The Corvette King of Napoleon, Ohio

Corvette fanatics probably think they have died and gone to heaven when they walk into the showroom at ProTeam Corvette Sales.

And little wonder.

Owner’s Terry Michaelis and his brother Fred – who have been in the Corvette hobby since the early 1970s, when they first began buying and fixing up used models – currently have the world’s largest collection of classic Corvettes in a collection of surprisingly simple buildings in the small Ohio town of Napoleon.

That’s where the Michaelis brothers grew up, and Terry remembers when he first caught the fever – pumping gas into a marine blue 1967 Corvette convertible with a big block motor that pulled into the gas station where he worked.

“I promised myself that someday I’d own a ’67 Corvette,” he says in an article in the May issue of Country Living magazine, the official publication of Ohio Rural Electric Cooperatives. “Now I have about 30 of them.”

But his interest is far from limited to 1967 models. If you’re looking for an outstanding example of any Corvette of any year through the C6 models, you need look no further than Michaelis’ dealership. ProTeam even owns seven examples of the inaugural 1953 model, of which only 300 were produced and only about 200 are believed to still exist.

The current inventory includes the first 1965 coupe produced ($125,000), as well as a rare 1967 tuxedo black on red convertible owned by Roy Orbison ($300,000). They sell more than 300 such cars each year, even offering a no-risk money-back guarantee for their customers who cannot or do not wish to travel to buy their dream Corvette.

“You can’t go anywhere else and see the variety of Corvettes for sale that you can see here,” he says.

And when you buy a Corvette from ProTeam, you can be assured that Terry has researched the car thoroughly and it is what he says it is.

His brother is just as particular in his side of the business – the body shop and restoration.

They’ve been in the Corvette business for so long that they’ve earned an international reputation, selling cars from Russia to South America.

Ironically, Corvettes may have worldwide appeal, but Terry says they are definitely all-American. “They’re baseball, apple pie, and a bag of microwave popcorn.”

And you can definitely find plenty of all-American treats to “eat” at ProTeam.

Source:
Country Living Magazine

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