Sweet Yesterday

The year was 1961. It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.

John F. Kennedy was inaugurated President of the United States. There was trouble in Cuba, and he advised Americans to build bomb shelters. And he asked Congress for $531 million to put a man on the moon. Construction began on the Berlin Wall and Pampers were introduced. IBM released the Selectric typewriter (yes, I remember those) and the last episode of I Love Lucy aired. The average price of a new home was $17,500, and regular gasoline could be purchased for 31 cents per gallon. My how things have changed.

But some things don't. Some things are classics when they're created. Others achieve that status in time. The C1 Corvette (1953 - 1962) falls into the former category. General Motors produced 10,939 Corvettes in the 1961 model year at a base price of $3,934. The car pictured above is one of those vintage Vettes. (If you can't see all of it, maximize your window, because you want to see all of it.)

This car is one of only 7,013 originally, and still, equipped with a 4-speed Borg Warner T-10 transmission. But it gets better. It has its original 270hp motor, and only 2,827 Vettes were produced with that power plant. The color is Honduras Maroon, and that paint graced the fiberglas of only 1,645 of them. This color was only available in 1960 and 1961, so it's unusual to see one with so few in that color. And 47 years later, there probably aren't very many of them with this build sheet left, either. So, to say it's rare is a bit of an understatement.

The exterior styling was face-lifted for 1961. It was the first Corvette without heavy "teeth" in the grill area. The rear was completely restyled with four taillights, now a Corvette Trademark. The transmission tunnel was reduced in width to give the interior a 20% increase in interior space.

And it was the only model year that had this cool little emblem on the front fenders.

This beautiful Corvette is owned by my friend Frank Dreano of Winter Garden, Florida. Frank was kind enough to send me some photos when I asked. He also told me a little about it. I'm going to let him tell you so I don't get anything incorrect. So here's the story . . .

I bought this car just over a year ago from a NASCAR wind tunnel engineer in South Carolina. The color is Honduras Maroon (an original '61 color) with Ermine White coves and a black interior with correct olive/black Tuxedo carpet.

The car has the original 270HP solid lifter, dual four barrel, 283 cubic inch motor with the original Borg Warner T-10 4-speed. It's taken a year to get EVERYthing working correctly on this car including the original Wonderbar radio, the parking brake flashing warning light and the original windshield washer system.

The only modifications I have made are to add an electronic ignition/distributor with a vacuum advance, front disk brakes and custom heat isolators under the carbs to help with digestion of modern gasoline mixtures.

The biggest problem with the car was finding the correct 4 bbls (it had 1956 Carter WCFB carbs when I bought it). I did find the correct 270 HP Carter carbs on eBay in July of 2008 and this completed the mechanicals on the car.

I restored the entire interior including all gauges, a new windshield, a new dashpad, new carpet, metal door panel inserts, new kick panels and completely restored seats. The car is driven about 2,000 miles annually.

And there you have it. A legendary sports car that's been well cared for and kept as close as possible to the way it was originally built. It doesn't get much better than that. So if you ever decide to take that long overdue road trip in your own Corvette, and the highway leads you to Winter Garden, Florida, tell Frank hello for me. And thanks for sharing the love.

Navigating

I know what you're thinking. "What's up with this guy? Yesterday we had a picture of a big wave, and today it's a sailing ship." Well, I just liked the photos.

What I'm going to talk about today doesn't have anything to do with GPS, surfing, ships, or sailing. It's all about what's here, what it does, and how to find what you're looking for.

In case you haven't guessed, I'm HTML challenged. I'm in uncharted waters. Figuring out how to arrange everything on this page remains a continual learning experience. It reminds me of when I was trying to figure out how to disengage the Active Handling and Traction Control on my Vette so I could spin the tires. The gurus at Corvette Forum came to my rescue, again, on that issue. However, I'm on my own with this adventure. Hopefully, I'll make it through the storm and into the calm water before long.

So let's weigh anchor and set sail. Just so you know, I've rearranged a few items, and added a couple more. I wanted to explain that so you wouldn't think you had wandered into the wrong site. First of all, I've moved the Classic Car of the Day to the very bottom. Not because it isn't something interesting to see every day, but because, if it's something you look forward to, you're going to have to scroll all the way to the bottom to see it. (Heh Heh.)

There were two reasons for that move: It looked better, and I thought you might find some things along the way you might miss otherwise. Things like all those great-looking Corvettes along the left sidebar. Those beauties belong to the Corvette Forum gang — individually, not as a group. And there will probably be more of them to come. So keep your eyes open for that as you scroll down.

Secondly, I've added a Followers gadget. It's just to the left of where this post starts. If you want to be included among the Corvette Lovers Group, just click on it and follow the instructions. It's pretty simple, and it's free. Free is good.

The other thing I added was a Feed thingy. I'm not sure how it works exactly, but it's my understanding that if you click on it, a drop down menu pops open and you can click on "Yahoo" or "Google" or one of several other feeds that automatically alert you when something is added to this site. I could be totally out in left field about that, (who's on first?) but that's the way I understood it. If you're brave, click it and see what happens. If your computer explodes, let me know so I don't click it.

You'll also see some ads on here for Corvette related items and services. I told them they could put a few of them on here when they explained that they pay me something when viewers click on them. I'm not counting much on that, but it was free and I thought, what the heck. It might help someone find something they want or need. So if you see something that looks interesting feel free to click it and see if takes you anywhere. Also try that Google Search thing at the very top left and let me know if it takes you to someplace that isn't related to Corvettes. It's not supposed to.

I also removed that Coupon graphic. The reason I put it on here in the first place was because it would give you the gas prices at all the service stations in your area, by zip code. If any of you were using it and you want it back, let me know. I'll paste it back on here for you.
Finally, I would love to hear your comments, questions, suggestions, stories, things about your Corvette, or your dream to own one. And I'll preface the following with an apology to each of you for not explaining it sooner. At the bottom of each daily post you will see a line of type that begins "Posted by" and ends with "Comments." If you click on the "Comments" link it will allow you to reply. You need to have a Google account (again free) to log in. If you don't have a Google account, not to worry. You can set one up right there on that page, and you're good to go. I get a little short of breath when I have to do all the talking. I know you're out there. I can hear you breathing. But I don't know what you're thinking unless you speak up. So take a turn.

And that's about all I have to say about that. Here's wishing each of you a great Wednesday! If the weather's nice, pull the cover off that beauty in the garage, climb into that classy leather seat, turn the key and hear that sound you love. Then drive it around a little before the gas prices start going up and the snow starts coming down. And don't forget your seat belt.

Head Up Display

There is some ambiguity on what this system is called. Some call it "Head Up Display," and others refer to it as "Heads Up Display." For simplicity, I'll use Head Up Display in this post.

My first experience with this technology was in 1969 as a Flight Simulator Technician for the United States Air Force. At that time, the Phantom II (Phantom F4-E) jet had a similar system. Now, 40 years later, I have one of these devices in the Vette.

I won't go into the technology of how it works, because the more important aspect of this writing is in telling you what it does. In a nutshell, it transfers information and projects it onto your windshield so you can see it easily without having to glance down at the instrument panel. It may appear to be a frivolous gizmo, but at the high speeds these vehicles can achieve, keeping your eyes on the road is critical.

If you look at the photo above, you can see the speed indicated at 55mph. In addition, the engine rpm is displayed similar to the way it looks on the instrument panel. The oil pressure is illustrated as vertical bars. The more bars, the higher the pressure. It's fairly simple and easy to read with a quick change in focus.

The controls for this option are located on the left side of the dash. You can control the amount of information displayed, including speed, oil pressure, rpm, etc., as well as the brightness and the vertical position. I will warn you that polarized sunglasses make it difficult to see the display. The Z06 model has an additional "G-Force" indicator. I'm not certain how much value that adds, since it probably isn't going to show much unless you're in a situation where you should be looking at and concentrating on other things.

Tired

I mentioned yesterday that I wanted to tell you a little of what I learned about tires recently. I actually learned this on one of my favorite websites related to Corvettes (other than this one, of course).

Before buying my Corvette I spent a lot of time on a website called the Corvette Forum. If you have an interest in Vettes, this site is fabulous. You can find someone on there who can answer any question you can come up with. The address is http://www.corvetteforum.com/. It's free, and it's one of the most valuable resources related to Corvettes that I've found.

One of the things I learned was that all C5 Corvettes came from the factory wearing Goodyear Eagle F1 Run Flat tires. Now, if you're not familiar with run flat tires, here is a little info. These tires are designed to maintain their profile even with zero air pressure. They have a stiff sidewall with a steel reinforcement that helps maintain the shape. Goodyear rates them as capable of being driven 200 miles at speeds below 50 mph — with no pressure. Hence the name. And it's actually a good thing they developed them because C5 Corvettes have no jack and no spare, and no place to store either one.

These are actually excellent tires. However, as they age, the rubber becomes harder, more brittle, and more likely to fail. In addition, the older they get, the noisier they become on the highway. Most Corvette owners who are running these tires will tell you they are very noisy and hard-riding. That's the price you have to pay if you want to run the Goodyears. There is an additional price of about $400 each that you'll have to pay if you want to buy them.

Three of my tires were original. The left rear had been replaced. How do I know? By the date code that's stamped on them. But we'll get back to that in a little bit. With only 23,000 miles of use, my Goodyears still had about half the original tread left. So, from a tread standpoint, the tires were fine. However, I learned something else from the experts at Corvette Forum. From an age perspective, at eight years old they were overdue to be replaced. The DOT recommends replacing tires at six years, regardless of tread. So, it was time.

With the decision made to replace the tires, the next question was what tires to buy. Back to the Corvette Forum I went to pick the brains of the experts. There seemed to be a majority of Vette owners that preferred the Michelin Pilot Sports over the Goodyear Eagles. To make a long story shorter, I ended up with Michelin Pilot Sport Run Flat tires. I'm very happy with them so far. They are much quieter than the Goodyears and the ride is softer. I can actually hear the deep sound of my Corsa exhaust. Plus, the set of four ran about $500 less than the Goodyears.

Bottom line: Four new tires, mounting, balancing, alignment of all four wheels totaled $1,112. Plus I have a $60 rebate coming from Michelin.

Now, I mentioned earlier that my left rear tire had been replaced. No one told me this, but after learning how to tell the age of a tire, it was a fairly easy deduction. If you look at the sidewall of your tires you will see a lot of writing. What you're looking for are the letters "DOT" It will be in type that's about a quarter inch in height. When you find the DOT letters you will find several letters and numbers following them. The last four numbers in that string will provide the info you need to determine the age of your tires. But it's in code, sort of. The first two numbers are the week of the year, and the last two numbers are the year.

Let me explain it using my tires as an example. Three of my tires had 3200 stamped on them. The left rear had 1202. That means three of the tires were manufactured the 32nd week of 2000. This would be accurate for original equipment because my car was assembled on August 28th of 2000. However, the left rear tire was manufactured the 12th week of 2002, which means that tire wasn't even existing when my car was built. Here's a website with a nice photo to show you what I'm talking about. http://www.tuninglinx.com/html/car-tire-date-code.html.

Finally, when I purchased my Michelins I was armed with this information and instructed the dealer not to bring me any tires that had been sitting around for a year or more. I was pleased when they arrived and I checked the date code. They were a week old, and they all had the same date code on them.

And that's pretty much all I can tell you about tires. Other than the fact that I took my car to McCarthy Chevrolet in Olathe, Kansas. They've been in business a long time, and they've learned how particular Vette owners are. They did a great job.

That's it for today. Tomorrow we'll talk about the heads up display. If you're not familiar with it, it's something you might want to hear about. And if I feel talkative, we'll go back in time a little and cover "the wave," which is something you have to know if own a Corvette, or if you plan on owning on in the future.