Not only have I driven Bill Mitchell's Stingray Racer...

[67HEAVEN]

Not only have I driven the AeroVette and Bill Mitchell's Stingray Racer on the street, but I've driven them in mid-air too.

Back in 1982, I chaired the Canadian Council of Corvette Clubs, Eastern Region Convention in Niagara Falls. Big event.....we "OWNED" (over 700 registrants) two hotels side-by-side (perfect view of the falls by the way) - the Sheraton Brock and Sheraton Foxhead, as they were named at the time.

As part of the traditional Saturday evening banquet/dance, we decided to display eight Corvettes in the ballroom, including a 1966 Corvette 427 convertible that we raffled off for Spina Bifida.

Here's the interesting part......the ballroom was on the 2nd floor of the Sheraton Brock.......no entrance ramp.......so how to get the cars inside?

One of our members drove for an auto-haul-away company, and said, "I'll get a two-level tractor-trailer with ramps".

Sooooooooooooo, late Saturday afternoon, after blasting around Niagara Falls with a police escort, we loaded the Corvettes on the trailer and drove them across ramps in mid-air to the ballroom receiving dock (higher than normal docks).........ARE YOU READY? The cars included Bill Mitchells' Stingray Racer and the Aerovette!!!!! That's right, in mid-air and YES, I got to drive them around town.......with a police escort.

The reason for the mid-air ramp drive? There was a set of stairs and concrete curbs directly in front of the double doors into the ballroom......in other words, they were in the way of the tractor-trailer. No choice but to run ramps across.......and it worked.

Young and crazy. Man, if General Motors had seen that. :crazy
I'm glad I'm more mature now.

By the way, the 1966 big-block yellow 'vert on the trailer (several photos up).....we gave that away during the Convention.

 

[reubenmc]

That's a great story and some awesome pictures!! I would have been scared to death driving those cars like that.

 

[IMA Z06]

67,

That is indeed a cool story, with vintage pic's to match...............

thx

 

[Fuelie]

Fantastic stuff, '67 Heaven!

I see that Al Moran took some of the photos of your escapade. I was talking to him at an NCRS function not long ago...he sends his regards and says that he is very excited about your project and can't wait to see your car.

ps: He drives his '67 vette all year round

 

[67HEAVEN]

Fantastic stuff, '67 Heaven!

I see that Al Moran took some of the photos of your escapade. I was talking to him at an NCRS function not long ago...he sends his regards and says that he is very excited about your project and can't wait to see your car.

ps: He drives his '67 vette all year round

Al is a great guy, and very knowledgeable about Corvettes (in spite of his love for small blocks. )

Here, on page 14 of the Convention Magazine, is a photo of me presenting Al and his lovely wife Linda with the Mr. & Mrs. Convention Award that year.

 

[Tom Bryant]

Great story. I am indeed GREEN with envy.

Tom

 

[bossvette]

Great story I'll bet there is a lot of history that could be compiled by the CAC membership!!

 

[Ken]

Hey Bob, Barb (BB454) had to do the ramp thing with Chris's (69MyWay) trailer at Bowling Green in 2002; she had one of her ramps break and that was the only way she could get her car back onto the trailer. They first put it on Chris's trailer then moved it across to her trailer with ramps balanced between the two. :eek

Sometimes it's just a matter of "Whatcha gonna do?

:L