In December 1970 we purchased a house on a quiet street in District Heights, MD. That spring, I was talking to my neighbor who lived across the street from us. His garage door was up, and I noticed a car in there that had a cover on it. I asked him what he had under the cover, and he told me that one day he would show it to me.
Six months passed and he called me over to his garage and he uncovered his car. It was a beautiful Nassau blue 1965 corvette with a 327 cubic inch, 350 horsepower with a four-speed transmission and a telescopic steering wheel. It also had a soft top and a hardtop. I asked him why he never drove it. He told me his wife had given the car to him for their 25th wedding anniversary, but since she didn’t like it, he rarely drove it. His daily driver was a little Volvo P1800 sports car which he had painted purple. I told him if he ever decided to sell the corvette, to please let me know. In the spring of 1971, Mr. Penny knocked on our front door and said he was ready to sell the Corvette and was I interested in buying it? I sure was! His price was $2500.
We had a 1969 Ford Fairlane and a 1970 VW Beetle already, but as soon as I got the Corvette, it took up residence in our one-car garage. My wife and I had fun driving it! One trip, in particular, stands out. It was Labor Day 1971; we were on I-495 (the Washington, DC Beltway) on our way to see Sonny and Cher in concert at Shady Grove Amphitheater. Suddenly, the car lost power while I was driving 65 mph. There was a ramp just ahead for the exit at Connecticut Avenue, and I was able to steer the car down the ramp, but it stopped moving on a residential street at the bottom of the ramp.
A young guy stopped and told us he was a certified Chevrolet mechanic and he lived just three blocks away. He said he would be glad to take a look at it and see if he could fix it. He and I pushed it while my wife steered. He rebuilt the carburetor — the float had gone bad. While he worked on the car, we sat inside getting to know his parents, who insisted that we sit and have dinner with them! We were soon back on the beltway, and we walked into the concert just as Sonny and Cher started their first song, thanks to our Guardian Angel whose name was Roscoe!
In February 1972 our first child was born, and after that, the corvette was again spending most of the time in a garage because we couldn’t take it out for a ride with a baby. Two years after I purchased the car, I was offered more than I had paid for it and decided to let it go. The new owner modified the car, putting two four-barrel carbs and side exhausts on it. Shortly after that, the car was stolen right out of his carport, never to be seen again.
As it has been said by many car enthusiasts if only I had kept THAT one!
