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I never yearned for a Corvette as a kid either. The Shelby Cobra did it for me, and I ultimately owned a OEM-correct, factory-built reproduction complete with original Ford 427 side-oiler, Jaguar IRS, and top-loader close ratio 4-speed. It was a handful, which tried hard to kill me.
A beautiful car indeed. I saw(and heard) an original one being unloaded at the Ford dealer in Wichita, KS when I was stationed there in the Air Force in late 1965.
St. Jude Donor '05-'06-'07-'08-'09, '14-'15-'16-'17-'18
Ever since I saw the car like the one pictured below, I've wanted a Corvette. I guess I was about 11 or 12 when I first saw it and was instantly hooked. And I've been hooked ever since...
I was 12 years old in 1962. A friend of mine who lived a few houses down had an older brother who was 20. One day when I was over there, a friend of his brother's pulled up driving a 1961 white vert with a red cove. I knew then that one day I would own one. Fast forward fifty years, kids out of college, weddings paid for, no more mortgage and saving a little here and there, my dream finally came true.
Been "hooked" on Corvettes since I was around 9 years old. The Route 66 TV series is what got me hooked. Also to further my lust.... I had a much older cousin who bought a 1 year old Fawn Beige 1962 Corvette and gave me a ride in it. Bought my first Corvette ('66 Convertible) in 1972 at 18 years old while serving in the US Navy. Today at 64 I am on my 37th Corvette (2018 Z06).
Like many, I had a bunch of AMT car kits that I assembled as a kid. Pontiacs were my favorite back then because they were cleaning up in Nascar. For some reason, I was also attracted to Corvettes. I had a 59, 61 and 63 kits. Buying a Corvette was out of the question financially. Then I ordered a new Camero in the early 70s. The dealer contacted me to let me know GM couldn't deliver the Camero due to a strike at Kelsey-Hayes, the wheel supplier. I was pissed off. The dealer said he would try to make it right. I jokingly asked how much for the left over Corvette on the showroom floor. When he said add $1400 to the price of your Camero I almost fell over. Then I bought my first Corvette Stingray. After that I was hooked on Corvette.
In high school a friend had a 67 and a 77 - at that time I loved the 77 (it was new at the time) that is when I wanted one - - still makes me feel great when I drive it
When I was a kid my parents had a 2 car garage with a metal pole right in the middle of the garage. For Christmas in '64 I got a '64 vette powered by an .049 gas engine. I rigged a ring to go around the pole, hooked that little 64 (red) up to the nylon string, and let 'er rip. It would fly around that garage at nearly 60 mph. Really. I still have the little car, and I kept the ring I rigged when my parents passed and we sold the house. I should rig it up somehow and show my granddaughters. But that car did burn a dream for vettes in my head - just took a while for me to buy one.
In '15, I was going to buy an F-Type R coupe and sat in my cousins C7. Ordered a Z51 the next day. Bought a new GS about 10 months ago. Got a chromie in July '16. I'm hooked.
I still remember when I was a kid in 1963 and seeing a red Split Window sitting in the showroom
at Tuscaloosa Motor Company. The sticker was $ 4,999. At the time that seemed like all the money in the world for a car.
When I was in the Army stationed at Ft. Belvoir, VA my buddy went home one weekend and showed up on Monday in this '63 white roadster with a 340 hp. 327. After riding around with him it sealed the deal. It might take a while, but one day I'd get a Corvette. Later after we got out he bought a '67 blue roadster with a 427. Hope these pictures show up.
Always wanted one ever since my friends brother bought a used C1. Around 1976-77 I lusted after a new silver convertible C3 and if I recall correctly was around $9400. My dad wouldn’t co-sign for it as I had just bought a new ‘76 olds cutlass S. Fast forward to 2014 when I bought a new blade silver coupe on my 59th Birthday. Now 3 years later I have an ‘18 Long Beach red Vert on order.
As a 12 year old on the farm listening to my trusty six transistor radio I would hear Shut Down and Dead Man's Curve and think that whatever that Stingray is they're singing about must be pretty cool. The first one I actually saw was a yellow 1965 Sting Ray and I knew right away what it was because it matched pretty closely the image I had in my mind.
From that day on, every time I bought a car I would wish it could be a Corvette but it just wasn't practical for a working man raising a family.
And then, perfectly timed a year before I retired from 45 years as a working man, the fine folks at GM brought back the Stingray name after a long absence and there is now one parked in my garage.
Thank you. OP, for bringing up this neat topic! And thanks to all who have told their stories. Keep 'em coming!
I never yearned for a Corvette as a kid either. The Shelby Cobra did it for me, and I ultimately owned a OEM-correct, factory-built reproduction complete with original Ford 427 side-oiler, Jaguar IRS, and top-loader close ratio 4-speed. It was a handful, which tried hard to kill me.
I dreamed of a Corvette when I saw a new one as a kid in 1958. Always loved them, always wanted one. Then came time for my driver's license and in the same year, out came the 427 Cobra. I desperately wanted one but I new I could never afford one. True automotive testosterone. As time has gone on, that dream has gotten farther and farther away. But, the Corvette dream remained and after getting married (twice) and buying a house and having a kid, I finally fulfilled the dream with a 2014 Z51, C7. I love the car and probably will never sell it.
Still, my top three dream cars are as follows. 1965 427 Cobra, 1967 427, 435 HP Corvette roadster (red with side pipes) and what sits in my garage now, a 2014 Z51 C7, the best engineered of the three.
Unlike a lot of my Corvette friends, I started driving in SoCal in the mid '60s, and I love all American muscle cars and obviously, America's only true sports car, the Corvette.
I dreamed of a Corvette when I saw a new one as a kid in 1958. Always loved them, always wanted one. Then came time for my driver's license and in the same year, out came the 427 Cobra. I desperately wanted one but I new I could never afford one. True automotive testosterone. As time has gone on, that dream has gotten farther and farther away. But, the Corvette dream remained and after getting married (twice) and buying a house and having a kid, I finally fulfilled the dream with a 2014 Z51, C7. I love the car and probably will never sell it.
Still, my top three dream cars are as follows. 1965 427 Cobra, 1967 427, 435 HP Corvette roadster (red with side pipes) and what sits in my garage now, a 2014 Z51 C7, the best engineered of the three.
Unlike a lot of my Corvette friends, I started driving in SoCal in the mid '60s, and I love all American muscle cars and obviously, America's only true sports car, the Corvette.
I'm with you. My Cobra is now happily gone, and I made a profit on it. A 14, C7 Z51 convertible now sits in my garage. It is a quantum leap better performer than the Cobra, won't kill you unless you're a complete idiot, and is actually a usable daily-driver.
I used to collect old muscle cars, but they're now all gone. In comparison to todays technology, they are just horrible to drive, but great to look at.
I'm with you. My Cobra is now happily gone, and I made a profit on it. A 14, C7 Z51 convertible now sits in my garage. It is a quantum leap better performer than the Cobra, won't kill you unless you're a complete idiot, and is actually a usable daily-driver.
I used to collect old muscle cars, but they're now all gone. In comparison to todays technology, they are just horrible to drive, but great to look at.
The first great muscle car era is wonderful nostalgia but we all forget what raw, brutal, poor handling machines they were. We should just be glad we're still around for the second great muscle car era that we're in now. It won't last. Soon the government will say we're having too much fun and limit HP. I wonder whether there will be a third era or, will we all be riding in electric mass transit?
I must really be old, since i actually remember walking up to the new 1953 Corvette parked in front of the local Chevrolet Dealership(Joe OBRIEN)). No car looked as spectacular in 1953! I even remember foolishly trying to bend the mesh over the headlights, but pre-teen fingers were not up to the task.
In the ensuing couple of years i'd slip into that dealership and sit in the new CORVETTES! AH, what a legal high back in the day!
BUT it was the 1955-57 Thunderbirds that were my favorites. I obviously walked past the FORD dealership(Commerce) too.
I got so bold as to slip into a new 1957 that was just off the carrier, only to hear the driver yell:"Hey what the hell are you doing?"....well duh.
The Continental Mark II was the one i could only admire from afar at a staggering price of $10,000!
Some may recall the famous Zora letter that helped save the Corvette from extinction by prodding GM with
a sortof are-we-going-to-let-FORD-and-their-Thunderbird- beat- GM and- our- Corvette challenge. The rest is history with Zora,GM, and Corvette sweeping the field!
The 1955-57 Thunderbird era was ended by some guy named McNamara, and the Mark II exited in 1957 too. GM had even gone after the FORD Mark II by building the CADILLAC ELDORADO BROUGHAM that was priced at even more staggering price of $13,000+(in 1957 money).
[B]HELLO CORVETTES from then on for me.
My first ride in one(a vert) was 1964.
Decades later I did get a 1957 Thunderbird AND Corvettes!
What about the Mark II? Turns out maybe it was just that $10,000 price tag back then that made it seem so wonderful.
If the owner of an original 1953 notices a little bent headlight mesh, call and i will repair it at no charge(if you let me drive it).
My Corvette dream started when I first saw the early C1s (mostly in TV). My family lived a blue collar lifestyle and owning one seemed unlikely. Then in ‘66, my parents rented the upper apartment at our home to a young married couple, who wanted to also rent one of out three garages to keep a “special” car. Well they moved in and the car they drove was a basic ‘60 4-door Chevy sedan and I didn’t see anything special about that. Then one day when I came home from school, my dad told me to go get him something from the garage. When I opened the door, there sat a triple black ‘62 Corvette. In MY garage. Turned out that Jim was planning on making it a full time drag race car and he let me hang out with him when he worked on the car and took me along to the local tracks. He ran B-Stock and was a frequent winner in his class. He switched to D/Sport in ‘67 and went to the Spring Nations and beat the National record holder. Jim and Sally moved away in ‘68 or ‘69, but I’ve stayed in touch with them over the years. Jim gave his Vette to one of his sons who restored it to original and the son eventually sold it to someone out West, so it’s likely still around. And me? My wife and I presently own 4 Vettes and have owned 20 over our married life. You could say that I caught the fever!
10-19-2017, 03:02 PM
But that car did burn a dream for vettes in my head - just took a while for me to buy one.
The first great muscle car era is wonderful nostalgia but we all forget what raw, brutal, poor handling machines they were. We should just be glad we're still around for the second great muscle car era that we're in now. It won't last. Soon the government will say we're having too much fun and limit HP. I wonder whether there will be a third era or, will we all be riding in electric mass transit?
