Where I’ve Been, Corvette Edition

So, I listed off all those events in my previous post and you may be wonder how many of those events were for work and how many were for pleasure. To be perfectly honest, I see every one of those events as work. It’s hard for me to differentiate the two, which has its ups and has its downs. Either way, 2012 was a special year for me, because I drove the Corvette more than ever and had a great time doing it. The car is in need of several repairs and upgrades, but hey, that’s what this stuff is all about. Here’s where the Corvette has gone this year…

The first show of the year was just down the road in Graysville, TN. Here, my car is parked with Bill Sims’ roadster, which had just been finished at my dad’s shop.

Corvette Transformation

My entire childhood featured a revolving door of awesome cars. My dad bought, sold and traded a lot, so he always had a yard full of cars. And with his bodywork and paint skills, he started bringing in full on restorations and street rod builds. The Corvette I’m posting pictures of today is one of the most impressive transformations I’ve seen him perform.

The starting point–a completely butchered ’65 Corvette roadster.

Somernites Power Cruise

Out of all the years that I’ve heard great things about the massive cruise in events in Somerset, Kentucky, I finally made the trip for the first time last month. I didn’t actually plan on going to this particular event, but Coker Tire sponsored the Power Cruise and hosted a starting point in Chattanooga, so I figured I’d support the cause. I’m sure glad I did, because it was a great way to spend the weekend.

The Dayton gang is huddled up and ready to hop in line and head to Somerset, Kentucky.

The Grand…and the Corvette

Since I’ve been a baby, I’ve been attending the Grand Run in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. In fact, I attended it before I was born! We always made a family trip out of of the Grand Run, and I’ve started this tradition with my wife and I’m sure we’ll continue it when we have little ones. Back in the late ’80s and early ’90s, I honestly don’t remember a lot of it, but we do have pictures and videos to refresh my memory. With a long history with the event, I still have a good time at the Grand because it never fails to bring back great memories. Certain cars that have been around since my early childhood are still in the same condition, and while they might be considered outdated, I still love ’em. One particular car that hadn’t seen the streets of Pigeon Forge since 1988 is my Corvette….for 2012, that needed to change.

Town was absolutely packed on Friday and Saturday. Out of all my years of going to Pigeon Forge, this is the fullest I've ever seen it.

The Corvette Continued…

The Story of My Corvette blog was wildly successful, thanks to being selected as a Freshly Pressed post, but the story of the car is most definitely incomplete. Obviously, I’m attached to the car and I’ll likely give it to one of my kids someday, but I’ve made a lot of changes to the car since it has become “mine”. When I first started driving it, the car constantly ran hot, due to the fact that it had a .060 over 327 and 4.11 rear end gears. The throttle linkage was very sticky and a touch of the brakes would pull the car unpredictably to the left or right, which made it exhausting to drive. Watching the temperature gauge like a hawk, I would carefully select the gears, because my dad had drilled into my head the likelihood of getting it hung up between gears. I found that my dad’s gripes about the car were totally true, so it was time to do something about it, instead of just dealing with it every time I slid behind the wheel.

Nothing beats a mountain drive in an old car with front runners, drum brakes and stock suspension.

The Story of My Corvette

If you pay attention to this blog or see my Facebook, then you know that I have a ’64 Corvette coupe that isn’t necessarily a purist pleaser. I mention the car all the time in my blogs, and have plenty of great stories involving it, but I have yet to explain the history of the car on here. I don’t know a detailed history on the car, but I do know quite a bit, as it’s been in the family for more than 25 years. It came from the factory with a 365 horse 327, a close ratio Muncie (M21) four-speed transmission and a 4.11 gear. Revealing only these specifications, you can tell this car was quite a screamer in its day. Low geared, light weight and lots of power, thanks to a solid-lift small block.

Here's the car as it looked in December of 1968. I bet those skinny rear tires made the car a handful to drive!

Street Racing

Yeah yeah yeah, it’s illegal, I know. It puts people in danger, I get it, but it’s one of the ultimate thrills in the life of a car guy. These days, it’s tough to stay below the radar, and I mean that in the most literal sense possible. Law enforcement has really cracked down on street racing, and “exhibitions of speed” in general, making it frustrating for people like me, who didn’t get to experience the good ol’ days of street racing. My dad has told me plenty of stories of his street racing days, and he agrees that it’s too much of a risk to attempt it now.

Ok, so this isn't really street racing, but this picture certainly illustrates the dangers of "playing around" on the street. Anything could happen to make the car enter the opposite lane or run off the road, but it's a risk many of us car guys take on a regular basis.

People Just Don’t Get It

So, a few years ago I decided to try something different on my Corvette. The car had run a set of Weld Draglite wheels on it for years, and I needed something different. I’m definitely a fan of the old days drag racing, so I thought maybe I could take this approach with the Corvette and see how it looks. I bought a pair of 15×4-1/2-inch U.S. Indy slotted “mags” for the front and stuck a pair of stock steel wheels on the back…it was a great combination, aside from the rear tires, which were the only ones I had lying around the shop at the time. I didn’t want to buy new rear tires if I didn’t like the way this mis-matched wheel setup looked, but I ended up loving the look.

The first mis-matched combo on the Corvette. I should've kept those skinny slots!

An Easy Fix

I love it when something ends up being much easier than I’d anticipated, but it doesn’t happen that often. It makes my day much better when something simply works, rather than my usual routine, which involves spending 5 hours to do a 30 minute job. Of course, I’m talking about car stuff, particularly mechanic work. I can handle paint and bodywork in a timely manner, but when it comes to something that should be simple, I generally struggle. Here are some great scenarios:

1. Parts store gives me the wrong part
2. I don’t have the appropriate hardware
3. My efforts don’t actually repair the problem on the first go-round…aka misdiagnosis.
4. Something magically happens during the repairs that causes another problem.
5. Multiple trips to the parts store

Dragstalgia at I-40 Dragway

A couple weeks ago I made plans to attend the Dragstalgia event, held at I-40 Dragway in Crossville, Tennessee. I-40 is my “home track” if you will…I don’t actually race, but if I did, this is where I’d go. The Dragstalgia event is a nostalgia drag race, which brings in a bunch of cool gassers, altereds and hot rods. There was even a Kellison funny car in attendance. I decided to drive the Corvette to the show, even though temperatures were in the high 90’s with humidity nearing 10,000%. Yeah, 10,000.

Kellison funny car and Henry J getting ready to make a pass at I-40 Dragway