Dan Pepper, Publisher, Corvettes.com –

Hardcore vintage Corvette enthusiasts probably could tell you more about the the history of their Corvette than they could about their own family’s genealogy. If you are one of the lucky few who bought one of these cars new off of the lot had the foresight and the wherewithal not to sell it when a back seat or rent money were a priority, locating the original owner is a simple as stepping in front of a mirror. For the rest of us, our Corvettes usually came to us through a long, mysterious line of nameless, faceless owners. In general, the market will always smile on a Corvette with complete ownership history, so it’s worth the effort to uncover and preserve as much of your Corvette’s history and documentation as possible. I’ve found that original owners are usually thrilled to be reintroduced to “their” Corvette if they can be tracked down, and better yet, often have kept mementos including documentation and photos from when they owned the car. Conversely, I’ve also heard stories akin to getting escorted off of the front porch like a tax collector at the end of a double barreled shotgun.

If you are lucky enough to have factory documentation in the form of a Corvette Order Copy (interior or tank copy, aka “Build Sheet”), Protect-o-Plate Warranty Card or window sticker, you already have what you need to prove that your Corvette’s options and trim were factory installed. Provenance of ownership is another layer that can add value to your Corvette, especially if it includes celebrity ownership or shows that car was affiliated with sanctioned racing. Fortunately, Corvettes generally fare better than the average 50’s, 60’s or 70’s collector vehicle in terms of the level of pride of ownership and care received, and for that reason, Corvettes in nice condition usually are accompanied by some form of documentation that leads directly - or more often very circuitously - back to it’s original owner or selling dealership. You just have to know where and how to look. Here are a few tips that have helped me track-down past owners of the Corvettes I’ve owned.

The Internet

Thanks Al Gore! This tool is the best resource for tracking-down people regardless the reason. But beware; sometimes you find out more about your subject than you really need or want to know. If you have any form of documentation with a name on it, you have a great place to start. The Internet makes searching for names, addresses, dealerships is easy to do. Start with Google, and search for sir names and addresses in the same query. Often you can find a branch of the family that can point you in the right direction. If you get no results, try employing a search service like Intelius or Peoplefinders . These options generally cost about $10-$20 per search, but will give you the most comprehensive information for any name you query. Usually, more than one person with the same name will be listed in any given search, but addresses and ages are included. If you’re searching for Joe Smith, the original owner of your ‘67 coupe, and there are 14 “Joe Smith’s” listed, narrow the list to those who are between 60 and 85 years old - unless they have “Jr.” in their name and the math says they could be progeny of the original owner. Make a few calls - you might be surprised what you find.

Titles, insurance cards, receipts, etc.

Of course, government issued paper work including titles and registrations offer solid clues to ownership. But what about less obvious paper work? Receipts and insurance cards are also good sources of data that can put you in contact with past owners. Shop receipts can also include contact names and specifics about the work performed on the car that can be easily recalled by mechanics or shop owners. Often, people who work on Corvettes know more about a car’s history than past owners - you just have to ask.

What’s that smell?

Aside from endeavoring to exorcise pungent aromas - looking under the seats and carpets can provide sources for tracing ownership history. Anyone who has owned vintage cars probably has at least one colorful story about the kinds of things they’ve found under the seat or behind door panels. Spare change, matchbooks, drug paraphernalia, receipts, ammunition, mouse nests, credit cards, licenses, contact lenses and other “stuff” are common finds. Also, be aware that early C3’s sometimes have a Corvette Order Copy folded and stuffed between the tach and speedo, under the carpet or even behind door panels. Look closely for clues, just wash your hands when your done.

Get the word out!

Corvettes are not easily forgotten by past owners, especially high-horse, heavily optioned cars. Try posting “information wanted” ads in various enthusiast publications like Hemmings Motor News and the NCRS Driveline. The latter offers free “Information Wanted” postings for NCRS members. Also, try posting online queries on enthusiast forums including here on Corvettes.com, Corvetteforum.com, DigitalCorvettes.com, etc. If you have a car that is rare or has an interesting story behind it, one of the many Corvette enthusiast magazines might be interested in doing a feature on your car.

Most of all, perseverance is key. Here are a few examples of how I have used documentation, technology, word of mouth, imagination and luck to trace the ownership history of Corvettes I have owned:

I’m the 6th owner of a 1966 L36 Corvette Coupe, originally sold in Covina, CA. The car came with Protect-o-Plate and a pile of receipts, insurance cards and miscellaneous paperwork. The POP (Protect-o-Plate) contained the name of the original owner. A simple Google search found a man with the same name with “Jr.” attached, living in the same general vicinity of the selling dealership. The story told itself. “Jr.” was listed as a member of the Anaheim CA, Chamber of Commerce, and ran a small business in the area. I called the business, and was lucky enough to talk to the son of the original owner of the car. He told me that his father, who died a decade earlier, bought car at the dealership located just around the corner from where they lived. He said he drove the car a few times before he left for his first tour in Vietnam. Although he wasn’t overly forthcoming with information, facts from our discussion fit like puzzle pieces into the rest of the car’s story. Another interesting factoid; Clippinger Chevrolet in Covina, CA, was one of the Nation’s highest volume Corvette dealerships in the ’60’s. The star salesman was a man named Bob Wingate, who worked directly with Corvette Product Manager, Vince Piggins, to bolster participation in Corvettes clubs and SoCal racing events. Wingate sold James Garner his three American International Racing (AIR) L88 Corvettes, and generally helped keet LA’s Corvette and performance appetite sated. Bob also owned a handful of highly collectible, highly optioned and historic Corvettes created in Chevrolet’s custom shop that were awarded to him as the nation’s top-performing Corvette Salesman. In a phone conversation, Bob claimed to recall selling my ‘66 as a special order to a guy who lived in the neighborhood. I was skeptical, but on the other hand, an Ermine White over green vinyl big block festooned with A/C, K19, PS, PB, PW, headrests, hazard flashers, telescopic wheel, M20 and a few other options had to be a special order. All but one other interim owner has been contacted, and each shed some light on every ding, tear or bolt-on part ever added to the car.

I found the four-owner 1969 Monaco Orange Coupe for sale on the Internet. The car was located in Cupertino CA, and was in very original condition, aside from one repaint applied in the ’80’s and a few bolt-on accessories. The car’s documentation included the Protect-o-Plate warranty book, the Order Copy still attached to the top of the gas tank, and two “little black books” filled with data covering every tank of gas, quart of oil and service from 22k miles to it’s present 81k odo-reading. I tried running internet searches the original buyer’s name and address based on the POP info, but had no luck. As a testament to the beauty of “original” unmolested cars, under the carpet I found a gasoline credit card receipt from 1970 signed by the original owner’s wife. Using the address from the card receipt (different than what was on the POP), I spent $10 and used Intelius to zero-in on the right name and age-bracket. In minutes I was talking to the car’s original owner! It was an incredible conversation; I could hear the 57 year-old’s voice ring with enthusiasm as though he were 21 again. He told me about when he first saw the car on the lot of Harry Mann Chevrolet in Los Angeles. How when he drove the car off of the lot, he picked-up his brother from work and drove from LA to San Francisco - non stop. And about the time he was stopped by the CHP doing 130mph on a return trip from Big Bear with two friends in the passenger seat - thankfully the cop loved ‘vettes and let him off with a verbal warning! He also said he had the Corvette owner’s pin somewhere, and he’d send it to me when he dug it up. All this from a faded credit card receipt, the Internet and a telephone.

My 1970 ZR1/LT1 came with history back to 1979 when the previous owner, Darrell Boettger, bought the car from the brother of his buddy’s girlfriend. Problem was, he didn’t remember the seller’s name and didn’t have any record of the sale. I figured that most guys probably would remember the name of a girl they dated back in college days, so armed with Darrell’s buddy’s name and the fact that he was a career Coast Guard man, I was able to contact him via an old email address found on an armed services message board. Darrell’s buddy, Phil, was able to tell me the name of his girlfriend - and more importantly, her brother, the seller of the ZR1. From there, I used Intelus to query his name and last known city of residence, Highland Indiana. Bingo. I found that he’d since become a Dr. and now lived in Texas. After sending a couple emails, I was able to arrange a brief phone chat with “Dr. T.,” where I learned that he bought the car from a man who he recalled was an attorney who’s hobby was buying and selling sports cars. When he bought the car, Dr. T was told he was the third owner. It’s there that the trail grows cold. The partial build sheet found inside the car shows dealer number “183,” but the zone number is unreadable. The fact that the ZR1 came optioned with NA9, California mandated Evaporative Emissions Control, leads me to believe the car was purchased in California, probably by a serviceman wanting the best performance car Chevrolet built in 1970. The dealer number corresponds with two likely candidates: Guaranty Chevrolet in San Diego or Dailey Chevrolet in San Leandro. Dailey is still in business. The ZR1 may divulge more of it’s secrets over time as dis-assembly for restoration begins. What do do until then?

As one of 25 1970 ZR1’s produced, odds are somebody will remember this car. Without formal documents connecting the dots in the ownership chain, my last resort is to hope through perseverance and luck, a needle can be found in the haystack. To improve the odds, I contacted Keith Martin’s Corvette Market and Corvette Fever, proposing they feature the car in their magazines. Both bit; Corvette Market ran a letter I wrote with photos, and Corvette Fever dispatched a writer/photographer to do a story. The CF feature hasn’t yet hit the news stand, but when it does, hopefully it’ll ring a bell with someone.

In the meantime, I continue to search-out likely leads for anyone who might remember a Bridgehampton Blue, 4.56:1 posi optioned ZR1. After all, if I saw that car in the early ’70’s I would certainly remember it - or at least the view of it’s tail lights as it sprinted past. Here are some details to banter about next time you’re hangin’ with your Corvette cronies:

1970 ZR1 Corvette Coupe:

• Bridgehampton Blue over Bright Blue Vinyl Interior
• Optioned with ZR1 Special Purpose Engine Package, 4.56:1 posi, Tilt-Tele column, NA9 California Evaporative Emmissions Control System.
• Build date, July 1, 1970. Ser# 139XX. Probably delivered mid to late July or early August.
• Based on the presence of NA9 and Dealer code #183, the ZR1 could have been delivered to Guaranty Chevrolet in San Diego, CA, or Dailey Chevrolet in San Leandro, CA. It’s possible there is/was another dealer #183 in California as well.
• The car was painted in the original Bridgehampton Blue, and also a small fiberglass repair was done to the rear valance - looked like it was lightly tapped in the back. Paint, repair work and blue crushed velour seat inserts done sometime before 1977.

And of course, if you have any information on the history of the car, or know anyone who purchased a ‘70 ZR1 new, please contact me: 1970ZR1@Corvettes.com

Dan Pepper, Publisher, Corvettes.com –

A couple of years ago I ran across a post generated by members of another Corvette discussion forum listing what they believed were the rarest performance Corvettes of all time. The list included:

1. 1969 ZL1
2. 1967 - 1969 L88
3. 1971 ZR2
4. 1970-1972 ZR1
5. 1963 Z06
6. 1971 LS6

Little did I know at the time, I’d soon own one of them.

I love all Corvettes, but lust after early performance optioned cars. To be specific, those with clattering lifters, growling manual gearboxes, stage coach inspired suspension and raucous exhaust note. If it was built between 1957 and 1972 all the better. Granted, most Corvettes of that era were ordered as boulevard cruisers, but even the most placid of the breed could carve corners and sprint past those in the next lane who dared to nod and pump the pedal. A life-long Corvette devotee, I wasn’t able to acquire a vintage Corvette until the spring of 2002; a very original low mileage 1966 427/390 Coupe, loaded with options. I’m not ashamed to say driving the car home the first time literally brought a tear to my eye. Between skyrocketing prices, starting a family and being strapped for time running a business, I never thought I’d attain the dream. My wife thought it was silly, but over time she came to realize just how much it meant to me.

Any red-blooded baby boomer baptized in ethyl and anointed under an oil pan would give his left lug nut to own a big block mid-year coupe and be content with it, but I sensed an opportunity. In 2006, C3’s were still under appreciated and undervalued, and seeing that mid-year Corvette prices had almost doubled over the preceding four years, it made perfect sense that a acquiring a chrome bumper C3 as a driver would be the logical way to preserve the ‘66 and still have a lot of fun on the road. The search was on.

The internet became the primary tool for locating prospective Corvettes. After a few weeks of searching the web, I located a 1969 Monaco Orange 350/350 coupe that looked promising. The seller had owned it for 20 years, and explained he added a few “upgrades” (cause for alarm amongst us purists), but for the most part the car was unmolested. I leveraged my NCRS membership (National Corvette Restorers Society) and was referred to a Bay Area judge who agreed to inspect the car. The report revealed a very clean mostly original California car that had been stored for a decade. The coupe needed minor attention: brake bleeding, fixing a vacuum leak, a set of new (round) tires, as well as a general tune-up. Within a week, a deposit on the $12,500 purchase price was wired and my brother Dave’s F350 with trailer in tow was pointed south on Interstate 5.

I’m pleased to say that the ‘69 turned out to be in better shape than expected. The odometer showed 78k original miles all documented in two “little black books.” Virtually every gallon of gas, quart of oil and service of any kind were recorded. The frame was still covered in it’s original chassis paint, all “born with” drive train components were present and the stock black interior was neat as a pin. Furthermore, the smog system and a ream of paperwork including the Protect-o-Plate and build sheet (still on the gas tank) accompanied the car. The only major modifications were the addition of a TRW mono-leaf spring and a repaint applied sometime in the ’80’s. I even located and talked to the original owner through a gas credit card receipt from 1970 found under the driver’s seat! But that’s another story.

The acquisition of the ‘69 was everything I thought it would be. After a few months of around town shake-down cruises, most all demons were exorcised. I was confident enough to take the car on a 500+mile round trip from Seattle to central Oregon with my 4-year old son. The only problems encountered on the odyssey were the lack of cup holders for Milo’s juice boxes, a leaky heater core (bypassed) and aching cheeks from hours of driving wearing a stupid grin.

If finding such a great vintage Corvette for under $13k was so easy, why not look for a ‘69 427 tri-power, or maybe even a ‘71 LS6? There were obviously still some great bargains out there to be found. The ‘69 Coupe was proof it could be done - and it was worth at least $5k more that I’d paid for it. Again I began scouring the internet. Purely by chance, I stumbled across a posting on Corvette Forum by a gentleman who was asking about the prospective value of a 1971 LS6 he had owned for years. The car was located only 30-minutes away, so I emailed him in hopes of taking a look. Three months past with no reply, then finally, “Mr. LS6″ emailed saying I was welcome to drop by. Plans were immediately set to meet him the next day. Over the next 24 hours, I probed the internet and sifted through a sizable stack of Corvette reference material regarding anything “LS6.” With only 188 of these cars built, it would be a rare find - if it was genuine.

I arrived at Mr. LS6’s house to find a Ontario Orange big block coupe parked in his driveway. The car sported after-market turbine wheels, Hooker side pipes and glass-panel t-tops. My heart sank. It looked like just another Corvette Summer wanna-be, and most likely nothing more than an LS5 in wolf’s clothing. I was greeted by the car’s owner, Brian Graebel. My first impression of Brian was that his conservative, thoughtful and straight forward demeanor didn’t quite fit with the pimped-up persona radiated by the big block parked in his driveway. After cursory salutations, I asked him the story behind the car - of course, every Corvette has one. He explained that in the ’70’s he was unmarried and had a penchant for fast cars. As a Boeing engineer, he made a good living and wanted the fastest factory muscle he could find. His search lead him to purchase the LS6, among other cars.

Circling the Corvette, it was apparent that the bolt-on trinkets were just that - bolted on. When Brian lifted the hood, the engine bay was awash in a sea of flat gray aluminum. Looking past the finned valve covers, after market fuel lines and tennis ball diameter headers, it was apparent that the alloy-crowned LS6 had never been out of the car. Practically every major numbers-matching original tidbit was there except for the smog pump. Brian then said he had carefully preserved all of the Corvette’s original parts: the t-tops were stowed in the rafters, the factory exhaust manifolds were lightly sand blasted and painted to keep the rust at bay, the rally wheels, rocker panels and rear valance were also tucked away. He even had the factory steel valve covers hanging on the wall complete with the original black and yellow “CPW” suffix sticker still attached. The original “Firemist” lacquer paint was shiny with only a few well-applied touch-ups and the factory black leather deluxe interior showed light patina, but was spotless. He said he mothballed the car because of a persistent miss that he suspected was due to a flat cam lobe. The car was a true survivor with a little over 60k miles on the clock. When I asked to look at the stored parts, Brian casually rolled-open the garage door. My jaw dropped. There crouched a pristine Royal Maroon 1969 Boss 429. As Brian explained it, the Boss was just another mid-70’s acquisition meant to quench his insatiable thirst for speed. It was clear that this mild-mannered Boeing retiree was a Car-Guy’s Car Guy.

Over the following four days, my attempts to buy the car were ultimately foiled by another suitor. The buyer, a well-known and respected LS6 aficionado had deeper pockets then yours truly. Although crestfallen by missing out on the Corvette (and even farther away from affording the Boss 429), I was glad to have made a new friend in the process. Brian recognized my disappointment and offered a sizable cache of Corvette parts as a consolation prize. After all, having two passionate bidders vying for his car netted a much better price than he would have earned otherwise. It was then that Brian mentioned he knew a co-worker with another rare Corvette; a 1970 ZR1. He said the car wasn’t for sale, but recognizing my preoccupation for C3’s, he thought I might enjoy taking a look at it. At the time I was only vaguely aware of ‘70-’72 ZR1’s, but knew they were rare and the last production car GM ever sold with the warning “Not recommended for normal driving situations.” So what were the chances of a guy who owned a 1-of-188 LS6 working elbow to elbow with another guy who owned a 1-of-25 ZR1? The odds were against it.

A month or two had passed when Brian called to say he’d been able to arrange a visit with Darrell Boettger, the owner of the ZR1. Darrell had worked with Brian for over 20 years and they both shared a passion for vintage muscle cars. We drove to his house to find the garage door rolled-up, and a very weary looking 1970 Bridgehampton Blue coupe resting on a four post lift. The car was bracketed by the usual garage detritus and blanketed in a thick layer of dust. Darrell said he’d purchased the Corvette from a friend of a friend in 1979 when he was a student at Purdue University. In 1980, he accepted a job as a propulsion engineer at Boeing’s Everett, Washington plant and towed the Corvette on a tow-bar behind his 1978 Z28 Camaro - across five states in the dead of winter. Darrell explained that when he bought the car he thought it was simply an LT1 with an M22 transmission and very short rear-end gearing. It wasn’t until doing a brake-job in the mid ’80’s that he discovered it might be something special. Curiously enough, Darrell found that the front brake pads weren’t available at the corner auto parts store, nor over the counter at the local GM dealership. Darrell took the dual pin pads to a local Corvette specialty shop owned by well-known SCCA racer Rick Stark. Stark asked what the pads came from. He explained that the only Corvette optioned with J56 brakes in 1970 was the ZR1; GM’s purpose built racer conceived by Zora Duntov to bolster Corvette’s reputation in SCCA B-production events. Researching stampings, casting numbers and configurations became an obsession and the gas tank was removed to retrieve the faded and fragile build sheet. After presenting his information to a number of C3 experts on a trip to Bloomington, it was confirmed that “Ol’ Blue” was one of the 25 ZR1’s built in 1970. Darrell realized the Corvette was worthy of a complete frame-off restoration, but with kids on the way and career responsibilities mounting, The ZR1 was parked. Someday Darrell planned on bringing the car back to it’s original glory. Someday.

After listening to Darrell’s story, I spent the next hour crawling in, under and around the car with a clipboard, flashlight and digital camera recording all the numbers and configuration details I could note. Although the car was well worn, it was obviously the real deal.

Every few months over the next year, I would rally Darrell and Brian to get together for lunch. Stories of “the good old days” flowed as freely as the microbrew. Darrell knew I coveted the car, but he wasn’t interested in selling. After all, it had been part of his life for years, and he was in no hurry to part with it. I had just about given-up hope when during one of our lunches he said he’d be willing to consider my previous requests to buy the car - but there would be strings attached. Over the next few weeks, we agreed that in order to acquire the car I would need to promise that 1) it would be restored to NCRS specs, and 2) Ol’ Blue must be replaced by another vintage Corvette. The details were negotiated and a deal was struck. The next weekend, I drove my ‘69 coupe into Darrell’s driveway, titles were swapped along with a ganster-sized roll of Franklins, and the ZR1 was towed to it’s new home.

Above all, I’m happy to report that owning such a rare factory performance optioned Corvette is second to the friendships I’ve made with Darrell and Brian. The microbrew still flows on a regular basis along with stories from the past and hopes for the future. I’ll be updating this blog on a regular basis following the experience of driving, researching and restoring this rare example of GM performance history. I hope you’ll drop by from time to time, and feel free to chime in.

Contributed by Mike Antonick, Editor “Corvette Black Book”On the evening the 1963 Sting Ray was unveiled across the United States, I wandered alone into the local Chevy establishment. It was packed. Working my way toward the showroom’s center, I got my first glimpse of a Sting Ray, a white convertible. The car floored me. I kept walking around it, letting it soak in, muttering to equally dazed strangers, I can’t believe it… can you believe it? I couldn’t fathom that this automotive art, from plain-jane Chevrolet of all companies, was actually being built. That civilians could own one. As I exited the building, a test-driving customer pulled to the curb in a Daytona Blue Split Window coupe.That did it.The street lights reflecting off those gorgeous curves…the scene still gives me shivers. Look, today’s C6 is without question the best Corvette ever. Four-hundred horsepower base engines in sub-3200-lb vehicles? Five-hundred five horsepower in even lighter Z06s? Near-perfect weight distribution? This is world-beater performance in a handsome, well-built package. But the 1963 Split Window Coupe gets my vote, hands-down, as the most beautiful automobile ever sold by any company, anytime, anywhere. No assemblage of nuts, bolts and fiberglass has the right to effect people this way.I’d like to tell you that I went right out and bought one. Sorry. With taxes and a few nice options, a new 1963 Corvette was a shade under $5,000. For this cowpoke, it might as well have been $5-million. I did make myself a promise that night. Someday, somehow, I would own one of these gems. I surely didn’t imagine that fifteen years later I’d find myself in the Detroit office of Joe Pike. Yes, that Joe Pike. Chevrolet’s legendary merchandising manager, founder and first editor of Corvette News. I was there to secure Mr. Pike’s permission to borrow the 200,000-strong Corvette News mailing list to launch a new Corvette book series.Around the same time, I interviewed Larry Shinoda, chief designer for the very Sting Rays that so captivated me that evening in 1962. Larry became a wonderful friend, with a dry, offbeat sense of humor that cracked me up. Larry would tell his just-retired pal, Zora Arkus-Duntov, this Antonick guy was okay, that Zora could trust him to accurately and fairly interpret Zora’s stroke-tainted, heavily-accented English. I interviewed Zora at his home, his wife Elfi staring daggers my way every time Zora bound upstairs, three at a time, to retrieve a document or photo.GM’s staff seems to change weekly, but the Corvette has had the good fortune to have gotten through its first fifty-three years with just three chief engineers. After Zora, it was the two Daves, McLellan and Hill. I’ve interviewed them all, and all are remarkable men. Each in his own way has been responsible for the Corvette’s survival. With all that GM has gotten wrong, and we’re hearing about it every day, we should thank our lucky stars that Corvette had these three at the helm. As you may know, Dave Hill retired at the end of 2005. So a new man, Tom Wallace, now has the reins. Mr. Wallace has the credentials, including a strong GM resume, and a background in SCCA road racing. Let’s all wish him well.Bill Mitchell, for many years in control of all GM automotive design - but a lover of Corvette above all - was retired and splitting his time between Florida and Michigan when I met and interviewed him. Similarly, John DeLorean, once Chevrolet’s general manager, had left GM and was flying high with his own car factory under construction in Ireland when I flew to New York to speak with him about his company and his Corvette past. He must have liked what I wrote because he purchased 100 copies of the hardbound Corvette! Sportscar of America book in which the article appeared for friends as Christmas gifts. Despite DeLorean’s flaws and fall from grace, he remains one of my heroes. No, I’ve never owned one of the cars that bear his name. Had he built what he first intended, the mid-engine, Citroen-powered prototype I photographed for my story, I surely would have.Soon after the C4 was introduced in 1983, I borrowed one from Chevy Engineering and drove it from Michigan to California for three days of race instruction at Bob Bondurant’s school. It was the first time a C4 had been on the Sears Point track near Sonoma where the school was then located. Bondurant, one of the all-time great Corvette racers, jumped into the driver’s seat and took me for a ride clearly intended to scare the bejesus out of me. After the second 90-mph powerslide, I realized the guy knew what he was doing, and relaxed enough to enjoy the rest of the ride.I’ve met a lot of great Corvette people along the way and the stories behind the stories are part of what I plan to talk about in this series. Even when a topic is very current - how good the current Corvette is, or how bad the current fortunes of General Motors are - I’ll weave in some history and hopefully some unique perspectives.These days, I’m most associated with the Corvette Black Book. Since it’s a fact guide, it follows that I must be a numbers guru. Not true. The book itself was almost an accident (another story for another time). Over the years, I’ve tried to listen to customers and to make the Corvette Black Book what they want it to be. But I don’t have a photographic memory or a passion for numbers and stats. I do enjoy pulling the latest data together each year and am intrigued by what sells and why. But what really stirs me is the Corvette’s history…there’s that word again. What happened behind the scenes. The designs that didn’t get built. Features left in and features left out. One proposal winning out over another. And yes, I suppose the politics of it all.I don’t hold myself out to be a Corvette expert, nor a journalist. I’m an enthusiast like you, just one with the good fortune to have had a nice second-row seat for three decades of Corvette theater. What I hope to do in this space is act as your personal behind-the-scenes reporter, researcher and historian. I’ll hit topics that maybe you’ve heard about, but will try to include a few nuggets not found elsewhere. Corvettes.com is a place for those of us who are passionate about Corvettes to get together, share information, learn a few things, have fun.Join in.