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.