Ciao, Yaris!

[TLyttle]

Someone please explain the allure of the Corvette, GM's answer to Tupperware? When I belonged to a Volvo club, we used to run slaloms and gymkhanas, but there were so many Vettes around that we had to run a special class for them; the Mustangs were eating them alive in Large Sports. Things are different now, but the Split Window handled like a hog on ice...

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by TLyttle

Someone please explain the allure of the Corvette, GM's answer to Tupperware? When I belonged to a Volvo club, we used to run slaloms and gymkhanas, but there were so many Vettes around that we had to run a special class for them; the Mustangs were eating them alive in Large Sports. Things are different now, but the Split Window handled like a hog on ice...

For me the appeal is emotional.

The dad in the family next door to me while I was growing up had a Classic Silver '63 Split Window. He was a Pharmacist who owned several pharmacies, and his wife is an RN who was Director of Nursing at a hospital. They had two daughters and no sons. His family was his #1 priority. He'd gotten to the point (I learned the details later, not when I was a kid) where he'd paid off any debt re his business, paid his house off, had the kids college taken care of, had tons of insurance, and felt like treating himself by buying the Corvette. He loved that it was 'wholly American'. He was Japanese and his wife is Chinese and he loved everything about the U.S.A. My neighborhood was almost all guys growing up, and we loved that car almost as much as he did. We'd help him vacuum it and then wash and wax it. His wife would cook while we tended to the car, and then have us all in for dinner. Another neighbor had a yellow Pantera and an older, goldish colored Mangusta, but neither of those cars garnered the attention that Corvette did (and my town was very foreign car oriented....one family had a 'museum' that displayed their collection (located in a different town), and another family owned a Lamborghini dealership and several other businesses). Sadly, when both of his girls were still short of 10 years old, he had an aneurysm burst while at home. He made it to the hospital, but (if I remember correctly) not even 24 more hours.

His wife sold the pharmacies and the Corvette. She devoted herself to the girls. She didn't date or decide she wanted to work again until the girls were both in college. She still lives in that house.