Hey all! Want to introduce myself here as I am a 2006 Silver C6, Targa 6 speed owner as of 3/31/17! I am extremely excited to be a part of the Vette family. My love for Corvettes stems back to before I can remember, as I'm now a 3rd generation Corvette owner in my family. While I was never fortunate enough to ride in or see my grandpas 69' or 72', I heard all about them thru my dad. Both my grandpa and my dad grew up without much, my grandpa owned a Pawn Shop in a small town of about 4,000. My grandpa passed when I was in 8th grade, so the stories of the Corvettes come from my dad. My grandpa was able to purchase the 2 Corvettes he ever owned as a direct result of a large gold sale to the pawn shop on two separate occasions. While my grandma would argue they needed the money elsewhere (they did) my grandpa would still buy the Vette as a reward for a killer sale. They divorced not long after.. so Grandma was probably right. Anyways, that's where it started. My dad has worked incredibly hard his entire life but never been fortunate enough to justify a Corvette purchase, despite the love and passion he has for these machines that he's passed onto me.

Fast forward to now, I graduated college in 2016 and received a promotion from the Credit Union I was employed at all thru school. Not more than a couple paychecks in I realized I was going to be able to achieve my goal; own a Corvette by the age of 25.

I flew down to Dallas, TX from Michigan this past weekend with a buddy of mine. We both found southern vehicles, his an 03 low mileage Chevy 2500 Super Cab and I got the Vette. It's desirable for us northerners to travel south to find vehicles that have never seen a winter for rust reasons (not so much the case with the Vette as it's a summer car, but the drive back was fun ) I found it for a good deal and it was a little higher mileage example with 93k on it, 6 speed manual which is exactly what I was looking for. I wanted a driver, and that's what I got. We had an 1,100 mile journey home; and you can imagine my cheeks were sore from smiling by the time I pulled into my driveway. Unfortunately, the previous owner yanked the amp that powered the speakers, so I was left with a silent ride home much to my dismay.. or so I thought. The unfamiliar sound coming from the LS2 was all the music I needed

I hadn't told my dad about the purchase, he had no idea. I wanted to surprise him with OUR Corvette sitting in the driveway. I was glad I went that route, as he got a little emotional when I opened the front door of the house and he looked out into the driveway. What made the purchase/surprise even more fitting, was that he went to Hobby Lobby and bought a canvas of a beautiful red 63' Split Window pictured from the back and gifted it to me as a random gift on the very same day I put a $1,000 deposit down on the Vette. He told me he saw it and couldn't pass on it because of a story from when I was 7 years old..

We were getting ice cream after one of my soccer games, and next door was a Corvette Cars and Coffee event going on. Of course, we drifted over the see the cars before getting ice cream (those are our families priorities). I was talking to an older gentleman, who was proudly showing off his brand new 97' C5. He was wearing a white T-shirt that had a C4 and a 63' split window on it. The man, thinking he was probably talking to a young dumb 7 year old, pointed to the 63' split window on his shirt told me "I also have one like this." I quickly got big googly eyes and asked him "You own a 63' split window coupe?!" At that point his eyes became bigger than mine, and flashed a huge smile. He asked where my parents were, so I showed him and he ended up buying my entire family ice cream, and had good conversation with my dad. He told my dad that "your boy is gonna own one of these one day, I can guarantee you that". If my love of Corvettes wasn't prominent enough, my first interaction with a Corvette owner was a beautiful moment that I'll never forget, only growing the love even more.

When he gave me that canvas, I knew that this Corvette, at this time of my life and this exact weekend to pick it up, was always going to happen and that it was finally here; and I had just realized how special that was.

I'm posting as a member now, vowing to myself I would wait to become a member until I was legitimately part of the Corvette family. And here I am! Incredibly happy and beaming with pride to be able to be in all of your company here. I hope to post for many years to come, with pictures when I get the time, and hope a quick Corvette story of mine somehow brightened your day just a little bit more.

 

Welcome to the CF!

 

Great story! You and your dad will have plenty of new moments to share. Welcome to the forum!

 

Nice story, thanks for posting it! Congrats on the new ride and welcome to the forum!!

 

Cool story and glad you now have your first Corvette. Welcome and hope you enjoy the forum.

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

Lets have a pic of that sweet silver

And you get an invite:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...er-vettes.html

 

congrats on your Corvette and welcome to the forum!

 

Welcome to the forum!

 

Welcome to the forum!

Great story,, and congrats. on your C6!

Here's to many miles of smiles and enjoyment!