1967 Corvette Flooded During Superstorm Sandy is Back on the Road

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1967 Corvette Flooded During Superstorm Sandy is Back on the Road

Photo Credit: Howard Schnapp


Superstorm Sandy, take that!

It’s a good thing 61-year-old Ron Euliano of Oceanside, N.Y., didn’t listen to the doomsday crowd.

This story dates back to 1973 when Ron was just a teenager and found a “nice little car” – a 1967 Corvette with just 18,000 miles on the odometer – outside an auto shop on 86th Street in Brooklyn.

With a $100 check from his mom as a boost, Ron bought the C2 Corvette that day for $3,500 and has lived up to a promise he made her back then.

“I said, ‘Mom, I’m never selling this car,’ ” he recalled.

Over the years, the Corvette has always been there, including in the early years when he painted it a unique cream color himself and picked up his girlfriend and now wife, Laurie, to go out on dates.

He even had a car show sign made up that read “Ron’s Pride and Joy, driven in the streets of Brooklyn rain or shine.”

Little did he know that motto would be an omen of things to come. When Sandy hit in 2012, floodwaters entered the first floor of his home, coating the floor and furniture with a thick layer of mud. Sadly, though, the water also put his beloved Sting Ray and two Pontiac GTOs four feet under water.

“Everyone told me to get rid of it, but I just couldn’t let this one go,” Ron said of his Corvette.

Everyone but his wife, that is.

“I said, ‘you can’t give this up, it’s part of you,’ ” Laurie, 60, said.

So Ron put the Corvette in storage until last year when he finally finished repairs on his home.

1967 Corvette Flooded During Superstorm Sandy is Back on the Road


That’s when he started restoration work with Baldwin’s National Collision Co., toiling almost daily on the Corvette replacing nearly everything, from the interior to the engine.

Finally, about a month ago, the unmistakable rumble of the C2’s engine in the driveway caught Laurie’s attention.

“I said ‘Oh my god, it’s really back on the road,’ ” she said as she began to cry. “Sandy didn’t get it. She took a lot, but she didn’t take that.”

About a month ago, Laurie heard the rumble of the Corvette’s engine outside her window.

“I said ‘Oh my God, it’s really back on the road,’ ” she said as she began to cry. “Sandy didn’t get it. She took a lot, but she didn’t take that.”

While there are still some finishing touches to be done, Ron has already driven the Sting Ray to a couple of car shows, and he’s hoping for a few more parts in the next days as he celebrates his birthday.

“It doesn’t matter what it’s worth,” he said. “I’m driving it again and I’m so happy.”


Source:
newsday.com

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C4 Corvette Drowns When Streets in Atlanta Flooded on Sunday

 



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2 COMMENTS

  1. Great story – good for Ron and Laurie’s faith and patience. I bet it was a LOT of work. Should we ask about the GTOs?

  2. …i had a 1989 c4 cabrio and a 1987 c4 coup z51 floodet 1.5 year ago ( also a 1986 xjsc and a 1997 svt cobra) did not get rit of them al on the road again (exept the 87 coup) that so it took a lot of work and in the beginning and many a tear but i kept going and now i am proud….never give up no matter what….way to go Ron

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