[VIDEO] 1962 Corvette Earns Keith’s Choice Award at 2014 Corvette FunFest

Part of our responsibilities when covering Mid America Motorwork’s 2014 Corvette FunFest is the selection of a Corvette for our celebrity choice award. As we wandered Corvette FunFest’s back parking lot looking for the appropriate Corvette, we realized our work would be cut out for us. So many great Corvettes. So many great stories.

That’s when I spotted Mike McGuirk and his son Mike sitting behind a Honduras Maroon 1962 Corvette.

Mike and his son were wearing matching t-shirts for a Corvette club in Merrillville, Indiana which is in the Northwest corner of the state near Gary. As a former Hoosier who spent a little time in Merrillville, I walked up and started checking out their classic Corvette.

Mike introduced himself and I came to find out that both he and his son have been longtime visitors to Corvette FunFest and make the 400 mile round-trip drive annually in their customized 1962 Corvette.

He told me that he previously owned a 1962 Corvette in 1963 but sold it after a while. When another one came up for sale in 1989, he bought it and over the years he has added his own personal touches on the car. Appearance-wise, the hardtop roadster has a great looking stance accentuated by the old-school Cragar rims. It’s powered by a 383 stroker V8 with a 4-speed manual transmission which Mike says is very fun to drive.

Another customization Mike added was a third set of the taillights to the Corvette which is another throw-back to the old hot rod days.

Mike was very appreciative after I told him I was selecting his car for our Celebrity Choice Award but really, it was great to hear some stories about his Corvette as well as how the Corvette hobby helps keep a father and son close.

When asked if his son Mike is a Corvette owner, he laughed and said “in a way, this is his…it will be.”

Winners of the Celebrity Choice Awards were able to park their Corvettes in a special lot and then on 3pm on both Friday and Saturday afternoon, those day’s winners paraded their Corvettes and have their photos taken with Mike Yager. All the winners received a special silver medal commemorating the event.

Here’s our interview with Mike and then you can see him and his son receiving the medal from Mike Yager during the award’s ceremony.

Related:
[VIDEO] 1967 Corvette Selected for Keith’s Choice Award at Corvettes at Carlisle
[PICS] 2014 Corvette FunFest at Mid America Motorworks
[VIDEO] CorvetteBlogger Talks with Mike Yager at the 2014 Corvette FunFest