Our Corvette

My Corvette Story

In 1963 when the new Corvette split window coupe came out, I just loved the new fastback body style. At the age of 22 and just starting a family I could only dream of owning one.

At that time I was interested in the slot car craze and had a 1/24th scale model slot car of a Silver 1963 Corvette Coupe. I remember looking at that little model and thinking that some day, some day, some day I was going to own a real one.

Fast forward 33 years. Two kids, a failed marriage, remarried to my second wife Debbie, relocated to the Sacramento area, bought a home in Fair Oaks, bought a twenty four unit apartment complex near downtown Sacramento, left my full time job and became a full time landlord.

With our financial outlook improving a bit, I mentioned to Debbie that I always wanted a 1963 Corvette. She said “What are you waiting for? You’re not getting any younger!” With that encouragement from my honey, I started looking to see what I could find, but soon realized that the body style that I loved, the ‘63 through ‘67 coupe, were now classics and selling for around $20,000 for a drivable car that still needed restoring. That was just more than I wanted to spend, so I started looking at the newer ‘84, ’85, and ’86’s that were not yet classics. They were priced in the $10,000 range for a pretty nice one. After looking for a while and not finding anything that sparked my interest, I saw an ad in the paper for a 1966 Corvette Coupe with a 427 engine for $5,500. Of course I called, but continually got a busy signal. After trying for a couple of days, I finally I got through to an answering machine that said “due to the large amount of calls regarding the 1966 Corvette, it will be shown, and bids will be taken, on the following Saturday at an address in Woodland, CA.”

So, on Saturday my friend Gary went with me to see the car. It was a real mess. The fiberglass front end was missing, the rear quarter panels had been flared at one time, and were torn off, the dash was out and there were wires hanging out. The car needed complete restoration, but most all the parts seemed to be there and we were able to start the engine even though the car was not drivable. At first I didn’t think I was interested, but after talking with my friend, Gary, and then with my wife Debbie, I decided it was a good deal, and called the owner with an offer of $6,100. I offered a little more than asking so as to out-bid anyone who offered as much as $6,000. The next day the owner called back and said I had the car if I still wanted it. I said I did, and on the following Friday I rented a trailer and brought it home. Well, I was now the owner of a classic 1966, 427 Corvette Coupe. Wow, my dream had come true. Only one little problem, (ha, ha, ha not so little) I had to do a lot of work on it before I could drive it. My thinking was that I would fix it up, slap a front end on it and tinker with it while I drove it around. I had no idea of the journey I was about to undertake!

As I started working on it, I soon realized that the only way I would be happy with restoring this classic car was to take my time and do it right. With that decision “the just slapping a front end on it and drive it” went out the window. As I got into the restoration, the enormity of what I was trying to do was sometimes overwhelming. Many times I would go out to the garage and look at the car all torn apart and think, what the hell am I doing? Why didn’t I just spend more and get a running car. But, I kept at it and slowly it started to come together. I completely restored the chassis with all new parts. I took it to a guy over in Sonoma, CA and had a new fiberglass front end, rear quarter panels and taillight panel installed. I had a local performance engine shop completely rebuild the 427 engine. I disassembled, restored and reinstalled almost every part of the car. About seven years and most of $30,000 later, I finally had a Corvette that I could actually drive. The chassis and the engine were completely done. Even though it was drivable it was by no means complete. (I called it, “driving it ugly!”). The body was unpainted with primer spots, the hood was not on, the door and rear window glass was not in, and the interior was raw with just the seats. But I didn’t care how it looked. I just wanted to have a Corvette that I could drive. I was now at the stage where I wanted to be seven years ago, I could drive and tinker with it! I drove it “ugly” to several Corvette events where I got some very interesting reactions. Some people couldn’t believe I would drive it looking like this and others thought it was cool that I did. I got a lot of questions on what I was doing and what it took to get the car to this point. It took another two years and more $$$$$’s until I got it painted (silver, of course!). Now, I finally really have the car of my dreams: a beautiful, fully restored 1966 Big Block Corvette Coupe, that I can now drive with pride.

I can’t seem to get over the great feeling of owning and driving the car of my dreams, especially since I put it together myself. Debbie and I belong to a local Corvette club and go on many outings with other like-minded enthusiasts who share our interest in classic Corvettes. We have taken it to numerous local shows plus shows at Lake Tahoe, Reno, Santa Rosa, Redwood City, Grass Valley, Auburn and Lodi. Owning and driving the car has led to making great new friends who not only share our interest in Corvettes, but who we also socialize with in many other ways.

Since completing the restoration, I have added new polished valve covers, removed the stock four speed transmission and replaced it with a new five speed transmission, replaced the stock radiator with a new high flow aluminum radiator, added new chrome wheels, upgraded the brake system with all new style parts, restored the instrument cluster, added a front spoiler, replaced the stock exhaust manifolds with headers, added leather seats, removed the stock suspension and installed tubular control arms and coilover springs in the front and offset trailing arms and coilover springs in the rear, painted the hood stinger with a contrasting color, added a Corvette cross flag graphic to the inside of the hood, and added a polished Chevy bowtie to the grill.

The Corvette will always be an on-going work in progress and never really be 100% complete.

Automobile Magazine summed up my feelings in an article on ’63 thru ’67 Corvettes, (nicked-named “Midyears”). They say the “Midyear Sting Ray Corvette is the number one coolest car in America. It is the coolest of the cool because it embodies America’s post war optimism and creativity in a glorious piece of rolling sculpture that’s bold, brash, loud and fast, all rolled into a single package”.

Following are some photos of my journey.