A Corvette Thanksgiving

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Thinking about Thanksgiving, I was reflecting about my family and the precious gifts live brings to us in ways that we might not stop to consider. Of course as my thoughts tend to do, they took a turn towards Corvette and the gift that this fabulous car has brought to my life. So I thought I would spend a couple of minutes to list the things in the Corvette World that I am thankful for. My Dad
It’s been 24 years since my dad passed away. He purchased new the 1966 Corvette Convertible that would eventually make its way to my garage, as well as the top image of this blog. The story of how he got the Corvette is classic. The short story I’ll tell here is that he won a ’66 Ford Mustang in a sales contest, picked it up from the Ford dealer and drove it down to the Chevy dealer to use as a trade-in for the Corvette. Purchased the year before he married my mother, the Corvette got the nickname of Last Fling. He loved that car and his passion became my passion. However, I would give it all up in a second just to have him back. VetteFinders.com
Nearly 11 years ago I quit my advertising sales job with a TV station in Tampa to “do something on the internet”. At the time I didn’t know what, but I knew it would work itself out. In Oct 1995, I built my first website – the Route 66 Corvette Page – dedicated to my 1966 Corvette. That eventually led me to become the webmaster and then eventual owner of VetteFinders.com, my Corvette classified ads company. The best part of the business is I get to talk about Corvettes everyday. Corvette People
Owning a Corvette is like being a member of a very large fraternity. Corvette people are some of nicest and interesting people you could ever hope to be associated with. There is nothing like a getting together a group of people in hitting the road on a cruise. Also, when mentioning Corvette People, I am also saying thanks to those that design, engineer and assemble this great automobile. And let’s not forget the people in the past like Harley Earl and Zora Arkus-Duntov and Larry Shinoda, Dave Hill and Dave McClellan. All deserve a toast for their service to Corvette history. The Sunday Drive
A Corvette cruise is good for the soul. It can cleanse the mind like nothing else. Straightaways, twisties and two lane blacktop is my church. The 327 cubic inch is my choir and the 4-speed transmission is, well, a 4-speed. Sometimes I’ll put up to 200 miles on her and not realize how much time has passed. Seeing another Corvette on the road and giving and receiving The Wave. Damn, I feel like going for drive right now. The Restoration
My friend and VetteFinders partner Chris said after a full day of prepping the ’66 Corvette for the painter, “You have to kill it first so that it can be reborn“. He wasn’t kidding. Stripping the car down to exposed fiberglass and then watching the car being reborn was a total religious experience. Buying parts and then installing them, only if they were good enough, became my mission. And then finally the satisfaction of reaching your goal, knowing how much time, sweat and tears you have invested is one of the sweetest rewards you could ever have. I could go on and on but will end this here. Wrapping up this post, I am thankful for the opportunity to blog about Corvettes (nearly) everyday. Thankful for my family who puts up with my obsession. And most of all, thankful for God for whom without none of this is possible.
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2 COMMENTS

  1. Thanks, Rick. It was written from the heart and I am glad that you saw fit to share it with your website’s visitors as well.

    Keith

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