Orange 1977 1Z37X7S437629

[Oliver B.]

(Let's just give it a try...... )

Anybody out there who originally bought my orange 1977 Corvette 1Z37X7S437629 from Ralph Thomas Chevrolet in White Bear Lake, MN - and owned it for no longer than half a year (why this short?)???

Any input is very well appreciated!

Thanks
Oliver

[Oliver B.]

Re: Orange 1977 1Z37X7S437629

Jack Humphrey (17100) wrote:

"I'll venture a wild arse guess. One of our Rocky Mtn members bought a '77 brand new. He drove it off the delivery truck himself and kept EVERY piece of paper including GM to transport and transport to dealer documents.
When he drove it home, he was 'pissed'--the car was absolutely GUTLESS! He'd owned Corvettes before and had a fondness for 1965 396 BB's. Once he got home, he put it in the garage and almost NEVER drove it again...

We coaxed him to bring it out for Flight Judging when we sponsored the NCRS Regional Meet in 1997 in Steamboat Springs. The judges went NUTS! How could it be they were looking at a 1977 Corvette with only 2900 miles on it, the original oil in the engine, the original oil filter, belts, hoses!!!!

Bottom line, Martin learned his 'dog' Corvette was now actually worth something and he went on to campaign the car for McClellan Mark of Excellence, 4-Star Bowtie, Bloomington Gold, Bloomington Survivor and Bloomington Benchmark awards....

I'll bet the original owner of your car wasn't happy with the car's performance OR he got married, his wife became pregnant, Etc. and that's why he owned the car for such a short period of time.

Best, Jack Humphrey"



Hey, good guess and a very nice story, indeed. (Gosh, an almost new 77 after some 20 years... Cool! And I can very well see his point, as the 77 "boulevard cruiser" is quite a difference to a 65 396!) But it doesn't fit too well my car's history, as when my car's previous owner bought the car from a used car dealer in FL in Feb 78, it had some 20k miles on it and "moved" somehow from MN (original dealer) down to FL...

So it HAS been driven - even quite a lot! (20k in little more than half a year is pretty substantial - even for US-standards and distances, isn't it?)
So, somebody bought the car, drove it quite far and sold it half a year later, several states southernmost...

Possible reasons:
- marriage
- kids
- unemployment
- overseas assignment (military)
- wealth (funds might have allowed to "upgrade" for a Porsche or Ferrari)
- shifts in interest...

Anything else???
All just pure guessing.....

Btw. when I will have my car judged with the Dutch's Chapter in a month, it will have almost 93k miles on it, be far from restored but original instead (except some service-parts like tires, plugs, filters...) with all of its time-related bruises.
Actually I do not know what a score to expect , so it will be a quite thrilling experience...

[Oliver B.]

Re: Orange 1977 1Z37X7S437629

Another thought:
my car was built without option code "C49 Rear Window Defogger".

Would somebody living in Minnesota order a car without this option, just for the saving of some 84.00 bucks?

Opens speculations like
"yes, if he was planning to drive the car only during the summer months" (popular intention the late 70s??? hardly imaginable)
or
"maybe he wasn't from that area, but 'just in town' to buy this car" (distance White Bear Lake, MN - St Petersburg, FL almost 1.600mls )
.....

[John M.]

Re: Orange 1977 1Z37X7S437629

Drug dealer/mule moving product on the Interstate?

Dave cuts to the chase!

[Oliver B.]

Re: Orange 1977 1Z37X7S437629

Yup, that's a new one indeed! (Images of "Smokey and the Bandit" and "Vanishing Point" instantly appear.....)

You're great, guys!