Let’s take a walk down memory lane for a moment. It was a cool day late in November, Thanksgiving as a matter of fact, when a boy-wonder was born. In the midst of labor while my mom surely was seriously questioning herself as to why she would even consider bringing a 4h child into this world Detroit was also giving birth to it’s own wonder – one certain 1963 Split-Window Corvette.
This month’s car actually came to me by way of an e-mail, phone call and lunch. The owner John Knoroski, met me for lunch to discuss his daily driver – a 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Split-Window Coupe. We decided to meet at my shop and have lunch at a local diner whose walls are adorned with pictures of vintage muscle cars which appropriately suited his vintage ‘Vette’. After the niceties of introduction were over John showed me a note book that he has meticulously maintained about the history and technical information of his car since it’s purchase in late 1998. It is extremely detailed and has information about how many Corvettes were made that year, appropriate serial numbers on parts for that year, how much the car was originally sold for back in 1963, what sort of screws were used on the valve covers, and on and on. Truly amazing! However, the one thing that really jumped out at me in this painstakingly documented artifact was that the car was ‘Born on the 5th week of November in 1962’! Holy s___ that’s when I was born!!!
I never met a car that was born exactly (well within a day or two) when I was born and on Thanksgiving no less! Well, John was gracious enough to give me a ride to lunch with my long lost twin!? The funny thing is, when I was in the car and John was giving me the run down about the coupe, I couldn’t help but compare myself with the car wondering who has aged better after 45 years? We both have pale white skin (I don’t get out of the shop much) and our interiors are bright red. I’d be willing guess that the car has had a repaint and reupholster at some point in it’s life, where as mine is all original. The car was a little stiff and noisy, kinda like me every morning and with a little prodding I bet the car could get downright ornery as with me. I think the car is definitely handsome kind of like, well, you’ll have to ask my wife about that one. I’m sure the car has a great sense of humor because any car from Detroit (or anywhere for that matter) that has been around for over 40 years has put it’s owner or owners through hell at some point in it’s long life and was laughing all the way to the classifieds. I’ve had many an old car that cost me a fortune and gave me nothing but grief in return and every time it left me stranded I swear I could hear it laughing at me as I reached for my wallet.
Happy Motoring!!!
