Black_Magic

Sorry to say "YES I REMEMBER"

Bought my first Vette in 1964 after doing 4 years USAF. A '64 Coupe Black/Black 327/300 4 speed. Run the **** out of it and did the 60's type customizing.

Here's a pic (early 1965) getting it from body shop. Removed headlights and parking lights, Plymouth Valiant Grill and 1959 Chev Impala headlights.

BTW....Threw the headlight motors away

mr-natural

While working in a parking garage as a 15 year old in downtown St. Louis a guy offered me his 54 vette for $400 - may as well have been $40,000 I didn't have it and my dad wouldn't have let me get it anyway. Later, another attendant, driving a Pontiac, and me driving the vette drag raced on the second floor. We could only go about 200 feet before busting thru the wall so it wasn't much of a race - but to my surprise the vette lost - 6 cylinders gainst 8.

LabRat

My first memory goes a Saturday morning in 1958 when there was one in our driveway belonging to a young man who was visiting. All through high school,(1959-1963) hiding my Hot Rod magazine in study hall, I remember seeing the Malcom Conner Chevrolet in Paramus N.J. ads for the new Corvettes. They advertised for years in car magazines and I new that someday I would have one of those C1's. Finally in 1967 after my military duty was completed and I was 21 I bought my 1962 two months before I started college. My '62,'65,'69 and now '59 have given me a lot of joy over the years.

Jim Dillon

Although I had seen a few of the late fifties Corvettes around the neighborhood, the first that I saw that really made me take notice was in 1962. My neighbor bought a red 62 fuelie which looked really great but if the truth be told it was the sound of what I later found out was the off road exhaust that stopped me in my tracks. To this day I remember telling myself (I was 11 at the time) I would own a 62 one day. I ran into this neighbor at Meadowbrook Concours back in 1985 and related the same to him and he still owned the car. I imagine I will own mine for awhile yet myself-Jim

Formula Outlaw

I can remember like I'm sitting here now walking in with my parents and seeing the 1963 black split window coupe "without any headlights".

Was and still is the most memorable moment in my personal automotive history.....

philip964

I was going through puberty when the '63 Corvette and the XKE came out. Need I say any more.

The clincher was in 1963, my parents took me and my little brother and baby sister to Santa Cruz, California. That night, with the windows down, in our almost new 1962 Ford Fairlane with a 221 cid two barrel two speed automatic, we were slowly crusing the main drag at the Santa Cruz seaside amusement park.

The image I will remember for as long as I live from that night, were the brand new '63 Corvettes packed to the brim with lots and lots of young pretty teenage girls and college co-eds (at least five in each car) being driven by smiling young men.

Buttonhead

Both!

FormerBiker

I remember that very well. When "Little Joe" jumped in and flipped the switch to open the head lights, I thought that was the coolest thing I ever saw.

Fast forward 6 months. A kid that I went to school with said his dad was coming to pick him up in his new car and did I and another kid want a ride home. We saud sure. Well his dad was a doctor in town and he had a new split window. I crawled into the back with the other kid and had my first ride in a C2.

In 2002 I was finally able to buy my first vette. A 2002 Torch FRC.

Plasticfan

I don't want to give away my age but I bought a brand new 67 roadster, marina blue, L79, 4 speed (OK I was 23 at the time).
I loved that car but uncle sam said he needed my help in SE Asia. I couldn't make $80 payments on an army salary.

Cobra66

The summer I got my driver's licence, one of my older brother's friends received a high school graduation gift of a new '62 Corvette, Honduras maroon with black interior.

I recall it had a 4 speed, and was quite fast, but I don't recall which engine. I never saw it with any top whatsoever, so I don't know if he had the hardtop. He put a set of American Racing Torq Thrusts on it, so it looked really serious.

Same summer, my brother bought a new '62 Impala SS, also Honduras maroon with black interior, purchased at a meaningful discount as he had a summer job at GM HQ's in Manhattan. Depite my persistent suggestions that he get the 409/4 speed, the lizard got a 283 Powerglide combo.

The result of his purchase was that once he took delivery, I "inherited" his former ride, a rocking '59 Rambler American two door. At least the seats reclined to a fully horizontal position, although my brother used to surreptitiously "borrow" the recliner handles and then sell them back to me for a couple of bucks just before I went out on a date.

lspencer534

I want to thank everbody for their stories. Reading them, I have reminisced, chuckled, and sometimes almost gotten a lump in my throat. I've owned a '62 (bought for $1500 in 1969, sold for $2000 three years later), a '66 with A/T, A/C, PS, PB, teak/telescopic wheel, both tops, CA A.I.R. car (bought for $4800 in 1976, sold for $12000 in 1986)), and now a '67 with 46K miles. I've learned my lesson: I'm hangin' on to this one!

I echo what you've said: It may have been our ages, our attraction to cars, the cars themselves, but there is no feeling like seeing the C1's and C2's new!

GCD1962

Fred - I'm sure we met at some time back them. I recall many of the above. Also, Bobby Lagana, Billy Lagana, Dennis Tate, Al Bowes, Fred Ruff (remember the Hudson Jet) Smokey Mastriano (or something like that, I think he was a tech inspector). Didn't Dino have the infamous "Blue Goose" Chev. Dover was a dump, but a real blast nonetheless. The owners sold when business dropped off and someone discovered that on part of the property was an large Peat Bog which was worked for awhile after the track closed. I pass by it on occassion when I'm riding up that way - almost impossible to recognize now.

George

Cobra66

Relative to the above, anyone remember the "Gommi (sp?) and Grady Speed Shop" on Route 1 in Stamford, CT in the early/mid'60's?

They used to race a few different cars, including a rail, at Dover and other stips in the area.

GCD1962

I knew them both. They were friends of Dick Moroso. Paul Grady was a custom car guy. He still has the same Olds(?) that he had back in the early 60s. Paul Gommi went on the run a fuel dragster which was fairly competitive. He bought my station wagon at the time, loaded up and moved to Calif. He became a top engine builder for awhile for Fuel Dragsters. I saw his named mentioned a few years ago in a magazine because now he has become somewhat of a collector - 32 Fords, but original ones. He was a character. His other skill was illustrations - go figure. I remember when they had the speed shop, they were pissed at Dick because he was selling parts out of his home and getting the same prices from suppliers. No need to guess who won out as Dick went on to build his business (I was his first employee), but we were good friends well before he started the current business

6coupe4

I was in Junior High in 1962 when my shop teacher bought his 62 vette. I ran into him at a corvette meet about three years ago and he still has the same car.

chris ritchie

Random recollections.

1. Effortless acceleration. Even the base engines. Didn't need to floor it. It would gather speed without any fuss. Without trying, very soon, you'd be going too fast.

2. Orange peel like you wouldn't believe.

3. Paint was so bad, you couldn't get black for many years.

4. Poor quality. Weatherstrips coming off. Interior parts coming off. Instances of poor workmanship. Lotsa squeaks and rattles.

5. Dealers were jerks. They were doing you a favor to take your order. No discounting. Many people paid full price. They regularly denied warranty claims for drivetrain items. "Whaddaya mean it was abuse?"

6. Had to place your order by December to get one that model year. Dealer might take a deposit later in the model year, but wouldn't guarantee you getting one that year.

7. Get friendly with the Parts Department counter guy so he'd give you his old parts catalogs when they were replaced.

8. Don't buy the undercoating.

9. Next to impossible to get a brochure.

Wondertoad

Corvettes came into my life when my ol' man bought his '59 in the spring of 1961. It was the ultimate expression of his personality. I bought it from him in 1968 when he needed further refinement in expressing himself in the form of a new '68 400/427 coupe.

While I've gone through a bunch of Corvettes over the years. I still have that old '59 (we call if the family jewels)

Oh yea, I can remember when.............. and can remember all of the stories like they happened yesterday

Bill

scotty t

[QUOTE=Corps Vet;1567979181]I grew up in a blue collar rural neighborhood & you wouldn’t expect it but we had so many C1’s & C2’s running around back in the 60’s it was amazing. The first I remember was a white 63 fuelie coupe a guy a few doors down from me brought home new. That was the first C2 I remember & it was love at first sight. He had a buddy with a 413 cross ram Plymouth (another great car) that he’d run all the time. As legend has it that fuelie never lost.


isn't that a Beach Boys song??????

Joeydeluxed

I remember walking to High School in 1967
and admiring a Silver Pearl
'67 Convertible with a black top that I walked
past every morning.
Never in
my wildest dreams did I think I would ever
be able to afford a Corvette Now I can and am looking for one to relive my younger days!

Sweet memories of youth..............If only life
would be as simple now as it was then.......

Joeydeluxed

claf

I started off on the wrong foot. My first new car was a '59 Austin Healey. What a piece of cra-. Traded it in on a new '60 270 hp two top. Shortly after, hooked up with a girl friend who owned a '55 Vet. Loved the '55 with glass pacs on it. We often swapped cars for the day (until I realized what a lousy driver she was). Ultimately she totaled the '55 two or three times, luckily we had a friend who was the local adjuster and felt sorry for her so it kept getting put back together.

After she became history I traded for a '62 and have been with Vets ever since except a couple years in the early seventies. My present '62 Vet has been in the family for 33 years. Bob