This is long but I think some of you may like the story. It may be a little confusing with the abbreviated names but hopefully it'll make sense. You really never know who you'll meet and what information they have about a 47 year old car...........
======
A bought a 62 in April of 2007 from a guy who worked at NASA many years. He owned the car 35 years. He bought it from the first owner. I'm the 3rd, still searching for information about the first owner. Some of you may remember this thread when I got it: https://www.forums.ncrs.org/showthre...+barn&uid=9464
And here on the CF:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c1-a...-62-story.html
So yesterday I stopped by Bob Steele Chevrolet in Cocoa Florida, about 10 minutes from where I bought the car, thinking it's possible the car originally came from there based on some "astronaut" threads a while ago.
Receptionist was really nice. I told her I was looking for the first owner of my car who was a Retired A.F. Colonel. (I'm the 3rd owner....allegedly) She sent me over to the body shop to see the Manager that had been there a very long time. She said he had many Corvettes in his lifetime, old & new, and he may know something. I was a bit hesitant that it'd go anywhere but i decided what the heck, why not, you never know.
I asked around the body shop office and they pointed me to him. He was outside with a customer so I waited a while. Then I met him. I'll call him "RL", and told him about my 62. I told him who I got it from in '07 and that the guy owned it 35 years. Immediately he grinned and said, "Was that the white 62 on the curve on such&such street and was sitting for a long time? I almost bought that car in 1972! The old guy who owned it then wanted $1100 for it and I thought it was too much. So you bought it from RO, the guy he sold it to?" (RO bought it IN 1972 from the Colonel).......I said yes. RL said he knew him because RO wanted a hardtop for his 62(now mine), and RL had a 2 top 62 for sale. RO ended up buying the entire car from RL, took off the hardtop from it for his(my) car, then sold the now softop only 62 for what he paid for it and broke even. RO told me that exact same story when I bought the car but couldn't remember where he got the HT or who the guy was. If you read my stories, my car is a Sept 5th car. The car has the green crayon HT behind the seat so I knew it was built with one. However, I found a date stamp on the hardtop under the headliner that was "Oct 13, 1961" 5 weeks after my car was built. There was a thread about this 2+ years ago here:
https://www.forums.ncrs.org/showthre...rdtop&uid=2352
Now we know why!
So RL and I spent an hour talking the history of my 62 and Corvettes in general. He has the exact same color 62 himself so we now had commonalities. The coincidences were amazing. He told me he remembered the Colonel, and where he lived then. We spent some time looking at online maps to get in the approximate area. He doesn't remember the exact address but has a few streets and was very sharp about the location. It was 39 years ago! I have an approximate location but will take some hunting to get closer. The Colonel may not be with us, but he had a daughter. It was actually the daughters car(my 62), according to RO when we spoke. She wanted to sell the 62 because she wanted a Opel GT instead. Dad, the Colonel, was selling it for her. If there's any chance she may still be there I'll try to find out by talking to neighbors in the area. I guess I'll have to visit there in my 59 to be conspicuous about my intentions!
When I bought the car RO could not recall exactly where he got. He remembers the Colonel and daughter story, as he told me but that's it. He has since moved and is no longer accessible but I exhausted all I could get from him at the time. I thought the story ended back then.......... but now here we go again.........You Never Know!
Rich
add....
p.s. Maybe some dealer info for others..........
RL told me Bob Steel Chevrolet has been there only 13 years. He said the car may have come from Rathmans in Melbourne, ironically now Rosners, where I service my C6. He also said that it may have come from Indian River Chevrolet on Florida Ave in Cocoa, which was there from inception to the early 70's, then moved to Merritt Island in 1976 and became Bill Hedelston(sp?) Chevrolet. In 1996 it became Bob Steele Chevrolet.
======
A bought a 62 in April of 2007 from a guy who worked at NASA many years. He owned the car 35 years. He bought it from the first owner. I'm the 3rd, still searching for information about the first owner. Some of you may remember this thread when I got it: https://www.forums.ncrs.org/showthre...+barn&uid=9464
And here on the CF:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c1-a...-62-story.html
So yesterday I stopped by Bob Steele Chevrolet in Cocoa Florida, about 10 minutes from where I bought the car, thinking it's possible the car originally came from there based on some "astronaut" threads a while ago.
Receptionist was really nice. I told her I was looking for the first owner of my car who was a Retired A.F. Colonel. (I'm the 3rd owner....allegedly) She sent me over to the body shop to see the Manager that had been there a very long time. She said he had many Corvettes in his lifetime, old & new, and he may know something. I was a bit hesitant that it'd go anywhere but i decided what the heck, why not, you never know.
I asked around the body shop office and they pointed me to him. He was outside with a customer so I waited a while. Then I met him. I'll call him "RL", and told him about my 62. I told him who I got it from in '07 and that the guy owned it 35 years. Immediately he grinned and said, "Was that the white 62 on the curve on such&such street and was sitting for a long time? I almost bought that car in 1972! The old guy who owned it then wanted $1100 for it and I thought it was too much. So you bought it from RO, the guy he sold it to?" (RO bought it IN 1972 from the Colonel).......I said yes. RL said he knew him because RO wanted a hardtop for his 62(now mine), and RL had a 2 top 62 for sale. RO ended up buying the entire car from RL, took off the hardtop from it for his(my) car, then sold the now softop only 62 for what he paid for it and broke even. RO told me that exact same story when I bought the car but couldn't remember where he got the HT or who the guy was. If you read my stories, my car is a Sept 5th car. The car has the green crayon HT behind the seat so I knew it was built with one. However, I found a date stamp on the hardtop under the headliner that was "Oct 13, 1961" 5 weeks after my car was built. There was a thread about this 2+ years ago here:
https://www.forums.ncrs.org/showthre...rdtop&uid=2352
Now we know why!
So RL and I spent an hour talking the history of my 62 and Corvettes in general. He has the exact same color 62 himself so we now had commonalities. The coincidences were amazing. He told me he remembered the Colonel, and where he lived then. We spent some time looking at online maps to get in the approximate area. He doesn't remember the exact address but has a few streets and was very sharp about the location. It was 39 years ago! I have an approximate location but will take some hunting to get closer. The Colonel may not be with us, but he had a daughter. It was actually the daughters car(my 62), according to RO when we spoke. She wanted to sell the 62 because she wanted a Opel GT instead. Dad, the Colonel, was selling it for her. If there's any chance she may still be there I'll try to find out by talking to neighbors in the area. I guess I'll have to visit there in my 59 to be conspicuous about my intentions!
When I bought the car RO could not recall exactly where he got. He remembers the Colonel and daughter story, as he told me but that's it. He has since moved and is no longer accessible but I exhausted all I could get from him at the time. I thought the story ended back then.......... but now here we go again.........You Never Know!
Rich
add....
p.s. Maybe some dealer info for others..........
RL told me Bob Steel Chevrolet has been there only 13 years. He said the car may have come from Rathmans in Melbourne, ironically now Rosners, where I service my C6. He also said that it may have come from Indian River Chevrolet on Florida Ave in Cocoa, which was there from inception to the early 70's, then moved to Merritt Island in 1976 and became Bill Hedelston(sp?) Chevrolet. In 1996 it became Bob Steele Chevrolet.
Comment