How did this collection begin?
While I never set out to have a ‘collection’ of Corvettes, it began with the purchase of a car I’d dreamed about since I was a junior in high school in Hugo, Oklahoma...a 1963 Corvette split window coupe. I’d only had my driver’s license a few months when that car was produced and I was smitten. Of course, I never really thought I’d own one.

So how long was it before you got the ‘63?
It took me 21 years to be in a position to acquire one. I found it listed in the want ads, for sale by an individual, and after dropping none-too-subtle hints to my wife, Sandra, she finally encouraged me to buy it, saying it would serve two purposes.: ’my gift to you for your 40th birthday,’ and an invitation to ‘go ahead and get over your middle-age crazies.’ I’ve now owned the car a little more than 21 years and it’s almost a like a member of the family...at least to me. As to if I ever got over the ‘crazies’, you’ll have to ask Sandra that one.

By the way, that little split-window coupe that I bought in 1985 is now worth about six times what I paid for it...and it’s just as beautiful as it ever was.

Why Corvettes?
Truthfully, I can’t explain it. I think a lot of other collectors or individual Corvette owners would agree...you either like them or you don’t. But if you do, you really do. Sure, there are all the slogans like ‘America’s only true sports car’, or the fact that comparably-performing European cars cost at least twice as much, but there’s something else intrinsic in driving and owning a Corvette. And just exactly what that is, I can’t say. I just know it’s there.