Ordering My Dream '77 Vette
"I don't know why you want a Corvette," my dad muttered as we walked side by side that sunny morning in April 1977, a-one block walk to Lavery Chevrolet in Alliance, Ohio. Our family had purchased more than 20 Chevys from Ashley/Lavery's from 1962 to 1977, so it was a stroll Dad and I had made many times. "Let's take one for a test drive, Dad," I coaxed. "Then you'll see."
A new, dark blue '77 Vette was on the lot; seeing us coming in was like money in the bank at Lavery's. "Which one today, George?" the salesman asked my dad, smiling. "The blue Corvette," I responded. The keys came out, the dealer tags went on, and I drove Dad (quickly) to a sidewinder country road about three miles out of town. Stopping abruptly, I challenged him: "It's your turn, Dad." We both had to get out of the car; there is no such thing as sliding across the front seat to get behind the wheel of a Corvette. No stranger to the throttle, Dad accelerated quickly, forgetting a short bridge that--in any other car--would have had our heads hitting the ceiling at 50+ miles per hour. But the Corvette took the bridge without lifting an inch, and then aptly negotiated a quick curve before Dad could even think of backing off the throttle. My father was convinced in an instant, and I drove the Vette directly back to the dealership, our test drive lasting less than half an hour.
"I'm ordering one -- today," I announced to the stunned salesman. He directed us to his office and pulled an order form from a file. Keep in mind it was mid-April 1977 -- very late in the production year to be ordering a '77 Corvette.
I was a UPS driver at the time, 22-years-old, single and on vacation. Here's what I ordered: A medium red Corvette with red leather interior. Delco AM/FM/eight-track tape deck (cassettes were "new" and also an option). Color-keyed exterior mirrors, the standard V-8 with automatic transmission. (I'd driven a '94 Vette with a 4-speed and thought the compression made it too “jerky"). Standard rally wheels, which I liked better than the $400 option mags. Raised white letter Firestone 500 radials over the Good Year option, because the 500s were on the "poster" Vettes (a red one and an orange one) in '77. The sticker price was $10,400 -- the dealer discounted the car to $9800 on the day I ordered it. It arrived on July 2, 1977 -- but that's another story. My payment schedule was $195 a month for 42 months.
Three years later, in 1980, my wife and I moved to Connecticut, where I sold the Vette to a UPSer from New York for $8500. (The $8500 was half the down payment for our first home).
Fast forward 30 years -- to 2007. Three decades of successful marriage and four great Christian kids later, I can't quit looking at '77 Vettes on EBay. Do you know how hard it is to find an unmolested '77 Vette when you think you've memorized every detail of the original? When I found a white one in Maryland claiming 42,000 original miles, I had to go see for myself! What I saw was what I'd dreamed of a 2nd time -- a truly original '77 Vette. This one still sported its original white paint, original blue leather interior, original blue GM engine, transmission, AM/FM radio and antenna -- my goodness! It even had its original matching blue Corvette floor mats! I was delighted and stunned and sweated bullets, until about two weeks later, when I drove it 2+ hours home to Virginia.
Funny thing about that Vette -- it looked like mine--just 30 years older, you know, a little worn and faded and "used" here and there, just like me. I'm sorting through lots of maintenance issues with this old car, because, honestly, little to nothing has ever been done to this car. Fortunately, it appears to have been garage-kept all of its life. It sounds like, drives like my new one from the good old days, too -- just a little fishy for now, until I replace its original shocks and dry-rotted Good Year raised white letter radials. The car will, undoubtedly, nickel and dime me to death. But I'll die a happy man. And, frankly, although I'm nostalgic and foolish, I'm not dead yet.
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