in town .

The twisted mystique of the Corvette knows no borders.

highschool67

When I took my 66 to the local show 2 years ago it was the first time that a midyear had been to one. I only know of 6 total in our city. They saw the big flares on the back and told me that those where the best options GM ever put on the vettes. He remembered those sitting in the car lot new like that. He didn't remember the front flares though.

Glasshole

Well one thing that is for sure is everyone no matter how young or how old, male or female, or what country they are from, can identify a Corvette. The shape of a Corvette and a Coke bottle have to be two of the most recognized things in the world. Used to be that way for Harley's too until the Japanese started copying them

narlee

Our friends were building a new house so we stopped by to see how things were going. Some neighbors saw some activity so they came over and introduced themselves to our friends as they would soon be neighbors. We talked a few minutes then the lady looks at our the Corvette and asks if that's our Thunderbird. ????????? What can you do?

Glasshole

Hmmmm.....well must of been from a diffrent planet....hehe.

Ron Miller

Smile . . . . and say, "Yes, it is. I've always been in love with Ford products!"

DZAUTO

This mistake is NOT all that uncommon.
Several years ago, a lady (stranger to me) and I met by chance and got into a conversation about neighborhoods. To make it short, we discovered we lived on the same street. And when I mentioned that I lived on the corner, she said "Oh, you're the guy with the little red Thunderbird".

Tom Parsons

Ron Miller

I've seen it happen several times . . . .

DZAUTO

And one more for me--------------and I bet most of you guys don't even know this.
Back in 76 I wanted a 442-4sp Cutlass. The last year for the chrome 442 badge was 75. In 76, the 442 pkg included a BIG, wide vinyl strip long the lower part of the door/body with giant 442 numbers.
Also, the 4sp was NOT available. Sooooo, I ordered a Cutlass S (same body style as the 442 pkg) and found out that a 5sp was available.
I still have the car!
Ocassionally, I get comments that there was no such thing as a factory 5sp in a Cutlass. I say, "Come here". I open the glove box, pull out the ORIGINAL paperwork in the plastic sleeve with my name on it, open the 76 owner's manual to page 18 and tell them to look at the bottom of the page where there are illustrations of 3sp and a 5sp shift patterns. That shuts them up. There have been a few instances when I've rubbed it in that they should not be making comments about something that they know nothing about! That REALLY p!$$e$ them off!

Tom Parsons

Canute

Well, some of my wife's Chinese friends hadn't heard of the Corvette, and some of my American friends (women mostly) didn't know what my C2 was. Could have something to do with living in German/Japanese car territory.