Go Vette Go

About a day and a half!!!

My wife and I went out to breakfast one Saturday morning in February 1997 and she asked, "Now that the kids are grown and out of the house, do you still want a Corvette"? Hell YES!!! I've wanted one since my teens. She replied, "We'll start looking in the spring"!!! OH BOY!!!

The following Monday, I get a phone call at work from my best friend, met him the first day of High School. Jim had a 76 that he had painted Guards Red and I eyeballed it, drooled over it every time I visited him in Maryland. We made a deal and he delivered the car to my house in Pennsylvania the following weekend. That will be 21 years ago this coming February.

Jim passed away in August and now, "Red" is a constant memory for our almost 54 friendship! Needless to say, the car is priceless to me!

vettebuyer6369

Surprisingly, I spent a couple years on finding my ‘69. I decided I wanted a 68-69 Triple Black roadster. Didn’t really care about other details, just that those cars stopped being painted black for years after that and I thought it was interesting. Plus they looked great. How hard is that?

I couldn’t believe how many black cars I looked at started out life as green! And sellers lying about the trim tags! I figured if I was buying a car based on its original color, it better be the original color. Several failed looks.

At one point I drove a couple states away to Ohio to drive a car, in April. The weather is twitchy in April. I literally test drove the car with the top down in a crisp but cold sunny day, but the car wasn’t the right one. As I drove home, the weather suddenly turned and I was coming come in a blizzard. My wife called and said she was stuck at an airport in Atlanta and I heard on the radio that the highway I was on, I-70, had actually been closed in areas due to the snow and ice! I should have stopped at a hotel but I was having none of it. I drove home about 20-30 miles an hour. Took all night, it felt like.

Finally, a buddy saw an ad in a gas station mixed classified ad magazine of a guy in Connecticut selling an original black ‘69 roadster. No emails or phone calls, respond by letter (!) only. So I did. Flew across the country and bought the car, in 2007. Still have it.

Way more effort than expected.

jim-81

It took me one day also. I wasn't even looking. Was taking my son to his friends house and saw it on a lot. Went back later and looked at it and bought it the next day! And I had NO IDEA about what I was getting. LUCKILY I got a nice car! That was 6 years ago.

TedH

I started in spring of 1997 and by May of that year, purchased my '80 L48.

Ideal for me meant the body had new (4-year old) paint. I didn't care about mechanicals as long as it was 'all there'. I fully expected to go thru it nose-to-tail over the life of ownership.

20 years later, I've more than made this vette MY OWN. All mechanicals have been replaced or rebuilt save for brake lines, fuel lines and fuel tank.

Just making a few needed repairs now and installing a reman'd short block for Christmas present.

With the short block replacement, I will have removed ALL traces of the L48 save for the air cleaner.

reman'd block is 4-bolt truck block 'correct' for that period (80-85, RH dipstick).

Mr D.

I did the same thing in 1988 and ended up with a POS 1975. Nine Vettes later I know a thing or two about Vettes.