A friend came by my shop the other day with his four year old grandson. The little boy was looking around and seemed really impressed with all the stuff. He took notice of the red vette sitting there with the top down. I asked if he would like to sit in it which he did but to my surprise he wanted to sit on the passenger side. I got in the driver's seat and started it up giving it a couple revs. His eyes got big and he said this is like Lightening McQueen which I took as a compliment.
Who knows in a few years he may be looking for a vette.

 

I was in Nashville the other day and while sitting in my car playing with my GPS, the engine running, I noticed a little boy about 3 yrs old standing in front of my car with his mom. He was just staring at the car. I waved to him and he waved back but just kept staring at the car. So I revved it up a little, that seemed to startle him some but not too much. His mom waved and started walking away with him. His head was turned and staring at the car the whole time. I hope maybe we have a corvette fan in the making.

 

Before I attend car shows I stop at Walmart/toys-r-us and look for some 98 cent match box corvettes. When I see a youngster EXTREMELY interesred in my vette, I ask him if he likes corvettes, they have always said yes. For which I reward him with a match box vette. Unfortunately I can't always find C5's but it doesn't seem to matter to the youngster which C type model they receive.

 

A few weeks ago, I drove to a local hardware store. Several young boys were riding their bikes in the parking lot. One rode up to me and asked "what year vette is that sir?" I told hime it was a 2003. As he rode back to his friends he yelled out, "it's an 03, can you believe it, it's an 03!"

 

That is a very cool thing to do. Will have to remember that.

 

Nice story

 

My nephew is about the same age, and he wants to drive mine already haha.

 

That's how it allllll starts. I always try and make the best impression possible. Especially the youngster walking on the sidewalk with the HUGE point and "daddy" exclamation. Few revs or a seat in the car sure brings a big smile!

 

My 4 year old is a real fan already. Good think he can't reach the pedals.

 

I work at an elementary school. A couple years ago I worked with a 3rd grader who was ten years old and was having particular difficulties with discipline.

His teacher told me he spent a lot of time staring out the window at my "race car." She suggested I might want to take him out to see it in the parking lot, in an effort to bond with him.

So one day, I came into his classroom and told his teacher I needed to see him, obstensibly to test his vision. She winked and told him to come with me.

As we walked down the hall, I asked him if he was interested in race cars. He said yes, and I asked if he wanted to see my Corvette. Well, you should have seen his eyes grow like billiard *****! I said, "Let's ditch the vision test and go see the car." "Really??" he asked, incredulously.

We went to the parking lot and I showed him around as we talked. I asked him if he wanted to sit in it. Afterwards, as he sat in the driver’s seat smiling while checking things out, I asked if he wanted to start it. You’d think I had asked him if he wanted a million dollars. I handed him the keys and he turned it over.

Well, that did it for him, now he was hooked. And when he gunned it a few times, that did it for the “test drive” too, I’m afraid! Afterwards we had a few words about discipline and decision making – it seems to have sunk in.

I told him, “When we return to the classroom, we’ll tell your teacher we were late because we had to wait in line to test your vision.” We got back to his classroom, told the teacher our little fiblet (with a wink,) and since then he and I had enjoyed a much better relationship. I can only imagine his stories with his classmates.

But it turns out the “little white lie” about the vision test was short lived. Later the teacher told me that when the boy had started the car, all his classmates rushed to the window to see what was going on.

But what was really going on, I hope, was that a little boy who was two years behind his 5th grade classmates had had an experience that can bring him closer to understanding that there are people who really care.

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