Southwest Corvettes

Cerritos, CA.

 

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August 2008

Stan and Khris Keith
   My First Interest in Corvettes
 I first became interested in Corvettes in 1957.  My parents had just bought a new ’57 Chevy at Art Mugg Chevrolet in Burbank.  One Saturday my father took me to the dealership to have an oil change done on their new car and while we were waiting for our car to be serviced we walked around the shop.  Sitting there was a brand new ’57 Corvette – Roman red with white coves.  I stood there looking at that car thinking that was absolutely the coolest car that ever set wheels on the ground!!  I asked my dad if I could sit in it and he asked one of the service guys and I found myself sitting in my very first Corvette.  I still remember sitting in that beautiful car looking at the dashboard and at the 4-speed shifter. 
 Our First Corvette
 Fast forward to 1984 and I was driving down Hawthorne Blvd. in Torrance on my way to a business meeting when I saw a used car lot that specialized in Corvettes.  They must have had 10-12 cars on the lot and I made a mental note to stop in when I had the time.  I had lusted after the Sting Ray’s since they came out in ’63 and they had a couple of them as well.
 Long story but I ended up buying a ’65 coupe – black with white interior.  It had new paint and the interior was okay but not great.  The engine turned out to be a 350 that had been made to look like a 300 hp ’65 with the ignition shielding and such.  But I was in love!! 
 Our Current ‘Vette
 I drove that car for eight years and had no plans to ever get rid of it.  But a member of the club I was in at the time wanted the car more than me and offered to pay me more than the car was worth so we exchanged dollars for the pink slip.  Without a car, I turned to Carlos Vivas who put me in touch with a gentleman in Monrovia who restored Corvettes and made Corvette race cars out of old broken Corvettes.
 I bought me a ’65 numbers-matching two-top roadster.  365 horse, close-ratio 4-speed, 4:11 Posi rear-end and a year’s worth of work!!  I thought Khris was going to kill me when I drove this thing home.  It had a do-it-yourself yellow peeling paint job, gross brown after-market seat covers, ugly carpet on the door panels.  It was ugly!!   She thought I had lost my mind buying this piece of junk.
 Turning an ugly piece of junk into a beautiful silver pearl, silver leather interior and an undercarriage you could literally eat off of took a lot of energy and time on my part and a lot of understanding on Khris’ part.  Our son, Stephen was thirteen at the time and we made the restoration a great father and son project.  He got in there and got his hands as dirty as his dad’s.  He learned a lot about not only mechanics but how to manage a project like this so things got done in an orderly manner; 
 Unusual Occurrence owning a Corvette
 When the car was completed we made arrangements to take the innagural run to Reno for Hot August Nites in 1993.  The car was just a month out of paint so I could not have the top installed so here I was driving up highway 99 with nothing over me other than a baseball cap!  Khris drove our daily driver with air conditioning as we were going to pick Stephen up at his church summer camp near Fresno.
 Upon arriving in Reno in the early evening we did what everyone does in Reno at Hot August Nites – we started to cruise the streets of Reno and Sparks.  We had been down one street and were in the process of hanging a u-turn at a stop light when a big 7-series BMW pulled in ahead of me.  He quickly figured out he was in the wrong place and the wrong time so he wanted out of the cruising traffic.  Dummy put his car in reverse and proceeded to back right into my left front fender.  CRUNCH!  There must have been 100 people on the street who were eye-witnesses to this little action.  My nephew was riding shotgun at the time but that didn’t prevent me from getting out of my car and walking up to the idiot and explaining to him in clear English how he should use his mirrors that father BMW provided for his use.  Didn’t take long for the Sparks police to arrive on the scene to do a full report.  So I spent the remainder of that weekend driving my wounded ‘Vette around explaining to everyone what had happened.
 Why Southwest Corvettes?
 Khris and I have been members of Southwest Corvettes since February of 1994 after being members of The Vette Set for a number of years.  We really enjoy participating in the various events when we can get the time to.  The best part of the club is the great people!  From “Fun Runs” to progressive dinners to monthly meetings, the club is a great place to get to grow friendships and to share our love of all things Corvette! 
 

 
What a beauty!!

Member Profile for June 2008

Member Profile..  Al Barber

 

Native of: Pittsburg, Pa.       

 Current residence:   Long Beach

           

Marital Status: Divorced (but taken)                      

 

Occupation:    Police Officer (LB)    

 

Cars/Trucks:  C3 / C4 Corvette, Toyota Truck and Jeep  

 Other ‘Toys”: Motorcycle / Canoe  

           

Other interests (outside of Corvettes): Hunting, Weight Lifting, Biking, Camping and Travel  

 Why a Corvette?
When I was in my earlier teens I fell in love with the beauty of the Corvette.  It wasn’t unit I divorced and met Diane, when she said you want a Corvette “buy a Corvette”.  “Off I went”!
  Low and behold I came across a C3.  It was pretty beat up, so of course I have put some money into it.  New engine, paint job (thanks J&D), new rear end (thanks J&D)
 fixed the air conditioner, and lastly I went from a 4 speed to a 6.  It was a body style I really liked.
As life went on, Diane and I joined the SW Corvette’s.  They seem to go on a lot of little trips.  As most of you know the older vette’s aren’t very comfortable, so off I went again.
 Came across a very clean C4.  So now when ever we go on a trip guess which one wins out…yep! the C4 what great comfort.….
Even though we were going to sell the C3, we have put a lot of money into it and I just can’t part with her.
We truly enjoy the SW Corvette Club; we have made some new friends, and have shared fun times.

Hal Vatcher

Marital Status:                       Divorced (not lookingJ )

 

Occupation:                Computer Professional

 

Cars/Trucks:              62 Corvette, 65 Pontiac Lemans "GTO", 2004 Cadillac Escalade.

 

Other ‘Toys”:             None

 

Other interests (outside of Corvettes):        Skiing

 

Why a Corvette?:

 

I have always wanted a 62 Corvette.  None other:  just a  62.  I fell “in love” with the car when it first appeared on the scene in late 61 (I was 18 at the time).  Even though I was in Canada (eh?), and winter was approaching, I was already deep enough into drag racing to recognize the potential for that new 327 motor!

It took me 40 more years before I could realize my dream of owning one.  Many of us have the same root story (unless they made a lot of money early!) - other priorities like jobs, marriage, mortgages, kids, teeth, weddings, divorces, etc. drive much of the way (and timeframe) in which we acquire our “toys”.  For me, the last of those things occurred in early 2003 with the wedding of my daughter.  Now it was time for me!

I found my 62 in Albuquerque, NM.  I flew up, saw her, bought, her, and drove her back to LA!  Across the dessert with no roof, no radio, and a (literally) smoking motor!  But, she’s a Chevy; and they don’t let us down!

An additional $40,000 (and much sweat) later, I have a reliable driver quality (not show car) Corvette.

Now I’m a member of 2 Corvette Clubs.  I have made many new friends, gone on a number of day and weekend trips, and generally reorganized my social life around the 'Vette!  Fun stuff.

I’m still somewhat of a “gear head”.  If I’m not out on a run, you can generally find me working on the ‘Vette (or the GTO) in the driveway (what I wouldn’t give for a lift, but I think my RPV neighbors might frown on it!).  As those of us with older Corvettes (or other old cars) know – their never "done”.

 

That’s me!

 

January 2008 Member Profile - Pat Reeves....

My name is Pat Reeves.  I joined the Southwest Corvette Club in 2000.  I have two Corvettes, a 1999 and a 2006.  Both of my Corvettes are red convertibles (I thought all Corvettes were red convertibles).  I will give a brief history of my 1999.  I bought it new at Harbor Chevrolet in 1999.  David Grant had put a Magnuson Supercharger on his C5, and that inspired me to put one on my car.  In 2002 I had J&D Corvette install a Magnuson Supercharger on my car.  There were a lot of belt problems, but it was finally worked out.  I think it was in 2003 that the club visited Guldstrand Motors.  They had a C5 Corvette there with a Turbocharger 427 engine.  Dick Guldstrand said it was very fast and could do it for us for about $25,000.  I was driving my 1999 everyday and in 2005 it had 120,000 miles on it.  I decided to look into putting a new 427 engine in it.  I talked to Dick Guldstrand and he said it could be done and it would take ABOUT 2 months to complete.  In July of 2005 I gave him a check to get started.  He ordered the engine from Katech.  He had Magnuson send Katech a Supercharger so it could be build correctly.  In December of 2005 the engine arrives at Guldstrand.  I took my car in and bought a 2006 (I had to have something to drive).  They sent the Supercharger that was on my car to Magnuson to be rebuilt and stared the installation process of putting my engine in my car.  There is not enough room in the news letter to tell the details of the story from there.  We went through 3 transmissions and $*^^^^%$&*()**^% in cash.  I found out they had never tried this with an automatic transmission!!!!!  But 1 ½ years later I now have a 650 HP “Hot Rod” that runs fine.  I had to learn how to drive it.  If I give it too much gas from a stop it goes sideways.  I get a lot of stares and a lot of people asking me if I really have a 427 in it.  I am asked to open the hood a lot.  I drive the 2006 during the week and the 1999 on weekends and trips.  To me it is about having fun, one day at a time.
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