Joan & Gary Wollenhaupt's 2000 Corvette

(Alternate Participant)

    After purchasing a previously owned 1982 Collector Edition and later a 1995 convertible, we had been talking about how great it would be to have a new Corvette; one that had all the "bells and whistles"; one that had that "new car" aura about it.

    In February of 2000, my husband was surfing the net and found an ad on the Roger's Corvette Center website that read: "Coming Soon - 2000 Navy Blue Metallic & Oak 6-speed Convertible", with nearly every option available. He very calmly said, "Hey honey, how do you feel about Navy Blue with Oak?" I jumped from my chair to look at the car and it was beautiful! Within minutes, I was speaking with Roger and asked if the car was sold. He said "not yet, but if you're interested, it's yours". The decision was made in a heartbeat! After 18 months, we're still excited to drop the top, get behind the wheel, and hit the road in our C5. We've added numerous aftermarket items to the car, but the one "enhancement" we're most fond of came to us at the 2001 Rolex24 race at Daytona. It's a signature under the hood from Dave Hill along with his "Miles of Smiles" tag line (is that ever true !!)

    We have met so many wonderful people on our "need for speed" journey and have made some great friends that we would not trade for anything. We always get lots of waves and "thumbs-up", probably more so in our shark than the C5, but that's OK. We wave at every Corvette that comes our way regardless of the generation. In fact, the license plate on our C5 reads SAVDWAV (Save the Wave)!

    We're excited to have been selected as the 2000 Secondary Participant for the Historic Motorama and look forward to the celebration of Corvette's 50th birthday. It should prove to be not only a tribute to the longevity of the marque, but a tribute to the vision, tenacity, skill, patience, and perseverance of Corvette's designers and engineers ever since its inception. Vive la Corvette!

    Joan & Gary Wollenhaupt
    Orlando, FL
    NCM Lifetime #592

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