1965 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible
Personal story and photograph submitted by owner Kathie Summers - courtesy of the National Corvette Museum website - for participation in the National Corvette Museum 2008 Historic Motorama II.
Jim and I have owned our '65 convertible since June 1990. It had a replacement motor, so she'll always be a driver and I felt that gave me "creative license" to change the interior color and the steering wheel when we had a body-off restoration done during the 1994-1995 winter.
Our Dream Vette never came out of the plant as she is now - but she COULD have. Glen Green paint, white vinyl top, white interior, 4-speed, 327/350, teak wheel, knock-offs, and side exhaust - ah, I do LOVE that sound! She earned Jim a boat-load of trophies during the next couple years - which is very ironic, since we owned a trophy shop at the time ! ! ! !
We enjoyed driving this '65 over the next eight years. Quite a few other Corvettes have come and gone, but this one is still with us. All of our trips were under 200 miles until June 2002. We were fortunate to have been selected to represent 1965 in the NCM Historic Motorama commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Corvette. We traveled more than 2,300 miles over a total of twelve days of sweltering heat in this non-A/C Vette. We made a lot of wonderful new friends during the trip.
Since 2002, we've added three more Vettes to our garage - a 1967 Lyndale Blue coupe, a 1998 Fairway Green convertible with white top (it's a one of a kind) and a 2007 Atomic Orange ZO6 which we take to ALL of the NCM's HPDEs.
We have been Lifetime Members of the NCM (National Corvette Museum) since 1999 and I spend so much time doing volunteer work for them that we built a summer home in Bowling Green!!! I served as New Jersey Co-Captain for Caravan '99, the National Co-Chair of the 50th Anniversary Caravan in 2003 and am now very busy as the National Chair of our upcoming Caravan '09.
We are delighted to have this opportunity to participate in Historic Motorama II and look forward to making many new friends as we help GM celebrate their 100th anniversary.
Note: 155 stock 1997 Corvettes were painted Fairway Green. 223 Corvettes were painted Fairway Green in 1998.
When GM celebrates the beginning of its next 100 years on September 16, 2008, 55 Corvettes will be on display outside its World Headquarters at Detroit’s Renaissance Center. The Corvettes are in fact the Historic Motorama II, a caravan from the National Corvette Museum (NCM) which is comprised of one example from each of the 55 years of Corvette production. The caravan will depart from the National Corvette Museum on September 10th with stops along the way. People attending the GMnext Day activities on September 16th will be able to view the Corvettes before and after the official program.
Look at the next Historic Motorama II Corvette participant, representing a cross-section of Corvette enthusiasts from across the country.
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