1966 Chevrolet Corvette Coupe
Personal story and photograph submitted by owner Mike Schiavone - courtesy of the National Corvette Museum website - for participation in the National Corvette Museum 2008 Historic Motorama II.
I'm Mike Schiavone, Lifetime Member 330, 55 years old, married, and life long motorhead. I've always had a love for fast cars, which needless to say means Corvette. Since I've been 7 or 8 years old, fast cars and someday owning a Corvette was my goal.
During the early 70's the need for a fast car was on top of my list. At that time I had a '68 Camaro (I wasn't allowed to have a Vette). By the mid 70's I owned my first Corvette, a '67 roadster. Sadly in the early 80's someone stole my first Vette. A few years later my race gas business was growing and that '68 Camaro race car had to go and in its place sat a '66 Vette. The original 427 was long gone, but the previous owner put another big block under the hood. I never did a whole lot of background on the car but, I think that it had spent some time on the drag strip. The traction bar bracket is still attached to the rear cross member and the body does have some imperfections on it.
I've owned this car since December 13, 1983. The only change that I have made to the car are the knock off wheels and new tires. The car had a fresh paint job and interior makeover when I made the deal on the car.
My first real trip in the car was September of 1994 to the Grand Opening of the National Corvette Museum (NCM). Most of my friends thought I was crazy for taking a 1,600 mile round trip since the car had never been more than 75 miles away from home. We had a couple of minor problems, but since then the car and I have been to the NCM in 1995, 1999, and 2002. At the 2002 Birthday Kick Off, Rick Baldrick picked the car as his celebrity choice.
In 1995, I started the concept of the 2x2 Brick in the main entrance of the NCM. It took about 6 months to get funding and talking the NCM into making it happen. With help from Vette Vues magazine, and my fellow members of Corvettes Unlimited of Vineland New Jersey and a personal phone call, letter, and donation from Zora; my desire to install the brick myself was even more important. So in March of 1996 myself and 6 other members of the club made the voyage to NCM to install the first 2x2 Brick at the museum. One of the things that amazes me about the Corvette is not always the car, but how it came about to be. Although Harley Earl conceived the car, I feel that Zora's passion and vision made it the American Icon that it is today. The Historic Motorama II will not only be a highlight for the car, but for my wife and myself.
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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