In 1975, a friend of my grandfather bought a brand new orange flame Corvette. The car came with the base L-48 V8, automatic trans, deluxe medium saddle interior, factory air, and power windows, steering and brakes.
Less than a year after buying the car, he found himself in a messy divorce. In order to keep his soon-to-be ex-wife from getting the car, he sold it to my grandfather. The car had less than 4,000 miles on it when my grandfather picked it up. My grandfather kept the car until two years ago when he passed it on to me.
The strange part about this is that my grandfather really isn't a car guy. He used wipe off his Ford Tempo with paper towels after washing it. I think there was something about that car that he liked, car guy or not, that made him buy it and keep it for so long. He may be a car guy underneath, who knows. He did religiously maintain the car.
When ownership was handed over to me, I received a 32-year-old, all-original car. All-original can be a good thing, a bad thing or both. In my case, it was both.
It's good because everything that was on the car in 1975 is still there, maintenance items like brakes and tires not withstanding. All of the gauges worked perfectly and so did the power windows. Plus it ran as good as a 32-year-old car that weighs 3,500 pounds with 165 horsepower (at one time) could.
It's bad because everything that was on the car in 1975 is still there. That means the urethane bumpers were splitting and close to falling off (the rear flapped in the wind), the steel wheels were a bit rusty, some of the chrome was pitted, the steering was scary loose and the rear leaf spring was sagging.
And the leaks.
Every fluid that could possibly find its way on to my garage floor did. Engine oil, power steering fluid, gas, trans fluid, coolant and differential fluid all left their signatures on my defenseless floor. It's a good thing I don't own an old British car or the EPA would condemn my house.
In the past two years I've fixed the majority of the problems and added some new ones. There was a point where it seemed every time I drove the car something broke, but it's pretty solid now. It leaves a few drops here and there but I can deal with those until I'm able to create more problems, um, I mean restore it.
I think the biggest change made in the past two years is my opinion of it. I thought of the car as an old dinosaur, an example of why cars from the mid-to-late 70's were terrible. Now, I can't help but find myself endeared by it.
I like the skinny steering wheel, the heavy steering, the four piston brakes at all four corners, the V8 torque, and the orange paint. I even like the styling, though it is a bit disco. I like all of the things that make Corvettes unique.
I do, however, wish it was a four-speed manual but I'll live. Besides, the TH-400 in the car is one of the best automatic transmissions GM ever made. That just means when I hit my mid-life crisis and decide to pro-street the car, I can reuse the transmission.
While this car has attached itself to my wallet like a parasite, I love it, warts and all. Everytime I get mad at it, I think to myself: "you could've inherited a Dodge Dart."
When you think of it that way, it's not so bad after all.
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