wish I had seen this first :-)

g'day

Hey, they are all special.  If they weren't, then none of us would be
driving them.  People buy Corollas, Civics, Cobalts, etc. because they need
transportation, and well, it was there , new, priced right, an ok color,
whatever, but people don't buy Corvettes that way. They make a very
conscious effort to buy a Corvette. They go looking for a Corvette. They
want a Corvette. They don't just stumble across one and buy it.

One of the saddest parts of all these restorations and Barrett-Jackson
auctions and such anymore is that unless it is a $100,000 restoration, one
of five made, owned by a celebrity or famous racer, or a rare factory option
package, Corvettes are made to seem ordinary.  They are anything but
ordinary.

Bill Mitchell and Harley Earl must be rolling in their graves.  I always
figured that Zora had to have the patience of a saint, being around the
restoration groups.  He was a racer, concerned with going fast, and then
making it go faster.  One of my favorite stories is that about his time
building the Corvette SS mule. The pictures you can see his excitement. The
Mule was a basket case. Spare parts, not painted, much missing, yet you can
see the excitement in his face of making it go fast.  He basically modified
every car he had to make it go faster.  He slapped on whatever experimental
Goodyear or Firestone performance or racing tire was available to him on
nearly everything.  The idea of returning a car to the factory original
condition has to be 180 degrees out from what he wanted. Instead of putting
race rubber on to go faster, restorers put on outdated 6.70-15 skinny hard
rubber to be "original".  How alien can that be to him, yet he was
constantly gracious to NCRS and Bloomington people.

It is a good looking car, Larry. Thanks for sharing and enjoy it all you
can.