How old were you?

[Rob M.]

Re: How old were you?

In '01 I was 33 with a 1 year old little girl and an understanding wife who "green lighted" the purchase of my '66. I didn't know what the hell I was doing, got lucky, and have a great car. There are some things better in life than driving that car (or the '08 that I bought new) . . . but not many!

[Clem Z.]

Re: How old were you?

25 and mrs clem and i left on our honeymoon in a brand new 1959 corvette. 50 years later i still have the same mrs clem but 10 more new corvettes have passed thru my life. i found it is much cheaper to keep the mrs and buy new corvettes than do it the other way around. i bet there are a few here who had wish they had done it my way.

[Tom B.]

Re: How old were you?

Actually I'm extremely thankful that I still have my first Corvette and not my first Mrs.

I liked Corvettes but when my friend Steve Brohard (see post 7 of this thread) got his '57 I was hooked. I never passed up a chance to cruise in that car and I knew I would have one before too long. In 1969 I was 21, just home from RVN and went looking for that Corvette. I bought my '59 soft top, 270 4 speed no radio for $1000. It had new '68 Safari Yellow over a couple other colors over the original black and it looked great. My avatar pic was taken in 1969. For me it had to be '62 or older. I absolutely loved those cars and would have taken one over any newer one.

Just to sit in it makes my heart beat faster like it did back then. I doubt I will ever get tired of this car. Now I need to get some paint back on it so I can enjoy it again.

Tom

[Oliver B.]

Re: How old were you?

Some 23 yrs. ago (I was 18) I saw mid/late 70s Vettes in a (German) used-cars-mag being relatively reasonably priced for the status they carried (Ferrari-like looks and performance) - some were down to (say) 5,000 USD back then. I immediately fell in love and dreamed of owning one as soon as leaving school and starting to earn money allowed.
(Well, keep in mind that back then I was more and more "taking over" the 1982 Beetle, I used to share with my mom right after getting my license... So "dreaming of" such a car was quite a stretch.)

To fuel the dreaming and "preparing" for a deal, I started my studies and "invested" into literature.
It didn't take long for me to find out, that an original one would be the aim and that a '77 was the perfect combination of "cool (brutal) looks" and quite modern technology.

Inspecting the ones on the market here showed the prices asked were - say - reflecting their condition. The cars were DOGS, too many things "fixed" or changed to "adapt originality" to "German law"!
To prepare for the one and only test-drive I took before, for example, three of the tires of one '77 had to be filled and the drivers-door had to be opend "burglar-style"... No joy!

So I finshed my apprenticeship first and served my 12 mths in the German Luftwaffe, before in spring of '92 (I was 23 turning 24) I could handle the real deal: right before returning to my marine-insurance-job, I was taking four weeks leave to search for MY Vette directly in the USA!

To make a long story short: I found my orange '77 in St.Pete/Tampa Bay (advertised as "Buccaneer Orange" - but it was the original laquer!) on the second day in the States (the first one I looked at - everything was perfect!), fixed the deal, had to wait for overseas-transferral of money another week and had two weeks of driving-fun, before I arranged for the shipping to Germany.

Thanks to knowledge (and meeting the "right people" here), I was able to maintain the car in its original state and even keep the US-lighting which was not too easy back than and no more allowed (no exemptenions!) since a few years ago now... BIG luck!

I kept contact with the old lady I bought the car from (she was 66 then and kept the car of her husband who had died just one year after buying the car), we developed a friendship and this year we even spent our vacation at her condo on the beach... (Btw. today is her third husband's 89th birthday - congrats Jimmie! )

Gosh, it's such a long story - the good memories just carried me away again......

[Joel T.]

Re: How old were you?

49!! I hate to say it but it is true... In 1999 I dropped into the local Chevy dealer who just happened to have a black/black hardtop coming in... It was a 345/345 car, 6 speed with Z51 suspension... It was dumb luck, the car was on its way in and nobody had bought it!

Later on in 2005, at age 55, I managed to get the Corvette which I had always wanted... a 1963 SWC. She looked great but was a mechanical basket case.. barely ran, nothing worked and everything leaked... It is now four years later and I am proud to say she has been restored to all her prior glory!

[Alan S.]

Re: How old were you?

Hi,
I was 27 in 1971 when I bought my 71 coupe.
I traded my 68 GTO and got an auto loan for $3500 from the bank I worked at. I had started with a 55 Chevy Convertible in 1962, gone to a 57 2 door hardtop, a new 64 Impala Convertible, a new 66 Chevelle SS and then the new GTO.
I kept the 71 without ever realizing I was keeping it!
Regards,
Alan

[Jay G.]

Re: How old were you?

When you got your first corvette and what year was it? Describe the feeling!

Bought a 1958 Dual Quad 270HP for $600.00 in Oct of 1969. (40th anniv.now) I was 17 yrs old. Playing drums in HS Rock bands. Blond girlfirend, I had Long hair in small country town- where people didn't. Easy Rider stuff. Ready to take on the world. The car resides in Conn now Duntov Car achieved in early 90's. But a true beater when I had it. Started a life long addiction to not just Corvettes but muscle and 4x4 Trucks. Growing up in a town of 500 people will do that to ya.

[Chris E.]

Re: How old were you?

Ok, so this story isn't probably as long standing as most, but here goes.

I was 27 in 2001 and was looking for a C5. I found my car down in Florida, my dad and I flew down there and drove it home. Red/red 2000 coupe, 4 speed auto, all the toys (HUD, power seats, etc).

When I got home, I realized that I had bought the SAME VIN NUMBER as the 67 Corvette my dad owned.

A few years later, we decided that each other had the car that the other person wanted, so we SWAPPED.

My 67 just got a 96.8% Top Flight in Iowa, and HIS 2000 coupe spends lots of time running around town, putting smiles on my mom and dad's faces.

Life is good.

[Dale S.]

Re: How old were you?

1967, I was 32 years old. Dale

[Steve B.]

Re: How old were you?

Spring of 84 I was 19, going to college and working too. I wanted a 69 435 convertible and with some luck I found one for 9K. I was a no hit very original car that gave me many great memories.

[Michael H.]

Re: How old were you?

Spring of 1964, I was 17 and the GF and I bought a new 64 365 HP coupe, white with white interior. Payments were $108.22.
It was delivered to us running on 7 cyl's and you could hear the incorrectly adjusted lifters several hundred feet away. I replaced the #6 spark plug and adjusted the valves the next morning. I still have the dead plug around here somewhere.

(In 1968, I bought a new 68 Z28 and it too was delivered to me with a dead spark plug in #6 cyl.)

[Daniel K.]

Re: How old were you?

Last year when I turned 40, my great wife got me a 73 for my bday. The excitment of driving it the first time has not worn off yet.

[Mark D.]

Re: How old were you?

My first 'new' Corvette was in the fall of 1987. I had just become a new Captain for Piedmont Airlines after three years with the company. I was based in Charlotte where there were about 4,000 flight attendants and life was good. My first new home (Deluxe Bachelor Pad) had just been purchased and all that was missing was a beautiful new red Corvette.

I also had my sights set on a Piper Super Cub with tundra tires, but, that never happened.

[Stuart F.]

Re: How old were you?

Michael;

Has the #6 evolved into a lucky or unlucky number for you?

I have told my story a number of times here, but basically I intended to get a 63 Biscayne with a 409 while stationed at White Sands Missle Range in 1963. I was 24 years old and had opted to join the Army rather than be drafted, i.e. pay the additional year for some control over my MOS. It worked out good and looked like I'd spend my 3 years at WSMR so I decided to order a car. My buddy talked me into the Vette. No sooner did I take delivery in August 63, than I came down on levie for SEA. I left the Vette with my Buddy who needed something reliable to get him to Cal. in search of a job. I went over and started a war, then got the heck outa there before it got too hot (Jan. 65 rtn to CONUS). Returned home, got married, had my twin sons, then went back to fight my war as a civilian on contract (get paid for it). The Vette was in storage most of the time in a garage below my Buddy's Mom's restaurant. Retuned again in 1972 and began to enjoy it, which I still do to this day.

[Bill M.]

Re: How old were you?

16 in 1963. The deal was simple: good grades, drive Dad's Corvette; bad grades, walk. I got great grades. I still have the '59 that he bought new. The feeling: heaven on earth (lifelong car nut!)
Here I am on my way to high school graduation in 1964.