55 Owners on Forum

[Fenwick B.]

It seems as though there are more 55 owners on the forum now than there were in the past, and I am wondering how many there actually are. Maybe if the owners would respond to this thread with information about their car, we could learn a little about the owners.

I'm Fenwick Binder, and I own #68, and I live in Gonzales, La. My son and I went to Salinas, California in 2004 to pick up my car. It had been raced there untill 1971, and then the 3rd owner brought to Texas and stored in an unrestored condition untill 1990. The 4th owner that I bought it from then bought it in Dallas, and brought it back to California. He started to restore it in 1991, and it was still apart when I bought it. I finished restoring it to mostly original condition, and I have been driving it for about a year. I now have about 500 miles on it.

[Michael L.]

Re: 55 Owners on Forum

Mike Lander from Sparks, NV. I have had my '55 since 1979. I bought it in college as a project car. It was a drag racer, my first go around was to make it a street rod. Then in the late 80's I got the urge to make it closer to original. Then I got married and had kids. 20 + years later I started working on it again. It followed me from Hawaii to Las Vegas, to Wendover and finally Reno / Sparks.The car used to be a flip front, it was cut in half by the racers, so it would never be 100%. I did 95% of the work myself, it is a "correct looking" 1955 that is driven frequently. Tooled it around Hot August Nights last year while it was still being worked on.Actually used it to get groceries last weekend and take kids to piano lessons... Mine is car # 175

[Mike E.]

Re: 55 Owners on Forum

429, 551
551--white/red
429 gold/green
both a mess

[Jim L.]

Re: 55 Owners on Forum

How about a former owner? 40 years ago I bought #236, which was red with a white interior. Kept it three years. Last I heard, it was in Indiana.

Jim

[Roy B.]

Re: 55 Owners on Forum

How about a former owner? 40 years ago I bought #236, which was red with a white interior. Kept it three years. Last I heard, it was in Indiana.

Jim

Only if you can remember that fare back

[Michael H.]

Re: 55 Owners on Forum

I'm Mike Hooker from Tampa. I bought #625 (Gypsy Red) about 3 years ago. I didn't know much about it initially ... I just liked the way it looked. But in my search for the car, I kept seeing references to this acronym "NCRS". I didn't even know what it stood for, so I "Googled" it and soon determined that I ought to join up. I looked up some names on this website's "contact" list and called them out of the blue. They were all, to a person, friendly and helpful. I talked a lot with one guy in particular who lives in another state, and we became friends, even though I'd never even met him face-to-face. Anyway, based on the advice of my new NCRS friend, I took my car to be judged at a regional meet only three weeks after I'd bought it, before I did anything to it whatsoever. My friend's reasoning was that I might as well find out what's wrong with the car before possibly spending money to fix things incorrectly. Although I didn't know a single person when I arrived at the meet, by the time I left, I had met numerous other NCRS members, including some who also live in Tampa.

The car scored terribly--one of only two cars at the meet to receive a Third Flight. But suffice to say that I consider the money I spent getting it judged that first time to be the best money I spent on the entire subsequent 3-year restoration. Where else could you get 10 nationally qualified experts perusing your car for several hours and filling out several pages of detailed information only for about $150! And they were NICE in their constructive criticism and encouragement!

Since the initial purchase, I have undertaken an extensive body-off restoration, hiring out much of the work, but also working on it a lot myself, and leaning (too much) on my NCRS friends for help. I did quite a lot of the research, including reading all of the articles and books I could find, including the articles on the NCRS' '53-'55 Corvette Restorer CD (which I highly recommend), researching quite a few things via this forum's archives, and bothering many knowledgeable folks with numerous email questions. But the truth is that the project never would have been completed without the help of some incredibly generous and loyal NCRS guys locally, who I now consider to be some of my best friends. The car is now finished, and I'm taking it back through the NCRS judging process now.

I have found the entire process to be immeasurably enjoyable. It's been great fun learning about these old cars, and rewarding to see my car returned basically back to its original condition (albeit admittedly a little "over-restored"). I don't post here often, but read this forum almost every day. The people who helped me complete the project are too numerous to name (and I'm not sure they would want me to name them here). But they consist almost entirely of NCRS members, all of whom have been completely unselfish with their time and knowledge (and I should note that a number of you have assisted without even knowing it!) Thanks for all of your help!

[Mike M.]

Re: 55 Owners on Forum

i've had vin 1416 since 1992. its restoration is about 50% finished. now that our 57 is just finished, i'll hop back on the 55. mike

[Don S.]

Re: 55 Owners on Forum

Don Steele here . I have ser no 547 . I bought it in 95 and spent 10+ years obtaining the correct parts. Took the car to the Florida regional 2 years ago and got a top flite. Car is gypsy red. Last summer I had the car repainted and a new interior installed and a new covertable top. It now looks awesome. I have spent all afternoon trying to post pictures but I guess i am too dumb. I will keep trying. It is nice to hear of so many guys. I guess Roy has been successful in getting the restoration juices flowing. Going to a Naples Florida car show on Feb 14th. It is put on by the Ferari club and will feature feraries, lambo's , porches, corvettes and others. They close off the streets in downtown Naples . There usally is about 15-20 thousnd people come by and about 99 % of them stop at my car. It is a crowd pleaser.

[Roy B.]

Re: 55 Owners on Forum

i've had vin 1416 since 1992. its restoration is about 50% finished. now that our 57 is just finished, i'll hop back on the 55. mike

mike can you send me your e-mail address again thanks

[Roy B.]

Re: 55 Owners on Forum

If you stop and think about it , were the smallest group of owners having a 55 Corvette of any NCRS members.

[Fenwick B.]

Re: 55 Owners on Forum

I'm Mike Hooker from Tampa. I bought #625 (Gypsy Red) about 3 years ago. I didn't know much about it initially ... I just liked the way it looked. But in my search for the car, I kept seeing references to this acronym "NCRS". I didn't even know what it stood for, so I "Googled" it and soon determined that I ought to join up. I looked up some names on this website's "contact" list and called them out of the blue. They were all, to a person, friendly and helpful. I talked a lot with one guy in particular who lives in another state, and we became friends, even though I'd never even met him face-to-face. Anyway, based on the advice of my new NCRS friend, I took my car to be judged at a regional meet only three weeks after I'd bought it, before I did anything to it whatsoever. My friend's reasoning was that I might as well find out what's wrong with the car before possibly spending money to fix things incorrectly. Although I didn't know a single person when I arrived at the meet, by the time I left, I had met numerous other NCRS members, including some who also live in Tampa.

The car scored terribly--one of only two cars at the meet to receive a Third Flight. But suffice to say that I consider the money I spent getting it judged that first time to be the best money I spent on the entire subsequent 3-year restoration. Where else could you get 10 nationally qualified experts perusing your car for several hours and filling out several pages of detailed information only for about $150! And they were NICE in their constructive criticism and encouragement!

Since the initial purchase, I have undertaken an extensive body-off restoration, hiring out much of the work, but also working on it a lot myself, and leaning (too much) on my NCRS friends for help. I did quite a lot of the research, including reading all of the articles and books I could find, including the articles on the NCRS' '53-'55 Corvette Restorer CD (which I highly recommend), researching quite a few things via this forum's archives, and bothering many knowledgeable folks with numerous email questions. But the truth is that the project never would have been completed without the help of some incredibly generous and loyal NCRS guys locally, who I now consider to be some of my best friends. The car is now finished, and I'm taking it back through the NCRS judging process now.

I have found the entire process to be immeasurably enjoyable. It's been great fun learning about these old cars, and rewarding to see my car returned basically back to its original condition (albeit admittedly a little "over-restored"). I don't post here often, but read this forum almost every day. The people who helped me complete the project are too numerous to name (and I'm not sure they would want me to name them here). But they consist almost entirely of NCRS members, all of whom have been completely unselfish with their time and knowledge (and I should note that a number of you have assisted without even knowing it!) Thanks for all of your help!

Mike, do you know Ray Hicks. He has a home near Tampa, and has several 53 and 55 Corvettes. He doesn't stay there all of the time though. I can give you his phone number if you would like to contact him. He has some of his cars restored, and some are being restored. Fenwick

[Tom D.]

Re: 55 Owners on Forum

Roy: A stunning photo. I love it!

But what in the world is taking over your lawn?

Tom D.

[Roy B.]

Re: 55 Owners on Forum

Roy: A stunning photo. I love it!

But what in the world is taking over your lawn?

Tom D.

Planted bushes ,it's my friends place

[Don S.]

Re: 55 Owners on Forum

gary and or john-- I follow Gary's insructions until # 4. he says right click on mouse and select "copy image location" There is no such item on the things that I see. I do copy (not copy image location" and backspace to message i entered and the message is gone. from here on nothing works

The pictures I am trying to post are the ones that i previously posted titled "show us your corvette" They were on the reply to R. Braatz thread "show us your corvette." I managed to post them to the thread following instruction which someone sent on the thread. But I guess now that the pictures are in the system it just fouls things up when I try to enter the pictures from my computer..

still perplexed.

[Mark P.]

Re: 55 Owners on Forum

You can always just rename the pictures and repost.