Our 1953-2003 Commemorative Edition Corvette Story
Our donor 'Vette, a 1999 pewter convertible, fully loaded, was delivered to AAT where we met Steve Jr., his wife Susie and crew (all wonderful people). Great experience; see photos below.
After several weeks of searching with too many disappointments to enumerate, we found our low-mileage (only 9800 miles!) donor car sitting on the showroom floor at a Chrysler dealership in Auburn, WA. It turned out that the owner is something of a car collector, the 'Vette belonged to a friend of his and was not to be driven or even started without permission. All it took was a $5,000 deposit and we were able to test drive it so we went to lunch nearby and drove it around a little. Everything seemed to function perfectly and it looked pristine so we bought it right on the spot and drove it 130 miles to our home.
We contacted Steve (Jr. & Sr.) to let them know we had found our donor vehicle and to expect us sometime in September or October. We wanted to drive the 'Vette for a while, have it gone through thoroughly by a reputable mechanic (our son) and have the wheels chromed before we drove it back to AAT.
We left for AAT on the 24th of September driving through the states of Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota (visited Mt. Rushmore), Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and, finally, Michigan. The C5 performed flawlessly and the eight-way lumbar seats made the trip very comfortable. We played with all the settings on the suspension and really enjoyed the "heads ups" display. We cruised along I-90 in Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota at sometimes over 80 mph and still averaged almost 28 mpg for the trip. The only annoying thing about these cars is the headlights tend to "pop up" whenever you go into a darker area (i.e. a hotel covered entry or a garage) but, of course that is the one thing that will not be able to happen when the conversion is done! Yay! Steve Jr. assured us that all the other "extras" will work fine.
After checking in with Steve Jr. on the 28th and visiting the AAT crew on the 29th, we took a little side trip to Ohio to visit friends and relatives returning to AAT on October 3. Steve Jr. was gracious enough to drive us to the airport where we flew back home to wait.
This was taken before we left for AAT...
From Steve:
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Please find attached a couple of progress pictures of your Corvette. The body has been removed and we have bonded the new trunk surround area. In Michigan, last week was the opening of hunting season and our body panel maker has been in Upper Michigan hunting. We should have your body panels towards the end of next week. It is about a week to fit and gap the panels before the car is sent to the paint area to be primed and painted, so I do not need the paint sample until then. Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving. Steven
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Steve writes:
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Your vehicle has progressed to Phase II of the conversion. The body panels are being fitted, headlight brackets, grille and interior modifications are being completed. As the pictures show, your car is nearing completion. The final phase will be paint and assembly. Steven
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Steve writes...
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Hello Al and Lorraine, I hope you had a great Christmas! Attached are some updated pictures of your car. All the panels have been fitted and gapped. The underside of the hood and deck lid have been surfaced and primed and are ready for paint. Today we will be disassembling the car and begining to prep the rockers and doors for paint. The exterior panels are also going to be preped for primer (by Thursday evening we hope). The car should be ready for paint my the weekend / first of next week because of the holiday. I will send you more as we make progress. Best regards, Steven
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Steve writes:
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Happy New Year! Attached are some updated pictures of your CE. The rockers and door inners have been painted. What a cool color!!! The panels are all primed and we will start painting this afternoon. Hope you are safe and dry with all the rain out west! Warm regards, Steven
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January 19, 2006
Well, the transport came this morning and took away our Chevelle so it's on the way to Virginia...
Steve writes:
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Hello Al and Lorraine, Thank you very much for the Barrett Jackson List. Amazing to sit and watch what some of those cars are bringing!!! Most of them I just shake my head in disbelief! Please find attached pictures of your CE #124. The car looks great! In the sunlight (not too many of those days in Michigan!) the color really flips back and forth. It is the guys out in the shops new favorite color! We have called Reliable Carriers and are waiting for a shipping date. We requested that the car remain at our shop and be loaded onto the truck that will be heading west instead of the cars waiting at Reliable's facility. Warm regards, Steve
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Steve writes:
January 30, 2006
Looks as though we will be seeing our "CE" very soon as it will be shipping out tonight or tomorrow morning (see Steve's e-mail below). We've made room in the garage and Lorraine even cleaned the floor to get rid of those Chevelle burnout marks! Hah!
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Dear Al and Lorraine, Reliable is picking up the car this afternoon or first thing in the morning. I will take additional pictures as it gets loaded on the truck and call you with the driver's cell number. I am sending some detail pictures of the car. We hate to see it leave. Enjoy the pictures ... Best regards, Steve Pasteiner & the gang @ AAT
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Some of the photos that came with Steve's e-mail can be seen below and we are definitely impressed! (...and Lorraine's not that easily awed:
So the first thing we did was to put on the early 'Vette hood emblem (supplied by AAT)
.. and the new "vanity" license plates that we obtained while the CE was under construction...
We drove to lunch after stopping first to get gas as we were on "reserve" and that was my fault as I don't think I left it at AAT with much fuel in the tank. The first person to stop and "gawk" was one of our local police here in Ferndale. Too bad I didn't have a camera to get his expression!
Now, if we can just get some warmer weather so we can drive around with the top down...
The photo below was taken at a viewpoint along Chuckanut Drive south of Bellingham with a couple of the San Juan Islands in the background (on Puget Sound). It's still a little chilly for the top down (we tried it on this day but put it back up) with our highs only in the 50s. We are definitely enjoying our AAT creation!!!
We like to drive our CE and here are a few photos of some of the places we've been (so far!)...
Up in the Okanagan wine country of British Columbia near the little town of Oliver (it was too hot to put the top down!)
Had to get a photo of our CE in our driveway with the top down!
