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2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (appearance mods)
C7 of Year Winner (appearance mods) 2019
2017 C7 of Year Finalist
2015 C7 of the Year
St. Jude Donor '14-'15-'16-'17-'18-'19
I was born in 1970 and became attracted to the Corvette when the C4 came out. My first Corvette was a C4 remote control car that I still have today. My first full scale Corvette was a 1998 Pewter Coupe that I bought in 2006. Here's where my addiction has taken me so far...by year and not necessarily in order of purchase...
1964 Daytona Blue Coupe
1973 Dark Blue Coupe
1980 Silver Coupe
1989 Charcoal Metallic Convertible
1994 Competition Yellow Convertible
1998 Pewter Coupe
1999 Navy Blue Convertible
1999 Magnetic Red Convertible
2012 Blade Silver Coupe
2013 Night Race Blue Grand Sport Convertible
2014 Velocity Yellow Coupe
2015 Night Race Blue Coupe
www.corvettefurman.com ~ 301-212-4420 ~ Mike Furman
Originally Posted by jagamajajaran
I was born in 1970 and became attracted to the Corvette when the C4 came out. My first Corvette was a C4 remote control car that I still have today. My first full scale Corvette was a 1998 Pewter Coupe that I bought in 2006. Here's where my addiction has taken me so far...by year and not necessarily in order of purchase...
1964 Daytona Blue Coupe
1973 Dark Blue Coupe
1980 Silver Coupe
1989 Charcoal Metallic Convertible
1994 Competition Yellow Convertible
1998 Pewter Coupe
1999 Navy Blue Convertible
1999 Magnetic Red Convertible
2012 Blade Silver Coupe
2013 Night Race Blue Grand Sport Convertible
2014 Velocity Yellow Coupe
2015 Night Race Blue Coupe
I see many more Corvettes in your future. I was 26 in the picture below, circa 1986.
My dad let me drive his to prom and homecoming when I was 16. Ran into a Viper GTS when he let me take it to my first SAT, and I did horrible since I was all amped up from adrenaline.
Hey Mike, thanks for the memories and the nostalgia created by all your pictures and all the responses.
When I was a kid, the Ford V8 Flat Head was the hot performer and the Hot Rodder's choice, but it only lasted a little over twenty years in production.
I often wonder if the engineers that created the Chevy small block could even suspect that their design would be such an overwhelming success. Though the original design has gone through many iterations, it is still basically the same short stroke, free breathing, ohv V8 design produced today as was originally conceived.
The same goes for the Corvette itself. I marvel in the fact that it is still a molded plastic, two seat, front engine V8, Sports Car like the one I had in 1955. I'm amused to think about the Ford Thunderbird of that same year and was almost the cause the Corvette's demise, but is now long gone because it didn't have the lasting charisma the Corvette has created.
My dad let me drive his to prom and homecoming when I was 16. Ran into a Viper GTS when he let me take it to my first SAT, and I did horrible since I was all amped up from adrenaline.
I have never seen a more dedicated or successful sales guy than you. My first Vette was a 1964 Fastback, then a 1977, followed by a 1984. Bad experience with the 84 caused a 31 year gap in ownership. The C7 brought me back and I love my 2015. I would love to own a C3 big block some day if I could ever find a good one at a reasonable price. Keep up the great work.
I have never seen a more dedicated or successful sales guy than you. My first Vette was a 1964 Fastback, then a 1977, followed by a 1984. Bad experience with the 84 caused a 31 year gap in ownership. The C7 brought me back and I love my 2015. I would love to own a C3 big block some day if I could ever find a good one at a reasonable price. Keep up the great work.
Thank you very much. Being a Corvette enthusiast makes it fun to sell Corvettes all these years!
Mike, thanks for the trip down memory lane. Here is my story. After raising five kids my wife and I started riding motorcycles. In 2004 after our yearly trek to Sturgis my wife said it might be fun to have a Corvette. So we bought a 2004 Corvette, then a 2007 Corvette, then a 2011GS followed by a 2014 StingRay and our current 2015 Z06. Our Harleys have not been out of the barn since 2010 and we have had a ball driving around the country in our Corvetts. Next time I am on the East Coast I will stop by Criswell Chevrolet so I can meet in person Mike Furman aka Mr. Corvette. Maybe you can sell me a Corvette
Last edited by robertbruce; 09-15-2015 at 10:38 PM.
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (appearance mods)
C7 of Year Winner (appearance mods) 2019
2017 C7 of Year Finalist
2015 C7 of the Year
St. Jude Donor '14-'15-'16-'17-'18-'19
I posted earlier that my attraction with the Corvette began with the C4, but it wasn't until I was 36 years old that I was able to buy my first Corvette. As I look back on the day that I purchased that Corvette, it is easy to see that this was the beginning of what has become a full-on addiction!
I was living in Richmond, Virginia, when I bought my first Corvette. It was a 1998 Pewter Coupe that I had found on Craigslist.com in the Raleigh, NC, area. It was 2006 and my wife and I were living in a 2400 sf home with four children. When the fifth child came along in 2007, I decided to save my wife's sanity and purchase a larger home. This required some sacrifices, the biggest of which was selling the 1998 Corvette. But like they say, "Happy Wife, Happy Life!"
Not long after we were in our new home, I was able to purchase a 1999 Navy Blue Convertible show car out of Connecticut. This one I had found on eBay, and it turned out to be a great deal!
It was this Corvette that led me to my involvement in the Corvette Club of Richmond. After a couple of years, I found myself immersed in the Corvette lifestyle and was serving on the CCR Board. We were fortunate as a Club to be invited four separate times to bring 53 convertible Corvettes to RIR to drive NASCAR drivers around the track during the pre-race parade laps. It was the last of those opportunities that I drew Tony Stewart's name...he went on to win the Sprint Cup Series that season.
In May of 2011, I resigned from my job in Richmond. Even though I was without a full time job, it was my hope that I could get through that time without having to sell my 1999. It was during this time that I found what would be my third Corvette...a 1973 Dark Blue Coupe. My dad thought the '73 was a good deal and sent me money so I could buy it.
In November of 2011, two days before Thanksgiving, my family was shocked by the sudden death of my mother. She was 65 years old. My dad had always offered to employee me in his independent insurance agency, but now that mom was no longer by his side, I felt compelled to move my family back to SW Oklahoma to work with him. So, in June of 2012, we loaded up our family, our belongings, and our two Corvettes and moved home to Oklahoma.
My next Corvette purchase was a leftover 2012 Blade Silver Coupe that I found at Les Stanford at the end of 2012. I only owned it for about nine months because I wanted to put myself in a position to possibly purchase the new C7 at some point.
My C7 dream came true in a surprising way. It was October of 2013 and a friend from the Corvette Club of Richmond had rejected delivery on his pre-ordered Stingray due to a significant error in the order. He had ordered and automatic and the dealership had submitted his order with a manual transmission instead. It was only a week later that I was driving away from Richmond, Virginia, in a new 2014 C7 Velocity Yellow Stingray Coupe!
Since that time, I have bought and sold the following Corvettes...
...a 1964 Daytona Blue Coupe
...a 1980 Silver Coupe
...a 1989 Charcoal Metallic Convertible
...and a 1999 Magnetic Red II Convertible.
Since returning to Oklahoma, I have also purchased and still own...
...a 1994 Competition Yellow Convertible
...a 2013 Grand Sport Convertible
...and most recently, a 2015 Stingray Coupe for my wife, complete with a Buyer's Tour for her to watch her Stingray come to life!
I've met some incredible people over the last few years, including Wil Cooksey Jr., Tadge Juechter, Harlan Charles, and several other Corvette design team members.
And I've become good friends with numerous forum members, NCM and Corvette Plant personnel, and forum supporting vendors and dealership personalities, including the incomparable Mike Furman!
I'm 45 years old now and I feel unbelievably blessed to have five Corvettes in my stable today and to have owned a total of twelve Corvettes over the last 9 years. I hope to live until I'm about 108, so if I can maintain this pace, I will have owned 96 Corvettes by the time I die. And if I get that close, I'll push the envelope a little so I can break into triple digits!
I'm living the dream and can't wait to see what Corvette has in store for us next! Save the wave!
Cool stories, and I see pix of lots of friends I've met through the years.
My first Vette was towed home from a barn where a friend's son had starting working on it, and stopped, and just left it sitting there. My friend basically got it running. He was excited that I was excited about the car, so he was willing to help work on it at my house.
Lots of Vettes and awesome Vette friends made since then. Currently I have these three:
Hooters....
Silver....
Sugar....
April 2004 c5/c6 bash, before the c6 was out...
This one was going to be destroyed, so why not climb on?! (Note Dave pretending he is not involved and possibly doesn't even know us. )
www.corvettefurman.com ~ 301-212-4420 ~ Mike Furman
Originally Posted by robertbruce
Mike, thanks for the trip down memory lane. Here is my story. After raising five kids my wife and I started riding motorcycles. In 2004 after our yearly trek to Sturgis my wife said it might be fun to have a Corvette. So we bought a 2004 Corvette, then a 2007 Corvette, then a 2011GS followed by a 2014 StingRay and our current 2015 Z06. Our Harleys have not been out of the barn since 2010 and we have had a ball driving around the country in our Corvetts. Next time I am on the East Coast I will stop by Criswell Chevrolet so I can meet in person Mike Furman aka Mr. Corvette. Maybe you can sell me a Corvette
I truly do hope you get to stop by so we can meet some day. Lunch/Dinner is on me.
09-14-2015, 11:04 PM
