Re: To each his own
Joe, I think it also has something to do with an item I have mentioned before, both here and in articles long ago. Once upon a time, the interesting part of a car was not about the day it left the factory, but what it did after that day.
Your '57 is a perfect example. The day it rolled off the line, it was like any other '57 Corvette so equipped.
What makes it special is what Chevy did with it after that - Nassau, Daytona, etc.
While I look at the 12 mile L88 with some awe, I also look at it with "what a waste in potential". Here is a car that could have been one of the drag racing legends, a road racing favorite, the king of the streets in someone's town, and instead, it sat for years apart, never doing anything.
Not everyone fully appreciates a museum piece. That is why 50,000 people show up for a NASCAR event, 500 show up for an NCRS event. (numbers may vary, but you get the idea.)
It also goes along with something else I wrote about years ago, Corvette didn't become famous and endearing to millions for how it was at the day of final assembly. It became a legend by burning up the pavement at racetracks across the country. It became a legend as the one that street raced (and won) in the industrial areas of many big cities. It became a legend as the one that had 3 or 4 cops after it late one summer night and got away. In fact, had it not been for racing successes, Corvette would have either died or turned into a 4 door family car long ago.
The Corvette hobby owes so much to the Corvette race cars, both factory and private, that most have no inkling as to what would have happened without them. And it is something that some groups have only recently come to grips with and accepting of.
Joe, I think it also has something to do with an item I have mentioned before, both here and in articles long ago. Once upon a time, the interesting part of a car was not about the day it left the factory, but what it did after that day.
Your '57 is a perfect example. The day it rolled off the line, it was like any other '57 Corvette so equipped.
What makes it special is what Chevy did with it after that - Nassau, Daytona, etc.
While I look at the 12 mile L88 with some awe, I also look at it with "what a waste in potential". Here is a car that could have been one of the drag racing legends, a road racing favorite, the king of the streets in someone's town, and instead, it sat for years apart, never doing anything.
Not everyone fully appreciates a museum piece. That is why 50,000 people show up for a NASCAR event, 500 show up for an NCRS event. (numbers may vary, but you get the idea.)
It also goes along with something else I wrote about years ago, Corvette didn't become famous and endearing to millions for how it was at the day of final assembly. It became a legend by burning up the pavement at racetracks across the country. It became a legend as the one that street raced (and won) in the industrial areas of many big cities. It became a legend as the one that had 3 or 4 cops after it late one summer night and got away. In fact, had it not been for racing successes, Corvette would have either died or turned into a 4 door family car long ago.
The Corvette hobby owes so much to the Corvette race cars, both factory and private, that most have no inkling as to what would have happened without them. And it is something that some groups have only recently come to grips with and accepting of.
Comment