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I've been active in the old car hobby for over 40 years and in May of 2015 I got my first Corvette, a 1996 Coupe. What makes this event unique is that the car was FREE. There is an interesting story here and I thought I should share it with you.
About eleven years ago, John, a friend of mine since high school unexpectedly passed away. His father Aksel,who I had not seen in many years called me to give me the news. I went to visit him and spent time sharing stories about his son. Eventually, we went out to his garage and there sat a beautiful 1996 Corvette. Aksel handed me the keys and asked if I would like to drive it about 15 miles to a garage he rented while he followed me in another car. I had never been in a Corvette before and I told him how much I enjoyed driving it. This was the beginning of a new friendship. Aksel had lost his only child and I had lost my father years before so we sort of adopted each other and formed a new relationship based on our common interest in old cars.
Over the following years, I made many trips down to Aksel's garage and had an enjoyable time working on his various cars and riding around with him in them. I have to say I believe his favorite was a 1937 LaSalle sedan he bought on a whim at Carlisle one year.
In April of 2015, I received a phone call from Aksel. He explained that he had cancer and his time left was quite limited. He asked me if I would handle the liquidation of his collection of cars, parts, tools and equipment so that his wife would not have to deal with it after his passing. I told him I would be glad to help him in any way I could and then he said to me “and by the way I want you to have my Corvette”. This came as a total surprise. He remembered how much I liked the car and decided he wanted me to be the next owner. I could not believe someone would actually give me a car like this for free.
Aksel and I made a trip to the rented garage so I could see exactly what was out there and begin figuring out how to deal with it all. The Corvette was sitting under a cover, it had not been driven in a few years. The car had only 29,000 miles on it and had been purchased new by my friend. It was in mint condition and only required a new battery in order to be operable. I have had numerous collector cars over the years but this Corvette was in the nicest initial condition of any of them. In addition to the car, I got a set of factory manuals still in the box from the Helm Corporation, 10 gallons of Mobile1 oil, boxes of spare parts and all the original paper work.
About a month later I drove the car ,without incident, back from Maryland to my home in Pennsylvania. It now shares the garage with my other cars, a 1960 Thunderbird and a 1965 Riviera GranSport. I would never have thought to go out and buy myself a Corvette but now that I have have it I enjoy it so much that I wish I had gotten one a long time ago.
Since obtaining the car, I've gone over it very thoroughly, changed the antifreeze and all hoses, flushed the brake fluid and changed the oil. The only issue I found was the fuel tank had some pin holes in it. I suspect that the plastic inner liner had started leaking early in the car's life and the stale gas trapped between the liner and the metal tank eventually corroded through. The tank has been replaced with a brand new one and all is well.
Having had no prior experience with Corvettes, I looked for a good source of technical and repair information and eventually found this forum. I have been reading it regularly ever since and have gotten a great deal of useful information here. I should have joined up sooner but procrastination is just so easy.
The first time I drove the car with the top off it shook so much on rough road surfaces I thought there was something drastically wrong with it. Searching this forum, I found many other C4 owners experienced the same problem. I decided to install a set of the “controversial” frame stiffener bars and I can honestly say they made a very noticeable improvement.
I've also replaced the original radio with a Bose unit with a CD player which I got for a very reasonable price through Craigslist. Other than those few things, I plan on keeping the car pretty much all original.
I know many people out there consider C4 models to be the “Rodney Dangerfield” of Corvettes but I can honestly say I really like this car and it puts a big smile on my face whenever I drive it. Every time I look at this car I think of my friend Aksel and the good times we shared.
I've included some pictures of the car showing how it looked “as found” and after I got it home. You can see my grandson likes it as well. I need to train him as a Corvette mechanic....his little hands can reach those rear spark plugs.
Well, that's all for now. Hope you have enjoyed this story. I'm looking forward to participating here in the future.
Welcome to the forum and thank you for sharing your story with us. What a gorgeous vette. That's got to be one of the cleanest white interiors I've seen. Glad to see it was kept the in the family and will be given the care she deserves. Best wishes.
Thanks for the kind comments guys. I feel extremely lucky to have gotten this car. After reading about the extreme efforts so many others have gone through to "sort out" cars they've purchased I can really appreciate the wonderful unmolested condition of the car I have. It truly is just as nice as it looks in the pictures.
Don't worry about those that don't have much regard for the C4.
There was a time when that was also the case with the early C3. Folks would routinely warn about purchasing a '68 or '69. I had a '69 40+ years ago and loved it.
I currently have an '84 and love it. I take it to car events and people are still fascinated by the Knight Rider dash and the clam shell hood.
I'm just about 64 so it may not happen in my lifetime but I'm sure in my son's the C4 will become as sought after as the C2.
I can't wait to hop in mine tomorrow morning and head up to Carlisle for the day.
Not to go off topic but would love to see some pictures of your Buick.
I'm also a little curious, your location says PA but your car has MD tags. What's up with that?
Very touching story. Welcome to the forum.
It's great how you and Aksel were able to 'join' and help fill a void each of you had. It's also great that you received John's car and can help carry on his legacy through it. That's one of those that if it ever gets handed down to your Grandson he knows the history of it.
you were fortunate in receiving the vette. He must have thought highly of you and am sure he discussed this with his wife long ago. I am more worried about where my tools are going than I am about the 86. I hand built two tool boxes out of wood, each about 5 1/2 foot tall. The step daughter is the only one left and she is getting everything else.
St. Jude Donor '06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16
Great story! I don't think I have seen too many white C4s with grey interiors. Looks sharp!
Just a couple of tips I picked up from a Gordon Killebrew C4 class.
Run a wire down the drain tube of the rubber bib in the fuel filler area. They tend to get clogged up with spider gunk. Any water that pools there will get sucked into the fuel tank.
Clean your weather stripping and apply a light coat of dialectric grease and wipe off the excess. This keeps the very expensive rubber supple. Be sure to change the upper radiator hose often. The underhood area gets very hot and this is a common item to blow at the worst time.
Enjoy the miles and smiles!
Last edited by corvetteronw; Jun 19, 2016 at 02:16 AM.
I'm glad you all enjoyed this story. I'd like to add a little more information. My friend Aksel eventually passed away in September 2015. Before he died, I was able to successfully sell off his collection as he wanted and share with him my appreciation for the generosity he showed in giving me his car. I'd gladly trade the Corvette to have my buddy back. Nice cars are easy to find, good friends are not.
First Corvette
Love the interior.
