From Jason O – I read the site all the time and submitted a 1958 Corvette that I found, but was unable to buy. I don’t think I ever sent in the story on my 1966 Corvette I purchased in October 2014. This story began however back in August of 2012. I was at a local cruise and a guy pulled up in a ’66 Corvette, and we walked over to look at it. A guy I know asks me if I would be interested in a car like that? Of course I said yes and he proceeded to tell me about an old man he had done work for a few years back, and that in fact there was a Corvette in his garage. Thank goodness this guy doesn’t like Corvettes!
So it turns out the guy lived about 10 miles from me, and I couldn’t sleep that night. I went to knock on the door the next morning, but nobody was home. So I stopped by a friends house for a few hours and went back. We pulled in the driveway and my buddy could see it through the opened door! He couldn’t believe his eyes because his car lot is 1 mile from this guys house. Turns out the owner bought it brand new in 1966 after selling his ’57 Vette. Shortly after buying it he started building a house and never used the car as a daily driver.
In 1991 after just 25,808 miles he parked it because he thought it had a miss. He did a compression check and never put the plugs back in! So I started trying to buy it and me and the owner built a good friendship over the next few months and in Jan. 2013 he said to bring him the money I had offered and he would sell it.
Then he wanted to wait till spring and then I couldn’t get him to lock in a date so I realized he just wasn’t ready. In the summer of 2013 I filled the plug holes full of Marvel Mystery Oil because both of us were concerned the motor might be locked up. Then last August he started talking about when I was going to take it, and that he felt it was time. We locked in a day and after the transaction was complete we started cleaning out the garage so we could get it out.
We got it running that night and I was able to limp it home the next day. After everything is said and done it’s an unreal find. Showing 25,808 miles and they are documented through fuel logs that he had kept since day 1. Every piece of paperwork including the POP, copy of the check he wrote, order forms etc. are there. He just never threw it away. It still has the original exhaust, shocks, paint, interior, belts, hoses etc. It truly is a time capsule.
What a great find Jason! Congratulations and thanks for sharing it with us! We hope to see future updates on this fantastic Corvette. If you’d love to see more photos of Jason’s find or learn more about reviving it, he started a thread here at CorvetteForum.com detailing the story. It’s a great read, so be sure to check it out!
Beautiful story, beautiful car, and now a new home with a beautiful new owner!! :-)
Niiiice
I wish more of my pursuit stories ended like this. Good for you for a great find, and purchase.
Awesome find and a bonus that you and the original owner were able to build a relationship. Very cool!
I’m sick. I want one…………………
Nice job. You do have patience Sir. I would have blown it for sure and he would have told me to go fly a kite.
Great story. Don’t forget to stop by his house every so often. I am sure the original owner would enjoy seeing the car and hearing about the joy it brings to you.
Oh don’t worry we are taking it to Carlisle for the 50th anniversary display in August.
For me…this is the holy grail…a low miles unmolested original owner car. Priceless!
Love the stories where the a car guy finds his dream car. It’s the stories of the flipper who cares not for the car, only the maximum profit, that ruin my day. Many of them can’t even be bothered to back it off the trailer before posting “for sale” pictures on the web.
If you read Jason’s threads what becomes apparent is that Jason treated the seller with the kind of respect and concern that epitomizes the best of the folks in the old car hobby! He certainly deserves the car!
I think Woodie is right. The reason Jason has the car is respect for the owner’s feelings and his difficulty letting the car go, and patience. Seems that those two qualities can be in short supply these days, so it’s good to hear about this story.
Congrats to Jason. He definitely deserves this car. I wonder if he’s thinking of showing the car at a NCRS show.
Nice story
Beautiful car put back on the road by someone who deserves it not by a guy who just wants to flip it.
Well done
Amazing what can be right around the corner; great find and recovery! This is my favorite style of corvette, the months of waiting must have been agonizing! Fortunately you didn’t get the ” well this other feller showed up from California and I sold it”
congratulations and enjoy it!!
Alanjnc
Wow! What a story and what a find.
Very nice Was that Colonel Sanders you bought it from?
My wife thinks they look a lot alike to.
I made friends with an older fellow than I, who after he became comfortable with the friendship, happily sold me his all original Trans Am that he has purchased new and put 24K miles on it in 30 years. He provided every document ever generated for that car including the build sheet and buyer’s agreement. We are still friends today and I still own the car. It becomes more of a stewardship as opposed to an ownership though. My car is no where near as valuable as this Corvette however the principle is the same.
It is in amazing condition! It seems like a repaint because there are no bonding strip or nose piece distortions showing in the few pictures. It’s awesome.
great story and find. thanks
I won’t be able to sleep now…….
Congratulations Jason. See, nice guys do finish first. Keep that friendship with the Seller alive and vibrant until the day he passes. I can promise you that friendship and bond he feels toward and with you is way more special than the Vette at this stage in his life.
Amazing story and so happy to see it turned out great. Sadly, I have seen too many that didnt. Or the person passes on and the idiots who are dealing with the estate make a mess of things. Seen that way too often.
In my extended family, knew a distant relative and when i first got to know him he knew of my interest in motorcycles. He liked to talk about his old 1948 Indian, and he sold it to another guy in his Guard unit and thought the guy still had it. I spent about 2 years chasing that mirage. It was long gone. Peoples memorys can be funny. One of my step brothers later told me “Yep, we had a laugh watching you chase that bike, we heard the same stories and chased it too many years before you came along” At least we tried and provided some entertainment to someone.
So how does it run now and what was wrong with it?
Please complete the story for us
It runs good. I’m fortunate that one of the original NCRS members lives in my area. Once we got it running I took it to my mechanic to have it gone through and make it 100% road worthy again. That NCRS member stops there because he takes his cars there. The mechanic told me that the NCRS guy went over the entire car one night with just the 2 of them there and he was highly impressed. He has a NCRS meet at his farm in the spring and we were invited to bring the car to be gone over. They said they did not want to judge it, but wanted to use it to update their judging manuals. They were judging 2 cars that day and it was funny to sit back and watch them slowly drift away from the other 2 cars until most of them were looking at the 66. Then one of them would come over and drag them all back to the other 2 and within 15 minutes the cycle would repeat. They examined every square inch and I believe it would Top Flight with no problem and probably atleast 3 star bowtie if I remove the undercoating. We will have it in Carlisle for the 50th anniversary display this year. Thanks for reading my story.
Really cool Jason, peserveance pays off. Great story man
Great find, congrats.