See Ken's 1965 Corvette restoration pictures

Biography

It all started around 1965 when I went to work for a large gasoline station in Manchester, Connecticut.  The station had about twelve bays and a total of twelve gasoline pumps.  My job was basically to pump gasoline and to perform road service with one of the four tow trucks that were operated by the station.

I was always into cars and loved working at the station. One day I was talking to one of the mechanics and he told me that he had just purchased an 1962 Corvette.  I expressed my excitement at seeing the car.  A few days later a beautiful 1962 Corvette pulled into the station.  It was white with black interior and both tops.  It was a four speed with the 327 cubic inch motor, putting out 340 horsepower.  The engine redlined at 6500 RPM's.  It was one of the most beautiful car I had ever set my eyes on.  Paul, the owner, asked me if I would like a ride (do bears live in the woods?).  So down the road we went.  Then he uttered the magic words, "Want to see how she goes?"  My life hasn't been the same since.  After that, Corvettes were the only cars for me.

My first purchase came about a year later.  It was a 1963 split window coupe, Daytona Blue with matching blue interior.  It had practically no options and was just a base motor car.  It was my only transportation for the next three years.  I drove it summer and winter.  It had a pos-a-traction rear end.  I put snow tires on it and drove it all through the winter.  I  ended up selling the 63' in 1969 just before entering the army.

Fast forward six years to 1976.  I decided that something was lacking in my life.  I had just the fix for that, another Corvette!  I started to look around and found a 1965 Coupe.  I couldn't afford to spend a lot, because now I had a wife and a new home.  The 65' needed a lot of work but it was drivable (well, sort of drivable).  After a couple of years, I couldn't keep up with the repairs so I took it off the road and tucked in the back of my garage.

Fast forward again to 1981.  I am now single (you guys know the drill) and I buy a 1977 Corvette (I still have the 65' tucked in the garage).  The 77' is nice.  It is a blue on blue with the L-48 motor.  I really liked the looks of the car but it had no real performance.  A friend of mine had a 1985 Corvette and he decided that he wants a boat. So, I sell the 1977 and buy the 1985.

The 85' Corvette is black over saddle and has the 4+3 manual transmission.  I liked the "new technology" of this model.  I auto-crossed with this car and show it.  I owned this car for seven years.

In 1993 I decided that I need another Corvette.  I start to look around and I see an add in Hemings Motor News that catches my eye.  It is for a 1990 ZR-1.  I remember seeing ads for these cars when they were introduced.  I was very impressed with the performance and the price tag.  I've dreamed about owning one but never thought that I would.  I read the add twice.  It seemed to good to be true.  The asking price is reasonable and I can afford it!  I call and make an appointment to see it.  As it turns out the seller had a lot of lookers but few serious buyers.  When I get there, he is slightly less than hospitable.  I finally convince him that I am a legitimate buyer and we get down to negotiations.  He breaks out all of the paper work on the car.  He then informs me that he bought it strictly for re-sale in 1990, but held on to it for to long.  When these cars first came out they would bring $25,000 over sticker!  He had paid a total of $68,000 for the ZR-1 (the dealer add-on was $8,000).  After some haggling, he says to me "Give me $34,000 for the car and take it out a' here."  The rest is history.  I truly love this car.  It has the 32 valve dual overhead cam engine.  The motor is rated at 375 horse power at 7,000 RPM's.

Even though technology has made my baby somewhat obsolete, I still enjoy this car a lot.  I take a lot of heat because I don't drive this car often. In fact, it has slightly less than 15,000 miles on it and I have owned the car for almost twelve years.

In case, you didn't catch on while reading all this, I never sold the 1965 Corvette.  That's right!  I will have owned this Corvette twenty nine years in the spring of 2005.  I love those Sting Ray Coupes!  No matter how many times it broke down and left me stranded, no matter how many times it got me there but couldn't get me back home, I could never bring myself to sell that car.  So, I decided that I would make this "rolling basket case" into a respectable Corvette more fitting of it's heritage.  After all, we had been through a lot together and I felt that I owed it to the car.  Still, befitting "the car from hell", the restoration has been going on much longer than I would like to admit to.  Finally though, after starting with a body off restoration, where once disassembled, no two pieces of the car were bolted together, there is light at the end of the tunnel!  It has been well over ten years since this car has actually seen the "light of day".  The final aspects of the restoration are expected to be completed in the spring  05' and then it is on to the NCRS show circuit to see if we can garner some "Top Flight" awards.  For those of you unfamiliar with the car, it is a numbers marching "big block".  The first big block motors were 396 cubic inches and rated at 425 HP.  They were introduced in 1965 and offered as a mid year option for the 1965 production run.  There were only 2,157 of these cars ever built in the 1965 production and later years until the big blocks were increased to 427 cubic inches for the start of the 1966 production and later years until the big blocks were again increased to 454 cubic inches starting in 1970.

So, this is my Corvette story and I'm sticking to it!  Thank you for indulging my nearly forty years of auto-crossing, rallying and drag racing.  It has been an awesome experience.  I have met many wonderful people and done many exciting thins in my Corvettes.  Corvettes have taken me to places I would never have gone to otherwise.  Ever since that first ride, I never looked back.  The Corvette has always been and will always be the only ride for me.

Save the Wave.

Ken

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