Vet65te

Besides meeting another local Solid Axle Vette owner yesterday, I also came across another local midyear owner. We drove up to see a 66 Bigblock Midyear Coupe with an uncommon color combination, it's White over the code #450 White/Blue interior. Nope, not for sale. The story behind this 66 Coupe is that this elderly gent, mid 80s, says he bought it new in Ohio and moved to AZ about 20 years ago. No PS, no PB, the 390 horse 427 has too much crud and debris to see the VIN numbers and as you can see from the pics, it's been sitting for very long time. Unfortunately, the white exterior has turned to chalk.





Mike T - Prescott AZ

Nowhere Man

Neat looking car. Is that car being stored outside under that tent

Vet65te

From what I gather, it's been under that tent setup for years and maybe get's driven back and forth on the gravel driveway (~50-foot long) every so often but not a snowball's chance in hell it will ever see the road again, as long as he owns it. I saw someone had added some sort of 'cruise control' to it at one point so it used to get driven a fair amount I'd guess. Notice the Bubba-mod adding that odd turn-signal stalk, didn't look closely but suspect it might be related to the add-on cruise control.
Couple more pics.


Mike T - Prescott AZ

ChattanoogaJSB

What a stunning combo! Some day it will get back on the road. One way or another.

Bluestripe67

Why oh why do people of reasonable sanity let cars go to this kind of status and know that others want too buy them and put back on the road? Dennis

Vet65te

In this case, and maybe the case with most 'hoarders' hanging on to these cars, I'm thinking it might be due to the hype they hear from the various auction houses. As I was taking some pics of the 66, I heard the owner tell the guy who tipped me off to the car's whereabouts about seeing an auction recently where a Corvette brought something in the 6-digit figures. Obviously, this owner has no clue about value being tied to things like condition, originality or rarity but probably surmises that if another Bigblock Vette brought a couple hundred grand and his needs 'some' work, it's probably still worth a hundred g's. He didn't say that but I suspect that might be the thought process going on. It is a shame a car like that isn't in the hands of someone who'll put in the time and effort and money to bring it back to it's former glory but in the end, it's the owners decision and if it makes him feel good to just look out in the yard and see it sitting there, that's the way it's going to go...unfortunately.
Mike T - Prescott AZ

65-396

Great color combo for Arizona!

bluzrocker

Mike ya sniffed out a solid and a mid year....that dog can hunt...
when you gonna take yours out?

Vet65te

Hey Tommy - Actually I had my Black 65 out at the early Saturday morning Bagel Shop car-guy get-together when I was approached by a guy driving a VW 'Thing' and he mentioned finding that White Coupe stashed near an old house. He got to know the owner and said, 'let's stop by, I'm sure he'd like to see your 65 Coupe'. That was enough incentive for me so we drove the short distance over and met the owner and his wife. The owner, guy with light blue T-shirt and hat with hands in pockets, get's around quite well for someone in their mid 80's and after I took the pics he wanted to see my 65. My 65 is nicknamed 'Frank', as is short for 'Frankenstein' as it's a composite of many different year Corvettes. Hell, the only thing original on it is the engine, go figure. Anyway, the owner of the long-sitting 66 Coupe enjoyed the short visit and we did too. I did notice that 66 Coupes trim tag and besides being an A.O.Smith Body, it is still the original colors of White over the two-tone White/Blue interior, a neat combination.
Mike T - Prescott AZ

JLSmith

That's a cool find, Mike. Did you talk him into coming to the Prescott Corvette show in September?
- Jeff

Vet65te

Hi Jeff - Nah, after seeing no license plate on the 66 I didn't bring it up. Also, when I asked, 'does it get driven', he answered...'how far'?
So, I got the feeling his Coupe only saw the limits of his gravel driveway and wasn't up for getting it roadworthy just for the show in late September.
One other note - The owner of the Almond Beige 62 FI Vette said he heard there's a Black 57 FI in our area too. Hmmm, have to check into that ;-).
Mike T - Prescott AZ