First post ever, I'm more of lurker, always find other stories more fascinating.

I will make this as short as possible, but it won't be easy:

I Bought the car in 1986 while driving home one night on Beach Blvd in Huntington Beach, CA. I was working for GM Powertrain in Flint MI when this incredible opportunity presented itself, so I flew to LA and lived that life for two years, before returning to MI and GM. While in LA I worked in "the biz" which gave me access to all of the major studio lots, so this car has toured every studio lot there is. Sitting on the 405 each morning on my way into Century City is where I bonded with the car. We became inseparable racing on Mulholland, running out to Palm Springs, running up to Pismo Beach and putting the car in the Pacific surf for an awesome picture, running to Sequoia National forest, lunches at Disney Land, and the one year I drove to Vegas 19 times, most in the Corvette. I had one day where we drove 1,000 miles on a 24 hour Sunday, from Vegas and all over. My job in LA ended and I opted to go home in MI and resume my job at GM.

I flew back and shipped the car, my first experience with shipping. It was late fall. The car was to be loaded onto a truck in the order it would come off, or so I was told. Four months go by and I'm in MI still waiting for my car, which I was told would be delivered in two weeks when I shipped it. Calls to the company were never returned and nobody could ever tell me where the car was. It arrived in the dead of a MI winter and snow everywhere, including IN the car due to the driver leaving the driver's window cracked AND an old 70s Cadillac parked above the Vette, leaking oil ALL OVER the front of my car. I was so pissed and yet so happy to actually see it again I didn't say anything. It was tied down so tightly I vaguely remember seeing the tires shoved way up into the wheel wells farther than I thought possible. That is the last time I will ever ship that car.

Once in MI she joined my best friend's 75 and we had a blast driving both cars. He was a Corvette engineer and we would run down to the Bowling Green a few times each year for company work. On one trip his 75 kicked up a hunk of retreaded tire and it slammed the hood, between the headlights, and cracked the hood. This must have been around 1989 or possibly 1990. When get to the plant it was late and second shift was running. We were chatting with the guys on the "repair" line as they were bored that evening and I mentioned my damaged hood. They took the car back in and repaired the hood structure so good I still have a hard time finding it. After that I was able to get into the vault where the build sheets were stored and got my "birth certificate"; this long before you could get them from the museum. I purchased the car in CA but as it turns out was originally bought in MI. I had to know more!

I'll skip the details how, pre-Internet days, but I located the original buyer in California. He bought the car new and drove it immediately to Los Angeles, starting a new life and trading it in for a new truck. As he explained it, early on the 84s were not CA compliant and not for sale yet, so he had one of the first in CA, and the dealership wanted it. The dealership was owned by a lady, who was married to a guy that ran the dealership. He had a girlfriend on the side and he bought this for her. I know his name and he is still working as a car salesman, but not at the original dealership anymore, divorced. The girlfriend put the first 60,000 miles on it before getting in a small accident in the front/left corner. From what I can see it was fairly minor body damage, but it was enough to make her CA car insurance sky rocket. I was told she was drunk when she crashed. She could no longer afford the car insurance traded it in at the VW car dealership on Beach Blvd, where I bought it.

It's complex story! I'll skip the details involving Champion Chevrolet in Hermosa Beach, CA, where I lived as well. My 84' steering wheel was replaced with a new 1988 wheel, thanks to Jim Langer @ Champion. He helped me a lot, so much so I've not forgotten his name.

On one trip to Vegas it was a very early Sunday morning as I was to meet a friend from MI flying in early. I was late 20s and still doing dumb things. I was in the middle of absolute no-where on the 15, early Sunday morning, something like 6:30am and not a sole on the road. No radios stations, so it was a little boring. I come across this kid, my age, walking along the road. I stop and pick him up, for which he mentions that he is very appreciative. He steps into the car and the stench HIT me, he really stunk bad. He then proceeds to tel me how he was released from jail earlier that morning in a town in my rear-view mirror. He wants to go to Vegas, where I'm heading, but did I mention he stunk? Did I mention he was just released from jail? Did I fail to mention he was jailed for roughing somebody up? I'm sweating as I know he's going to pull a knife on me, kick me out, and steal my car. He falls asleep. I quietly begin to accelerate and within a few minutes I'm running just over 105mph. He's out cold, sleeping, while I'm speeding hoping to catch someone's attention, and it worked! Sure enough, a small CHP Mustang pulls me over and I get out of my car and speak to the officer. I tell him what I had done, picking up this guy, and I wasn't feeling comfortable about that decision. I will never forget how he lectured me about how "everyone out here is dirty, Don't ever do that again" and he pulled the guy out of my car and took him somewhere in his car. I'll never forget that experience and how thankful I was for that CHP officer to be on duty that morning.

The car has made a few trips to Virginia Beach, one time running on a bad alternator with the voltage running down, at night, to the point where I don't recall lights but I remember it making it to the house on the beach, barely. Next morning a new alternator was installed and it made it home again. Another trip, to Toronto this time, was when it decided to give up the fuel pump. I remember how cold fresh gas would let the car run for a long time, until it got warm, and then I had to let it cool down for a spell each time. Even then, it didn't fail me, and it got me home. It's been an amazingly durable car. I've had it sideways on mountain roads in CA, it's been on the BeachBend dragstrip in Bowlling Green, and even a few homecoming parades with young girls sitting on the halo. My niece was just learning to speak and one of the first words was "Corvette" after she had a few rides. Leaving it for the my parents to drive one weekend and my mother gives it back on Monday, with 600 miles racked up on it! I asked where the heck they went and she said they went shopping a few times. In up-state NY my future wife and I were cruising back country roads and it was a beautiful moonlit night and the top was off. One thing led to another and we needed to park the car for "other" activities and I picked a farmer's two-track trail that led off into a field. I was creeping along, paying more attention to the passenger than the two-track and suddenly "WHAM" the front right wheel drops into a large hole, dropping the car onto the frame. With passions quickly cooled I devised a way to lift the car with the tire jack and we quietly slipped back onto the road.

Back to the original owner, years later, he comes to MI to visit his parents, so I meet him back to his old house, with his old car. It felt surreal and it was interesting when he brought out the original window sticker, kept at his parent's house all these years.

The car even made the catalog cover of "Paragon Reproductions" Corvette parts catalog, back in 1996. I remember that year because it was featured as a first/last C4s, with it parked along side a blue Grand Sport belonging to someone I knew.

While at GM I was blessed to be able to travel with the GM engineers to Carlisle PA a few times with me in my car. One year I drove the GM cars including the awesome 89 Snake Skinner, on public roads all the way to PA, and a few other prototypes like "Big Doggie". It was hard for me to keep up with them in the modern cars during "spirited" moments and I was in the Cross-Fire.

Since day #1 I have always A) filled the gas tank and B) logged the mileage and gasoline used into a log book. I have never stopped and put $10 in. Every tank filled, every time, which makes for an interesting spreadsheet! Include a 15-tank moving average to smooth out the inaccurate fills and you can really see this car's mileage! On one trip to Corvettes at Carlisle I followed the Paragon Reproductions cube van, real close, all the way from MI to PA, and the gas mileage was insane, something like 32mpg as I recall.

I could go on and on, so many stories yet untold, but this is probably the wrong thread. It's a car I am unable to even thinking of ever selling as she has shared so much of my life, with me. I know the engine is getting tired, and she leaks a little more oil than I would like. I often contemplate what I'll do with it; do I buy a crate motor and go modern or keep her mostly original and have the Cross-Fire rebuilt, leaning towards rebuild and buying another for my desire for torque and a six speed. Its been the most enjoyable vehicle ever owned, as well as the most durable, especially considering what I've asked the car to do. It's been coast to coast and I hope to see it coast to coast yet again as future memories and stories await.