greatwhiteshark

Ok, this is my cherry post :) I am a 30 something (kid) male from Pennsylvania, I own a couple computer stores and my pride and joy (probably should be the wife but alas...) is the 1985 white Vette I picked up last summer. Here is the kicker, when I bought her I KNEW her from my younger days! As a kid I worked at the local Chevrolet dealership, started out as a lot car wash boy and moved up through detail and eventually became a mechanic and then I was promoted to lot manager there before I enlisted in the Army, well one of my duties as lot manager was to QC and sign for all the new cars/trucks as they were unloaded from the carriers... I will never forget that glistening white C4 sitting up there among the "lesser" auto's (the Monte Carlo’s, caprice classics and the like) She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, and it was the only white Corvette we ever sold. This is a small town and a depressed area, we didn’t sell many Vettes. And never a white one. It was very late at night and once the autos were checked in it was miller time for me, but I wasn't thinking of that! The image that popped into my head as he ramped her off the carrier was a great white shark, cutting its way powerfully through the open spaces ready to dart left or right in search of prey... (this was actually going through my wee little mind as the over weight truck driver tried to cram himself in her charcoal grey leather seat, cussing and complaining about how bad he hated "those damn Kentucky nightmares.") After he unloaded all of the other future scrap yard refugees and left I noticed two things, it DID look like a great white shark ready to spring at any given moment, its gill slits behind the wide road sure tires even seemed to move in the dim shop security lights as if she were breathing. The second thing I noticed is the driver had left powder sugar from his doughnut on her smooth black wheel, I got in and wiped it clean... That was it folks, I was hooked the moment I looked out that windshield and gripped her now clean steering wheel. I had to drive her, she had little over 7 miles on the odometer, it wasn’t odd for a car to have 30 off the truck. I inserted that key and the dash lit up, and then dimmed because the garage area was shut down to nothing but security lighting for the night. As I turned that key the beast rumbled to a high idle and then eased down to a low steady throbbing pulse of pure ground shaking V8 power. I slipped her transmission into drive and the tires made a squeak on the painted smooth concrete floor, as I released the brake, she started to roll smoothly forward towards the cavernous garage door. I pulled the headlight switch and the lamps rolled back, not unlike the way a sharks eyes roll into its skull for protection as they attack their prey. 30 mins later and after the most exhilarating ride of my life I was rolling her smoothly back into the service department, I revved her throaty engine and then let her fall off to an idle, it sounded SO good inside that garage I had to do it again, rev and fall off, rev and fall off... God I wanted that car!
I shut her down and walked all around her listening to the ticks and pings of the cooling engine and exhaust system, the humid air still heavy with the smell of exhaust, not any exhaust but CORVETTE exhaust. I locked up and drove my Demo home a nice car in its own class, it was an 85 Monte Carlo SS, black with red and orange trim, but it wasn’t my Great white. For the next few nights I would make excuses to swing down to the dealership just to look at her, sit in her... I never drove her again. When that Vette was sold I cried, I don’t know why, hell I new I couldn't afford her on my after school job money... but I cried anyway, my 17 year old tears fell on the back deck of that white shark right there in the detail rack, late the night before her new owner took delivery. I was in love, and to this day I have never felt that strongly about anyone or anything as I did that night over that car. I didn’t go to school the next day, I wanted a look at the guy who stole my girl... He was a nice guy as bad as I hated to admit it, he was a brit through and through I could barely understand his British dialect, but he was in love with her too, that I could tell. I never saw her again, hell she never came in for work or anything and 3 years later I was shipping off to US Army basic training. When I got out of the Army and came home in the spring of 95 I had learned a lot about computers, I was a truck mechanic in the army but I cross trained into computer and information systems repair and had taken some courses etc in the civilian sector. I started my own little computer shop and life was good, Charter Cable approached me about helping them get cable internet in our area last year. I went to people’s homes and offices and installed the cable modems. Shortly after 9/11 and the tragic things that took place that day I had an installation and I knew the name but couldn’t place it. The instant he came to the door I knew he was the man who had taken my first love away from me 15 years ago. He looked old, and tired his hair had gone grey and his accent was completely gone. We chatted a while and he said I know you from somewhere, and I told him the story. He smiled and said “I loved her son, but not like you did." As I was finishing up we made the general small talk, and he told me 4 years ago he had had a stroke and couldn’t move around real well and blah blah blah. As I shook his hand and gave him my best rendition of the "welcome to Charter pipeline, if you ever have any problems blah blah blah" spiel, he said "before you go, I want to show you something in the back yard" My heart pounded and my hand started to sweat around the snap-on ratcheting screwdriver (my carry over from mechanic to computer tech) he walked slowly out the back door and began removing the cover from her now dull and lusterless but shapely hood, I got tears and so did he, he tossed me the keys and said it hasn’t been started since last summer. I sat inside her no longer new smelling interior, grasped the sun checked and beaten steering wheel that in another life a long time ago I had loving wiped powdered sugar from with a cloth covered with armor all. And I put the key in the ignition and had to jiggle it up and down to get the worn tumblers to line up, I turned the key and got a symphony of clicks, and watched the dash wink out and then as I released the key it slowly lit back up again. The odometer showed 120 grand. He said "needs a new battery I guess huh?" I said yeah, but I appreciate the reintroduction anyway (GOD I WANTED THAT CAR!!) I climbed out (now I know why the truck driver was bitching *lol* im not 17 anymore!) he said do you still love it like that? And without even thinking I said it’s a "she" and yes sir... I do. He said "I haven’t been able to get in and out since my stroke, want to buy it?" I said I sure do!! And he said how much would you give me for it? I said I can give you a check for 3 grand right now and another 3 grand tomorrow morning. I knew it was too much but I had a shot at my first love and I wasn’t going to worry about little things! He agreed and the next day I put a battery in her and as I pulled her out of his driveway (check engine light on steady, missing badly on stale gas, blue smoke curling up around the tail section...) He was crying openly there in his front yard in a bathrobe and old man slippers... the world comes full circle I guess. I have about 15 grand in her now, new short block, new tranny, new diff, I still need a new smoke blue top and a speedometer (no rebuilds for the cluster, the speedo lcd is cracked) and I bumped the windshield with a wrench while dropping in the new engine/tranny and cracked it so that’s on the list too now. I know it isn’t worth what I paid for the car even in mint condition, but to me... it’s worth the universe. As they say “It’s never too late for a happy childhood!”

Grant

95AquaC4

Welcome. :seeya

GS Diva

And I hope you plan to take her to Carlisle this week!!!

GS Diva aka Elaine

joecaver

I gotta tell you that I did not read all of that, but welcome aboard. :seeya

GS Diva

Yes, it needed a few paragraph breaks...but a nice story, just the same!

GS Diva aka Elaine

93TorchRedC4

:cheers: Welcome Grant, and boy can you write!!! You're gonna love this place! :seeya

rbhighrise

What a :cool: story! Welcome aboard. :cheers:

Sharky Guam

That was a great story! I had to read it twice. I too had a first love corvette. I'll spare you the details. But there is nothing like the charisma of the Corvette. I paid $7500 for a junk 69 Corvette in the early 80s. It was way too much for a wrecked car. But what I have is what I call "a wolf in sheep's clothing". It is a one of a kind custom Corvette. It is not a custom due to the flares and wing spoilers associated with custom body work. Actually it looks very stock. Actually it is a 1980 convertible Corvette. If you have followed the history of the vette, you will already know that there was no convertible built in 1980. But actually, it is a sort of rare 1969 435hp 427 with factory air conditioning,p/s,p/w,4spd trans and three two barrel carbs inside. Outside, we put 1980 body panels on her. Many have told me to restore her back to original condition. But to me, I like her just the way that she is. I love her very much. And yes, she is my mistress! Even my wife agrees!

Welcome to the club! :cheers: :seeya :seeya

Tx07BlackZ51

Great story, dreams can come true :cheers: Welcome to the forum :seeya

CoolVette86

Grant, that's a hell-of-a-story you've got there! :cheers: Congrats on your Corvette ownership and welcome to the forum! :cheers: :seeya :seeya :seeya

bigdan

wow, great story! welcome to the forum. :cheers:

Stv50

Welcome :cheers:

DarkHalo

Damn dude....talk about having it bad. I had tears in my eyes reading that, seriously. I know **exactly** what you mean. Now Im gonna be late for work but what the hell, itll give me an excuse to drive a bit faster in the old gal *G* Welcome to the forum, I can already tell youll fit right in and love it here. :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

Ruby6spd

great story, welcome to the forum

Corvette Kid 92

me read all that? HAHA :lol: Welcome :seeya

Danger Dave

See, dreams do come true.. Congrats and welcome.. :cheers:

FASTAZU

:cheers: Welcome

War Machine

:cool: story!

Welcome!! :cheers: :seeya

J Z06

Glad to have you with us!

Enjoy :cheers:

VetteNoob

:seeya Welcome to CF!