Saturday, February 23, 2008

My 1966 Corvettes--Then and Now

I have been driving Chevrolets most of my life and two of the best and most fun are shown here. Both are '66s but one I owned back then and one I own and drive now. Sure wish I still had the silver coupe shown here with our number four son Bob. But, I sold it to Don Gould, who was a terrific art director and friend. Don did some of the very good Camaro ads you will see later on. I packed all four of our boys in the space behind the seats and they loved to hear me go through the gears. It was a 327 four speed that I bought from the fleet of Chevrolets we kept in LA for ads and TV spots. At the end of the year they were for sale at a good price and didn't have many miles on them. I paid a guy $50 bucks to drive it back to Detroit. Now I really understood the excitement of taking delivery on your first Corvette! I still have the VIN number and I tried to find it a few years ago but with no luck. The other Corvette that was for sale in our fleet was a 427 roadster just like the one I have now. Somebody had already taken it by the time I thought I could afford to buy one. My wife, Ruth, got me the 427 you see here for my birthday about 30 or 40 years ago. The fellow who owned it had blown the engine and installed a 327. I drove it with the 327 for a few years and then had an absolutely perfect 427 built-up for it. The block we found was even cast before my Corvette was assembled. Only new carpeting was added. I also drive it with radial tires rather than the gold striped bias belted ones it came with. When I drive around town it never fail to turn heads. I know all this has nothing to do with the ads you came here to see but Corvetts have been a big part of my life as well as Chevrolet and I still love 'em both.

3 comments:

SPEAKER MIX said...

Jim,what a beautiful piece of machinery !!!!
Congratulations !!!
I really love these ol' photographs,do you still have some more of your Chevys ??
Really wanna see them...

Mário

Jim Bernardin said...

Hi Mario,
Thanks for all the nice comments. I am very pleased that you enjoy my blog. Now that the holidays are over I'll get back to working on it. I am in the Florida Keys now but I brought a lot more things that I think will be of interest. I do have more pictures of my Corvettes. Along with the '66 roadster I have a 1964 327 roadster and a 1978 anniversary coupe. I don't drive the '64 anymore as it is in need of some frame repair but still a matching numbers car. I have been driving Chevys for most of my life and my main car now is a Suburban. It is the best I have ever owned.
Again, thanks for stopping by.
Jim

Brent Fullard said...

Jim:

We have the same taste in cars!

Our family vehicle is an '07 Suburban, while our fun cars are a '66 Corvette 427/425 Coupe in Sun Fire yellow and a '66 Corvair Corsa Turbo convertible in Marina Blue with a white top.

I really enjoy reading your blog.