Holiday Traffic Brings Corvette Fans Together

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Charlie's 1965 Nassau blue ConvertibleThe Thanksgiving holiday found me driving a rented GMC Acadia from Tampa to Southeastern Kentucky for our annual family reunion. Friday kicked off the second leg of our trip as the family and I journeyed down I26 in South Carolina, picking up I95 on our way to Savannah Georgia. The round trip is about 1,800 miles and offers a lot of time for reflection. Seeing a couple of old cars including a first gen Mustang and a cool candy apple red Oldsmobile 442, I lamented the fact that you don’t see many C2 Corvettes on the highway anymore. Then I came across Charlie and his 1965 Corvette Convertible.

Settling in behind the Nassau Blue 1965 Convertible, I set the cruise to 75 and kept a respectful distance. It was in the mid 50’s on Friday, a bit chilly for top-down driving as you can see. And because of the chill in the air and my six year old sleeping in the back seat, I decided against putting down the windows to hear the sound emanating from the side exhaust of the blue Convertible.

The feeling of driving a midyear Corvette down a highway is something that can’t easily be explained. It’s just one of those things that has to be experienced for yourself. Seeing Charlie made me wish I was on a road trip in my 1966 Corvette, driving down the highway on my way home from what must have been a cool adventure.

I snapped a couple photos of the 1965 Convertible and then made my Savannah exit, leaving Charlie to continue on by himself, never knowing a Corvette brother-in-arms was in that white GMC that tailed him for those few miles.

Monday morning came and I was reviewing the photos from the long weekend. Seeing that the 1965 Corvette had a Florida vanity plate, I decided to see if I could track down the driver. Looking first to see if he was a member of any of the forums, I struck gold on my first attempt with the Corvette Forum and sent Charlie the following message:

Charlie: Very nice 1965 Corvette. I was lucky enough to fall in behind you for about 20 miles on I95 in South Carolina just before the Georgia border. I was driving a white GMC SUV. Send me your email and I will forward you a couple of photos I took. Keith
aka keith@vettefinders on the forum…

Charlie responded back within the hour:

Keith: I remember a white SUV that stayed with me for a while. It was a beautiful day and I was feeling good. I was headed home from Thanksgiving with my family in Charlotte. I spent the night in St. Augustine and the next morning I stopped at the Turkey Rod Run in Daytona. Too many cars to see in one day. I had to be home in Ft. Lauderdale by Saturday night.

I sent Charlie the two photos I took of him in his Corvette, both from the rear as he headed down the highway. Turns out he was on the final leg of an extended road trip which took him and other members of the Sting Rays Corvette Club up to Deals Gap North Carolina for a run on the Tail of the Dragon.

Charlie’s Corvette is ideal for highway driving as he dropped a Tremec 5-Speed into it during the second restoration. You can see the former barn car for yourself on page 80 of December 2007’s Corvette Fever Magazine. We passed a couple of more emails during the day and I suggested the two of us meeting up in January at the NCRS Winter Regional in Kissimmee, Florida to say hello. Charlie, I was tired and bored from the long ride and then I saw you and your beautiful Corvette driving down the road. Thanks for allowing me to tag along! Related:
A Corvette Thanksgiving



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