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THE SEARCH
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I’ve always loved the muscle cars. I envied the guys in high school with the
69 Camaro Z-28, the 70 Trans Am, the 69 Camaro SS, the 70 Chevelle SS 454,
and on and on. But the one car that I
thought was really the “coolest” belonged to the guy who owned the mechanic
shop near my school. He had a white
1969 Corvette convertible. He always
parked it out front of his shop with the top down. It was gorgeous. As high school graduation approached, my
dad suggested I start looking for a car to take to college instead of the
Blazer I was driving. It just so
happens that I had spied a ’66 Corvette convertible at a used car lot down
the street. They were asking $9,500
for it. I talked the salesman down to
$5,500 but I needed help with the money.
I knew my dad would be happy to help me with this. My dad grew up around cars and could
appreciate this bargain. I knew the
car would be mine. I approached him
with my proposition. His answer. “You don’t want an old car.” An old car!
This was a CORVETTE! I was
floored. They eventually sold the car. The years passed. I went to college and envied the guys with
the cool “old” cars. Then came a
career, marriage, kids, house payments, braces, etc. I didn’t have the time or the money to get
my dream car. I let my dream fade
away. I still turned to gawk at the
muscle cars I came across but I resigned myself that these cars would always
belong to the other guy – not me. Something happened early in 2000. I still don’t know what happened. I know it wasn’t the fact that I would be
turning 40 next year. I’m really not
into that kind of stuff. I suddenly
got an urge to start looking for a classic Corvette. I equate it to the urge that birds have to
fly south in the winter. You just do
it. We had just bought a house so it
really didn’t make any sense to look for a car now. We used all of our savings on the down
payment. But I began my quest. The old dream was beginning to rekindle. I started out by studying the different
years of Corvettes. I finally decided
that my car must be from 1970 to 1972.
It must also be a convertible, with a 454 engine, 4 speed transmission,
air conditioning, power steering, and power brakes. Why not be specific? Next I started searching the Internet for
MY car. I searched every dealer and classified
web site I could find that would have Corvettes. I bookmarked several as my “regular” sites
but I still searched for new sites. I
searched the Internet almost every day for a year. There were lots of great cars, but none
that met the criteria I set. Then one
day I found a new site and it happened.
There she was! MY car! She was a 1972 convertible with 454, 4
speed, a/c, power windows, power brakes, and power steering, white and saddle
leather interior. I zipped off an email
to the owner and I waited. And
waited. And waited. To top off my anguish, my computer
crashed and I lost the list of web sites and emails. I couldn’t remember where I found that
site. My dream was being dashed
again. But to my surprise I received
an email from the owner. He had been
having computer problems and couldn’t respond to my email. He attached some photos with the
email. She was gorgeous. After emailing and talking for several
weeks, we agreed on a price for the car.
The only problem was, he lived in He turned out to be very honest and the
Corvette was as he described. We made
a deal and I loaded up my Vette. MY
Vette! I still can’t get used to
it.
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