Our 1953 Commemorative Edition Corvette Story
We scrambled into our clothes, called Buzz and Jackie's room and headed outside. Everyone on the Rally knew the car was coming between 7 and 8am so some were up and waiting already. Considering we'd all been up until the wee hours pickin' and grinnin' (a standard feature of our Rally)..good friends!
It was foggy at 7:41am in Lake Oconee, GA. Here he comes!
This is Gael, Buzz (invisible), Jackie and friend Jeanne Potter. It's really here!
This is Jackie with their 53-03 CE. Just because it's not coming off the truck is no reason it can't be petted...
You can see both cars with the tray just about ready to receive mine (or, it could be one really, really long 53-03 CE):
Almost ready... the crowd goes wild!
Tom offered to let me back the car out onto the tray. I declined so he stripped off his road suit to do the job:
Tom was really funny. About this point he asked if anyone had the time. We told him, "8:20". He said, "Oh, well I'm going on break now..." NOT!
Here she comes..
Of course, first inspection took a while. Notice that I (on the camera) couldn't get close to the car:
Before Tom buttoned up the hauler and took off for Florida, here's one more with Buzz, Jackie and their 53-03 CE. We call the cars "fraternal" twins since their tops are different colors:
This is me and Tom (the transport driver):
I had to blow this up so the quality ain't great but this is me; why is this man smiling?
At last, I'm permitted behind the wheel:
..and gone!
After a quick drive, I parked her in front of the hotel for everyone to admire as they came out after breakfast:
Plenty of admiring happened; here's one photo of the early risers:
This was a nice surprise. I didn't notice this before on the other 1953CEs I've seen:
..and another nice detail on the wheel centercaps:
This is (as you may know by now) my favorite angle:
..and this one ain't bad, either!
..or this:
After breakfast I had the "chore" of driving her home. I gotta tell you it was the best sixty miles I've ever driven. People passing me on I-20 with thumbs up and more. The best was a father and his (about) 10-year old son in a Suburban. They kept pace with me for a mile or more with me in the center lane, them in the left lane and the little guy had his nose smashed flat against the window, jaw dropped open the whole time.
I stopped for gas and drew a crowd of a dozen people. One old fellow told me he "had one just like her, son, in 1963 -- 'til the man down at the bank took her from me."
We made it home safely (Gael beat me because of the gas stop). I was going to put the black 98 (which will still be be my daily driver and which I still love very much (cars like women, need regular reassurance)) up on the lift with the CE under it, but it was still packed with rally stuff. So I put Gael's car on the street (naturally; she knew that was coming) and backed in the CE. Home at last!
Georgia is a "one plate" state. What, you may ask, will I put on the front of this beautiful ride?
I stole this idea from Ted Springstead (#6):
Click HERE to see my Torch donor C5 "morph" into my 53-03CE!
First Corvette show, next Saturday.....