Season 2

Unexpectedly, it's mid-March and very unseasonably warm.  Michigan usually has at least 3 more weeks (usually more!) of cold and snowy punishment for all the summer sin we northerners got into last year. It's been a very strange winter anyway, and then about two weeks ago it just randomly became spring-like.  When we put the Vette away for the winter back in November I had every intention of not bringing it back until the first week of May, and I was totally okay with that until about two days ago.  Two days ago I got out of the gym, rolled down the window of my regular car, and stuck my arm out in the breeze.  And then I thought of Stella.  Once that happened the beautiful sunshine and the warm breeze killed me slowly, hour after hour, until I knew I couldn't waste another single nice day hanging my arm out the window of any normal car.

It might snow again, but who gives a shit?  I miss my beautiful car and this kind of weather is what she was built for.

So today Mike brought Stella home from Steve's garage, where she's been safe from the harsh elements for over 4 months.  It's probably premature, but I'm not going to complain about an extra month of Corvette therapy.  I pulled into my parking lot, saw her parked in our (new!) carport and instantly got a shit-eating grin on my face.  It's simply incredible how much I missed her.

We went for a drive and I was reminded of all my favorite parts.  The engine start up, and the growling noise it makes while idling at a red light (much smoother, I'm proud to add, since we dropped a new engine inside). The way it jumps when you stamp down on the accelerator when the light turns green.  The whoosh of the enormous fan in front of the engine, which can be heard over it all when you go a little too fast. ;)  The heads she turns each time we take her out. The smell of leather, heat and exhaust.  Over the winter while I worked on the scrapbook my sister gave me, Mike had brought several receipts from inside the glove box which smelled like that.  I remember smelling them over and over, taking myself back to moments like today.  Moments which I couldn't have until warmth returned.

And I was happy.  So, so happy.

As usual, we've made lofty plans for season two.  We've saved money all winter and hope to replace the seat belts and the transmission.  We also want to repair the leak in the brake line.  Once that leak is gone, and the transmission is replaced, we will have stopped all fluid leaks.  That doesn't seem like a big deal, but to me the idea of a 36 year old car not leaving a drop of oil, coolant, or brake fluid behind on the ground is an achievement.  It's like coming to a milestone and looking back at the distance you've crossed.  Stuff like that makes me feel so good about it all.  Just like when I admire the smooth, flawless grumble of the engine since we've replaced it--so much better than before.  Slowly, slowly, we're making a difference--making her better.

I have a little photo shoot with Stella currently in the works. I KNOW THAT'S CRAZY.  But whatever. :D

From the Parts of Lesser Corvettes

One morning not too long after we purchased the car, I woke up crazy-early and couldn't go back to sleep.  To kill time until Mike got up, I started looking for a website to order the "Corvette" letting which is missing from Stella's rear fender.  I opened up Google and searched for '1976 Corvette Stingray rear fender emblem.'  This is what I got in plenty:

And I was at once completely confused, because having memorized every inch of my new hot rod, I knew that Stella's rear end did NOT look like that!  This emblem was all lower-case letters which were also connected to each other, so that when centered it would look like this:

That rear end doesn't look a thing like the one on my '76.  Instead, each letter in the word 'Corvette' is it's own individual piece (not connected) and capitalized.  I had this picture which I had taken of Stella to compare to:

You can easily see that the spaces where the letters go are definitely not connected.  After doing vast research, it became clear to me that Stella's rear fender was not the rear fender of a 1976 Stingray, but of a 1974, or more likely, a 1975 Stingray. It wasn't until '76 when the rear emblem became lower-case and connected as in the top picture. Distraught, I started entertaining wild and crazy notions, like maybe Stella isn't a '76 at all and the guy we bought it from had been mistaken!  Luckily, when logic set in I realized that the title lists it as a '76, and therefore a '76 it is.

Well, mostly anyway. ;)

Since that day Mike and I have discovered several oddities which suggest that our Vette is more like a patchwork quilt.  The ULTIMATE CORVETTE, if you will, made from parts of lesser Vettes. ;)  The rear and front fenders have both been replaced, which is also why the headlamps don't go up and down simultaneously (whoever put them back in did a less than admirable job).  Also, while clearing the brake lines of air pockets one mid-summer day, Mike discovered that Stella had two bleeder valves per rear brake (the 1976 only had one bleeder valve per tire).  It wasn't until earlier years, 1978, that the rear brake structure acquired the second valve.

Luckily, the one feature which could most easily distinguish a '76 from other models was not changed in Stella, despite having parts from both older and younger Corvettes: the steering wheel (which is hands-down the least desirable design for a wheel among collectors).

When straightened, the '76 steering wheel has two spokes on either side (4 in all), positioned almost perfectly to obstruct the driver's view of the speedometer and other important gauges on the dash. It is my belief that this is probably what makes it so unpopular (the '77 adopted a different wheel design much to the relief of Corvette-lovers).  Many owners of '76's swap out this wheel design for either an older or younger model, but I have no interest whatsoever in doing such a thing.  Despite its poor design, this odd steering wheel is part of what makes Stella a '76, and I want nothing but to admire her more unique features.

These oddities might not win Stella any "pretty car" trophies at car shows, but they certainly make her stand out from the crowd for me.  It has been beyond exciting discovering her piece by piece, learning her story little by little.