Most people buy a car expecting it to last a few years. Ann Shirley Goodell bought hers expecting it to last a lifetime — and then proved herself right. The 1962 Corvette convertible she ordered as a young graduate student has been her constant companion for six decades, accumulating stories as rich as the patina on its original Fawn Beige paint.
We first wrote about Ann Shirley’s 1962 Corvette when she celebrated 50 years with the car. Now, for the first time since the Kennedy administration, the car has been sold again, and now it’s being offered on eBay out of Canada for $69,888 or best offer.
Goodell’s Corvette began its life at King Chevrolet in Cincinnati, where she placed the order on January 15, 1962. She was far from her home in British Columbia, working on a graduate degree and a research job, and needed reliable transportation. Her father urged her to buy an Oldsmobile — something practical she could later import into Canada duty free. She tried it his way, but the Olds turned out to be a lemon. So she followed her instincts and bought the Corvette she had wanted all along, vowing to keep it forever.
The car – finished in Fawn Beige over Fawn – was equipped with a 327 V8, three speed manual, Positraction, a signal seeking radio, and whitewall tires. The original bill of sale — still with the car today — shows an MSRP of $4,310.30, slightly more than her annual salary as a nurse. But she never regretted the splurge.
Goodell drove the Corvette everywhere. She commuted in it, took it on long trips, and used it for everyday errands. She packed her wedding clothes into it for the 3,900 kilometer drive home to Trail, B.C., where the Corvette served as her wedding car and honeymoon cruiser. When she and her husband Rob moved to California, the Corvette came along, surviving a few mishaps — an illegal U turn collision, a parking lot roll away, and a stop sign runner — but always returning to the road.
She raised her children around the car, carpooling them to school and squeezing four kids into the passenger seat with the family collie on the floor. Her sons each drove it to their high school graduations, polishing it until it gleamed. Later, her grandsons fell in love with it too.
Even in her 80s, Goodell continued to enjoy the Corvette. She preferred driving with the top down, carrying a beige umbrella to shield herself at stoplights if rain began to fall. “It only rains in the car when it’s not moving,” she liked to say. She kept the car in a downtown Vancouver garage across from her condo, turning down countless offers from people who wanted to buy it. “It’s my car for life,” she insisted.
We hope that doesn’t mean Mrs. Goodell has passed away now, but we couldn’t find an obituary for her so maybe she just decided to let someone else take care of her baby after 64 years.
Photo Credit: Jenelle Schneider, Postmedia News
That new owner describes the car as being “very original,” still wearing its factory drivetrain and accompanied by both tops. For someone out there, that makes it more than just a 1962 Corvette — it’s a chance to continue a story that began with a promise made in 1962 and kept for a lifetime.
Source:
eBay Motors
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Now that’s a love story…
Nice article. A clarification, though, it’s not $69,888, it’s $65,888 CAD and about $46,550 USD.
Sad that nobody in the family wanted to keep it.
Anne is still alive, now 88 years old, and living in La Jolla, Calfornia. Here is what I found online about her:
https://www.spokeo.com/Ann-Goodell/California/La-Jolla/p14602915652780705202
Great story, great car. Incidentally, the fawn beige color is the one used in the Route 66 TV series because it filmed better in black and white.
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