This is my story of how I got the Corvette bug, so you might want to get a cup of coffee and some donuts, it's going to be a long one.
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A Corvette was just a dream, a dream I knew would one day come true. The dream seemed impossible, improbable, it was just some wishful thinking, but I would never let go of that dream. I was only a child, 3, 4, 5 years old?... Wow, I have no idea, God only knows, but the beauty and finesse of the Corvette was the one thing I would never forget from that early age. I think the first Corvette I ever saw was a C3 (Hey, I'm still kind of a baby, I was born in '79), but don't quote me on that (the "C3" part)
. What was it about the Corvette? I had no idea, all I knew is that it looked like a badass and expensive car.
From the moment I saw my first corvette as a child, I would always express to my family that I would one day have a Corvette of my own. It was merely a dream, but my family supported the dream, sort of.
I used to get Corvette calendars and Corvette hot wheels at Christmas,
every Christmas. It wasn't much, but it was enough to keep the hope alive. As the years came and went through adolescence, the dream continued to stay alive. Whenever I was in the car with my family, I remember that I would nearly get whiplash every time I'd see a Corvette pass by. Whenever we went to the commissary, there'd be one particular parking lot where I would always
require my parents to stop for a minute so I could look at the 2 or 3 Corvettes that might be sitting there for sale that day. I knew never to touch the cars, they were too special to me and it was out of respect for the car (
eh, ok, maybe not.... actually, my mom or dad would yell at me to not touch the car, i knew why though
)
Well, fast forward til i'm around 21 years old or so, and I still had never been in a Corvette.
And I didn't expect to own a Corvette for maybe another 10 or 15 years, maybe longer. Then, one day changed everything. I was visiting back home, me and one of my brothers had gone out to eat with some of his friends. As we were leaving the restaurant, I saw that one of his friends had driven a White C4 to the restaurant.
. I gave the vette two quick "I'm not worthy" bows, and he tossed me the keys.
It took every ounce of my strength to not jump up and down like some little 3 year old.
Now, I wish I could tell you that we peeled away in a cloud of smoke, or did some donuts in the parking lot...... Uh... no. We went around the block. I was to feckin scared to do anything else. I must have driven like a Grandma going out on a Sunday drive (no offense to any Grandmas here
) The drive was uneventful, but it was one of the biggest events of my life, and no words could describe the feeling. For over 20 years, I had never even been inside of a Corvette, and the first time that I was, I got to drive it.
I was on a high for at least a week after that drive before the reality began to sink in again..... I was still without a Corvette, and I didn't know when I'd ever be able to drive one again. It must have been not too long after that, that I set a deadline for myself. My goal was set, I promised myself that I would do my best to own a Corvette by the time I was 30. I surpassed that goal by 4 years. Ironically, I bought my vette in January, 3 years ago, only 2 or 3 weeks before my 26th birthday. I was done with school, I had a job, I had money, and I had the opportunity to own the Corvette I had always wanted. It was one of the proudest moments of my life, it was the day my dream came true, it was the day I bought my Corvette and drove it home for the first time. And just like the first time I drove that white vette, I was shaking in my car as I was driving home, it was a mixture of joy, adrenaline, and disbelief. Ok, I think I was probably a little scared too, i didn't want to screw up the car or wreck it on the way home
.
So basically, what I was trying to say with all of that is that it was just a dream in the eyes of a child; a dream that never died; a dream that will always live on.
Sorry for the poetic nonsense
, I'm just too damn attached to these cars. The Chevrolet Corvette is a part of who I am and who I always will be.
I drove away in this:
Cliff notes for the ones who don't want to read all of that:
Childhood dream.
First sat in and drove a vette when I was about 21 yrs old.
Bought my vette shortly before I turned 26.
The End.
