Leroy Valentine's 1968 Corvette

(Alternate Participant)

    My '68 small block 4-speed convertible was purchased from a young veterinarian, several years back, who was at a position in his life where he wanted to get married, start his own practice, and needed $$$$$ for both. That being the case, an opportunity opened up for me to purchase the '68. Prior to the owners decision to sell the car, he had a 350ci engine built for the car by a reputable performance shop. His goal was to race the car, so a number of goodies were added to the internal workings of the engine. And, by the way, the car performs rather nicely!!!

    When I began the search for a convertible in the ’68-’72 range, I was intentionally not looking for a numbers-matching car. I wanted one I could be free to play with. It did, however, have to remain stock in appearance. Whether or not it had an engine was not important to me because I wanted to be able to do under the hood whatever I chose. This car doubly fit the bill since it already had a nicely modified 350ci. There were also only 300 miles on the new engine at the time of purchase (not even broken in). After having the new engine and a few of other goodies taken care of by the previous owner, my efforts on the car consisted of restoring the interior and exterior portions of the car. The restoration turned out exceptionally nice. The car is a lot of fun to drive.

    In addition to the '68, I have several other Vettes. A '94 red/red convertible that I purchased new in ’93 and a '90 Dark Red 6-speed Coupe I purchased in San Jose, CA a couple of years back. Even now, the '94 only has about 4,400 miles on it. It has, however, had a few improvements made to the engine (cam, heads, throttle body & supercharger), drive train, exhaust, ignition system, and ECM. It now produces 500+ hp as opposed to the stock 300hp. It's also much more fun to drive now!

    My wife and I are looking forward to the possibility of driving the ’68 in the "Historic Motorama" in 2003. Whether we're actually given the opportuntity to participate in the Motorama or not, we’ll be at the NCM for the event!!!

    Leroy Valentine
    Thurmont, MD
    NCM Lifetime #754

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