These cars were every day drivers !

[jackfit]

I thought I would post my response to a forum member on one of the other popular corvette forums. He had made a statement about "How could some one have cut some holes in the bumper braces for a trailer" since he felt it was some kind of sacrilege to have used a corvette to tow a trailer. My response is below. As you can imagine, many long time owners responded to the post with many great pictures and stories of the real life use of these cars by us teen and early twenty year olds. Lets see your pictures and stories.


Hi, as a more then 4 decade owner, I laugh at new owners that can't understand how these cars were used 40-50 years ago. We only owned one car , most of us, and it had to serve all the functions of daily go to work or play functions. Matching numbers was unheard of to us, if we needed a carb, which we did a lot, we took off the old one , took it to the parts place, gave them $35 , and walked out with a new rebuilt Holley, or starter , fuel pump, or what ever.

It was just a great car that had to get us to work the next day

Jack

Ps. We were in our late teens or early twenties , not gray haired baby boomers , we were out for fun with a corvette

Some of you tell us your stories, it is good to make new owners appreciate how rugged these cars were

 

[jackfit]

Does my wedding day count as a daily driver day ?

These pictures are from my wedding day in 1982 , I had just restored the car for the seconded time since buying it in 1970 with 46,000 miles and original tires still on it. (bald ) . Put my first set of radials on it after driving it home.

 

[Mac]

Back when I was living in Victoria, British Columbia, I put my business card on a particular 1963 SWC several times asking if they would consider selling the car. Guessing from the look, it was a daily driver or close to it. I'm going to guess that the brake and/or signal lights died at some point. The owner had a set of trailer lights hard mounted to the bumpers; drilled through and wired in... The interior was worn out. The paint was faded but appeared original. When I moved out of the area in 2001, I've often wondered what ever became of that Corvette...

Mac

 

[Toms007]

Jack, I've shown the pictures of my old 64 coupe on the forums with the flared wheelwells. Like you, I've had some people just lambaste me for doing that the the classic Corvette. Again, like you noted, these cars weren't collector items back then, we did what we wanted to them, never dreaming that they would ever become collector cars. They were just our transportation back then. I was never worried about "numbers matching", it more about just getting them running again. I've been ripped for changing the interior as well.....same thing.

 

[jackfit]

Softer side

Jack, I've shown the pictures of my old 64 coupe on the forums with the flared wheelwells. Like you, I've had some people just lambaste me for doing that the the classic Corvette. Again, like you noted, these cars weren't collector items back then, we did what we wanted to them, never dreaming that they would ever become collector cars. They were just our transportation back then. I was never worried about "numbers matching", it more about just getting them running again. I've been ripped for changing the interior as well.....same thing.
..tom

Tom that was quite an interior if I do say myself. The softer side of you? Lol
jack

Tom that interior !

 

[Toms007]

It was quite a color combination and a real draw back in the day. When I took it in to have the interior done, the guy doing the interior suggested the "diamond tuft", same price as the OEM look. I said "Sure, why not." It was 500% better than what I had.

 

[jackfit]

My guy said "pleat & roll". I said sure

jack

 

[Tom Bryant]

My '59 was my only car when I got out of the army in '71. Mickey Thompson cheater slicks were a hoot in the rain. My wife drove her '81 as her daily driver during the the summers for several year after she bought it. She had a '77 Trans Am Special Edition that was her winter car. I managed to rescue and restore the TA at about 60,000 miles by buying her a normal driver. Her mom had a yellow '79 L82 that she daily drove in the summers and switched to her Caddy sedan for winters. When she moved to AZ she only took the Corvette and drove it solely until she was t-boned in it and almost killed by a drunk.