The Moments

I remember the very first drive I took in Stella with Mike was the night we bought her.  After taking me for a spin on the highway (going at least 100 mph, I'm sure), we stopped at the local Cold Stone Creamery to get some ice cream.  I remember parking it and walking into the building as if it were yesterday.  A couple walked out and the guy instantly said to us, "Nice car."

And I melted into a puddle of goo.  Why?  If you only knew how many times I've said that to other people with Corvettes throughout my entire life, you'd know exactly why.

There are two reasons why I love riding around in Stella:  1) It makes me happy beyond my wildest dreams and 2) moments like the one we had outside of Cold Stone. The 1976 Corvette Stingray is among the 3rd generation Corvette, or C3, versus today's modern C6.  The C6 is beautiful and eye-catching in it's own right, and I have never seen one in my life that I haven't taken a quick second to admire, but the C3 generation I think was Corvette's finest time in history.   There is something mesmerizing about the long, low profile of a C3 that draws attention in a instant, even from people nearby who couldn't really care less about cars.  Everybody looks twice.  Maybe they don't smile, maybe they don't toss me a thumbs up or even acknowledge us.  But they look a second time, if only for an instant.

Occasionally, usually at least once 9 out of 10 times we take her out for a drive, someone will notice enough to actually say or do something to compliment Stella.  My favorite times involve kids--children are so uninhibited in their reactions.  They don't know or understand why they like it.  They don't know anything about make or model or horsepower, but they see those huge wheels, those sweet curves, and that racing stripe and they inherently know it's awesome.  And they tell us so.  Either by laughing, smiling, jaw-dropping, pointing (most often while pulling on Mom or Dad's pant leg) or just shouting out "That is SO COOL!!"  They give Stella well-deserved praise while I can't stop the shit-eating grin from spreading across my face. I seriously live for moments like that.  There are some days I take her out for a drive only because I want to experience a moment like that.

I enjoy other moments too, like that time a motorcyclist pulled up behind us and chanted "That is a sick car." over and over to his passenger.  Or times when people pay more attention to us driving by than to the traffic light or the car in front of them.  Or when people shout to us as we drive by, asking us what year it is or just saying "Nice!"  Another favorite was an old Native American guy we drove past while cruising around downtown, who did nothing more than give me a thumbs up and a smile.  Or when a trucker complimented us on keeping it original in our restoration.  Those are the moments I missed during the weeks she was in the shop with a broken engine.

They're the moments I miss so much right now.

Stella Gets Some Christmas Love!

My sister Kristen really out-did herself this year in the gift-giving department!  Knowing how much enjoyment I get from Stella, she had a scrapbooking book custom-made for me with a beautiful picture of Stella on the front!!  Now I can document the restoration process to look back on fondly over the years!

I've already started working on the book and I plan on adding new pages each year to show what progress we make each season.  It will be a nice way to display all the many (and obsessive) pictures I take of the car, as well as paperwork and other information from repairs we make as we go.  My favorite part of all, it gives me a way to spend time with Stella during the long separation from her over the winter (I haven't even seen her since before Thanksgiving!). Now I can drool over her pictures to keep me occupied until the snow melts and she can be back home with me again! :D

Here is a great close-up shot of the book cover.  Kristen chose a perfect picture--you can see every detail, from the reflection of the trees in the body panels to a tiny stone stuck in the tread of her rear tire!  Thanks Kristen for a truly personal and much-loved gift!! :-D

Love At First Sight

I'm happy to have found this photo gem which Mike captured of me standing next to Stella the day we first found her.  This was only moments after pulling over spontaneously just to 'have a look', which of course eventually turned into something much, much more.  I know decades from now this will be the picture I'll use to describe the moment I fell in love for the 2nd time in my life. Lucky for Mike, it was only a car. ;)