I've loved all C-1 and Mid year vettes since the days of watching Rt 66 (I was 12 at the time). I was finally able to afford to purchase a project 62 just a couple years ago and have built it into a nice driver, using a 350 tuned port injection engine and 6 speed manual ZF trans from a wreaked 90 Vette donor car. I also installed a few smaller upgrades that have really made it an enjoyable "drive anywhere" car.



any other early Vette owners on the forum?

Cheers,

 

I've also always loved Corvettes and was lucky to own a 95 for 14 years--one of the best cars I have ever owned. Yours looks exactly like the one a close friend of mine owed back in the early 1990s. I believe it was also a 1962 that looked just like yours but with a 327 and a stick shift. Unfortunately it was constant problems and he was not handy so he eventually sold it to someone up in northern California (to be replaced with an SSR which he also recently got rid of).

It is amazing that whenever I am talking about cars with other old farts, many times the other person will have owned a Corvette at some point in their lives and the reminiscences about the car are always fond nostalgia (including myself).

Doug

 

[but first a note to our sponsor] OOPS! sorry I seem to have posted in the wrong forum. I meant to put this in the non Jag section, so move as needed.
I'm a sfng

But yes, Doug, that's my experience also, that many of us "old farts" do wax nostalgic about the old Vetts. there's just something special about them that very very few cars have ever achieved.

 

I have a '58 that has been undergoing restoration for the last 5 years. (restomod with new suspension, engine....)

 

1960 Corvette I owned since 1972. Majority of "Driver Restoration" completed from 1974-1977. Enjoy driving much like my Jag.

 

Early '70s Corvette owner here.

 

Not a "Mid-Year" Vette guy but I think my forum name says enough. I have had a 2002 C5 Z51 and now have a 2014 C7 Z51 as well as a 2015 F-Type S Coupe. I just love sports cars period.... I will admit that a 1964 Coupe is my dream car as that is my birth year...

 

Roman red split window owner here.

 

Old thread revival? Yes, NCRS Member here with a 1969 Corvette coupe. Also nearing completion on a 72 coupe.

 

I've had an '86 for many years. June of '86, one of the last with cast iron heads and they've never been off the engine. Every car I've had so far with aluminum heads have come off for one reason or another.

 

Beautiful Vette. I owned an 84 with Cross Fire Injection which I was told if they could get it to run properly it was suppose to run better than the Tune Port. Also owned several C5's; a 2000 white convertible, 2001 black Z06, 2001 Red Coupe, 2000 Silver Coupe. Really love the performance out of the C8 but already in AZ way too many on the road. I see them every couple miles no matter where I drive.

 

I've owned
59
81
09
I had a 21 C8 on order when the typical wait time was 1 year. I only made it 5 weeks before I became absolutely impatient, cancelled the order and purchased an AMG GTS. Very glad I did as now (2025 update from the post above), C8s are EVERYWHERE. I too see at least one even on a ten minute trip to the store. In my small neighborhood (only a couple hundred homes) there are 4. Also, the Tremec DCT seems to have some chronic problems. Not commenting about the failure percentage, but if you happen to be one of the unlucky ones and are out of warranty...about $20K

I likely will probably not own another Vette at this point, unless it was a project car/restomod. I Like the exclusivity of other marques. Since 2021 and the AMG, I've owned
Bentley Continental GT
and now
Aston Martin DB11 V12

Now, in the almost 2 years I've owned the DB11 in a very crowded Tampa Fl., I've only seen ONE other DB11 in all that time. So excited to see it I had my wife snap a pic. This exclusivity is worth the price for me.

 

Vette is not for exclusivity, rather I think its specifically for camaraderie. Mass-produced sports car. Lots of local clubs. There's even one club here just for "blue" Corvettes. They go on spirited drives, have car shows, autocross events, track days, etc. I see a bunch of late models that get together at a local restaurant every Wednesday night. In contrast, I'd driven my Supra from Texas to meets in Las Vegas, Philadelphia and Toronto when I was younger, trips well over 1,000 miles each way, but that's hard to do now that I'm older. Aston Martin I believe has two US clubs, one for the Eastern US and one for the West. The downside to exclusivity is that its not exactly convenient to get together very often.

Its fun to have a car that is unique. Everybody walks right past my Corvette at car shows unless they are attending for the first time and the only people who stop to ask questions or talk about it are other C3 owners. That's largely why I bought my old Lotus Excel from Europe. Everybody stops to look at it, ask what the heck it is, but on the other hand, I don't know anyone else locally who has one similar or even an Esprit. Nobody I can call to come over and help tune my Dell'ortos.

Jaguar is getting to be more and more exclusive but not in a wealthy sort of way, rather through attrition and corporate decisions. Its amazing how the XJ8 gets more compliments and thumbs up from complete strangers than the Corvette does. It really becomes clear how exclusive it is every time I have to search weeks for parts or wait months to schedule an appointment for a repair that I can't DIY. That's why mine are now both "retired" from daily driving duties. I bought a new Mustang last summer for commuting (Also been MCA member since 1985). Parts in stock at the Oh-Really's a few blocks away and a Ford dealer in practically every small town across America. So what if I see its twin everywhere. I look at it as, soon enough that one will be in a salvage yard and I can get parts off it.

 

Pic of my 81when I owned it. Wouldn't mind have it back now, but long gone. Unfortunately, I never kept pics of my 59.

 

One of things I really like about owning and driving Jags is that they're not mainstream. In my neck o'the woods (USA Pacific Northwest) you can go days or sometimes weeks without seeing another on the road. OTOH, you can't throw a rock without hitting a BMW, Audi, or Mercedes.

Corvettes? I generally like them and work on them often....older models. I'd love to have a C2 one day. Great cars, IMO. The modern models don't appeal to me, personally. The styling is too "Johnny Space Boy" for me. But, hey, I'm old.

Cheers
DD

 

I was just reading an article in The Drive yesterday about how divisive the C8 has been. I personally have no interest in owning a C8 for exactly the same reason as you. It looks to me like it was designed by Hasbro expressly to unfold into a Transformers robot.

 

My first car at 16 was a white '57 3 speed. I can't remember if I had the soft top. I've had 3 in all none newer than a '65. I'd take the '65 back but the C1 is uncomfortable at this point.

 

Mine's a c3, with some changes...

 

My wife owned a '76 Corvette, when we first met, and at the time, she had a '78 on order, as she liked the big glass window that was introduced in the '78 model year. However, when Chevrolet got the contract to supply the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a pace car for that year's 500 mile race, the US dealers all spoke up, and insisted that they be able to have a replica for their dealership. This "scrambled" the production schedule for '78 Corvettes, and my wife's order was "bumped" by 6 months. By the time her car arrived at the dealership, 6 months had passed, and she was annoyed that the car would essentially be "a year old car" within 6-8 weeks. The dealer understood her feelings, aided by the fact that they also had someone else who was interested in the car she had ordered, so they ordered her a '79, which she wound up keeping for about 18 years.

She was "Vetteless" for two years, and then bought her first Jaguar, a 2001 XJ-8. I, on the other hand, bought a 2001 Corvette in the early summer of 2001, and still have it...........