Ktholin

Sorry for the long winded post, but I thought you would enjoy this story.

Today I was going through some old receipts that my Dad had saved since he purchased a 55 Corvette in 1971. I inherited the car from him over 20 years ago and started a restoration project recently after I retired.

I was always curious about the car's history, but never really had the time to spend researching it. I thought whoever owned it before my Dad must have raced it at some time. It has a 283 with solid lifters, fuel injection and headers, 4 speed, fast ratio steering, etc. I found among the receipts one from Sept, 1960 for the 283 short block for a customer Louis Matli, from Daly City, CA.

Using the internet, I traced the name to Northern California and got a phone number. When I called, a woman answered, and I explained that I was trying to locate someone with their surname who possibly owned a 55 Corvette a long time ago. There was a brief pause and she exclaimed, "Oh my God! That was my husband's car! He's here now and I'll put him on the phone. I know he would love to talk to you!"

Well, we spent the next hour talking about the car and it history. Louis is 83 now and has owned Corvettes all his life. He ended up selling the 55 to his neighbor, who then sold it to my Dad (I have the receipt which shows my Dad paid $400 for it!). Later Lou bought a 66 and then a 78 pace car. The 78 was his favorite, he told me. I chuckled and I told him my Dad also had a 78 pace car, and that was his favorite as well!

Just a few facts I learned:

• Lou purchased the car in 1957 from its first owner who also owned Smallcomb Chevrolet in Northern California. He was planning to buy a Mercury until he spotted it in front of the dealership one day.
  
• He got into autocross with his friend who owned a yellow 55 with a green racing stripe. As he got into the sport he put in the 283, steering and 4 speed with a fabricated transmission tunnel he built with a friend.
  
• Lou wanted to keep the car as authentic as he could and admired several 55s that Duntov raced, he told me. I told him that was my goal as well--to bring it back to the state he had it when he raced. He was excited when I told him that I actually had a photo of Duntov driving the 55 with my Dad in the passenger seat.
  
• He played with different manifolds and carburetors until he finally went to fuel injection and became very competitive even against new cars of that era. He has a number of dash plaques and trophies that he said he would send me. "They belong with the car", Lou explained.
  
• The car was stolen from him 3 times. "They never took anything except the mag wheels", he explained. That accounts for the several receipts I found for wheels and tires!
  
• He told me an interesting anecdote during a period when it was stolen. His friend, who was very familiar with the car, reported to him that he saw it at the Half Moon Bay drag races, and that it, in fact, trophied! "I never drag raced that car", Lou laughed.

In the end I promised to send a number of photos of the car and to stay in touch. He told me that over the years when he would go to car shows, he would always look for that car. "Who knows?" I replied, "Maybe someday I'll drive up and take you for a ride". "That would be great", he said, "I would die a happy man"

I could tell how touched the both of them were from my phone call. What took maybe 15 minutes of effort turned into priceless reflections of a lifetime from an old Corvette owner.

jasonsamara

That is a GREAT story. I'm good friends with the original owner of my 66 and like you did dream of the day I can find more info on my 60. I traced it back to the mid 80's but the guy can't remember who he bought it from. He knows his initials were J S. When I removed the dash pad last year the initials J S were written in paint on the fiberglass with a restored 1985 message, but nothing more.

I can only imagine how many people out there wonder what happened to their car just like we wonder who owned them? You answered that question for one car and that is great.

ChattanoogaJSB

That is a very cool story indeed!

LouieM

Just about the coolest "previous owner" story I've evert heard!

66jack

Great Story...

The InterWeb is Great tool...

DAN70

Cool story.

tuxnharley

That's a GREAT story! Thanks for sharing!

GTOguy

Great story, and thanks for sharing it with us. I tried to do the same thing with one of my GTO's, but was not successful. Glad you were!

jim lockwood

Thanks for posting that story. It's a great read!

Jim

1955 copper

That's so neat ,have the guy write about what he said and if possible take a trip up here and get his picture, history makes a car ever more interesting . I can go as fare back as the second owner/ if you ever do come here stop by Nevada City and say Hi

LSUvetteguy

Nice story with a much better result than I had with my 66. Thanks for posting.

Ktholin

Roy,

He lives near Sacramento, not far from my sister. I told him I would try to visit him next time I visit her (I'm in So Cal). I would like to stop by to see you as well.

I'd love to try to arrange for him to ride in the car, but not sure how.

Brian VH McHale

That's a great find.

Kerrmudgeon

......great story, thanks for posting it. The cars are a lot of fun but it's the human story that goes along with them that bind us together in the end. I tried to find my 62's owner in L.A. but ran into a wall. California state records suck.

427Hotrod

That's a great story....thanks for posting!

JIM

1955 copper

I live one hour from Sacramento call if you do come up email me Roy

revupL78

Great story and vary similar to mine. When I bought my L78 car it came with old photos, registration, insurance receipts etc. I did a internet search on the earliest name and found a phone number (last name ) from the same town , who was the daughter. She owned a corvette herself and gave me her fathers number, who bought it new. He lives in Vermont and sold the car in 71 to a guy in California and the guy flew there and drove it back. I have recipients from the Penn Turnpike, gas receipts from the old style credit card machines several recipients for spark plugs ?? during the cross country trip. I never could find the cali owner who sold it to the guy I bought it from.
Here are some of the old photos. Remember what you do with 35mm SLR camera , groovy man. just can't figure how to straghten the photo

BOB WINSKI

Great story, you made his day and your day

morly1963

Great story. Thanks for sharing it with us.

MidShark

Very cool story indeed! The most amazing part to me is that the car was stolen 3 times and he got it back each time!