April 1, 2026 • 18 mins
Murphy tracks down his dad's 1966 Corvette and is SO happy with where it is today.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the After the Show podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Today tomorrow will be the one about color analysis, ladies,
I promise you.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
But today Murphy's got some excitement.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
I had a really cool phone call that I didn't
get to tell you about yet. Jody and Sam, I
haven't had a chance to tell you either, but you know,
Jody's been home with me. You haven't, yeh. But the
so as you remember when my dad passed away, and
it took my brother and sister and I a couple
of years to really get things squared away. And there
were only a handful of things that my dad had
(00:31):
that were just like real prized family possessions. The rest
it was just very you know, my family that was
a very modest, a family of modest means and.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Accept that one prize, Yeah, that was in our carport
right the.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Cour His corvette is sixty six, which was his pride
and joy, and it stopped running in wait for it,
nineteen eighty two, actually had stopped running before that, so
he basically mothballed and it stayed covered. Every now and
then he would take the cover off and polish it
up and whatever. As he got older, yeah, as he
got older, he stopped doing that.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
His intention was at some point fix it up.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
You know, I don't ever really know what his intention was.
And when you would ask him about it, I think
we got to the place where we stopped asking about
it because we didn't want to make him feel bad.
I really wanted to know the real reason. He never
really said why.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
That red Corvette was the white elephant or the I'm sorry,
not white elephant elephant in the room. It was because
I even knew, you know, after I became part of
the family. Just don't talk about it. It's in the carport,
it's covered. We're not going to go there.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Just walk past it.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Yeah, and but yeah, I mean it was it was
his baby, and if he didn't want it to run,
and he wanted to keep it, that was his business, right,
and we really wanted to keep it in the family.
It was a sixty six candy Apple read I guess
the best way to describe it. Paint was a little
bit faded on it, but not too bad up in
the front, and it was not running. And then my
(02:02):
sister and brother and I realized, Okay, practicality is what's
kicking in here. It's going to take money and expertise
to put this thing back up and running again. That's
not something that we have, you know, the ability time
or otherwise to you know, to do. And then once
you do that, how do you keep You can't title
a vehicle to three people, you know what I mean.
So there was like, how we're going to manage that
(02:22):
part of it. And because even not running, and it
was a corvette, you know, to buy the others out
would be pricey for you know, for one of us,
you know, to be because that's one thing about me
and my siblings is we were absolutely fair about everything.
I feel so blessed that the transition with you know,
(02:42):
the selling, the ultimately selling the corvette, selling you our
childhood home couldn't have been a more peaceful experience for
all of us because nobody was trying to jockey for
more than you know, a fair fair share. That's just
kind of the way we were raised. And I guess
we're blessed that's how things went. So that's we ultimately
decided to sell the corvette. It was my sister who said, hey, uh,
(03:05):
you know, it's said it hit his house for forty years,
it's been sitting at yours for three maybe maybe you know,
it would be better put to use by somebody who's
passionate and would love to have it.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
And so then as she said that, because I didn't
want to be the one to say, and it was
in our car port and I walked past it every now,
and I thought, yeah, so here we are, you know.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
So we go back two years ago and we did
a podcast on that here two years ago, and and
there was a gentleman that we sold it to who
is that's what he does well, he restores vehicles. He's
a corvette fanatic. He also wholesales vehicles, and so he
was excited and he was.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
So happy today he picked that thing up, yeah, and
drove it, like not drove it, but put it on
the what do you call.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
That trailer trailer? What do you call the thing with
for a car?
Speaker 1 (03:57):
It was a trailer specifically forgard.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
But and this is where I'm going, you know, with
this is the story. As I began to you know, learn,
and I guess I knew this from my dad would
go to car shows. But you know, when you're a
fanatic about certain things, it's not just corvettes. There are
people that love muscle cars. There are people that love
model as there are people that love you know, fifty
(04:22):
seven Chevies whatever. Most of the common bond between these
collectors or hobbyists is they love the stories behind the vehicles.
They don't just want the vehicle, They want to know what,
you know, what the story is. And so when the
gentleman who bought it from us, you know, bought it
(04:42):
to renovate it, we told him all the stories and
then he wound up selling it about pretty quickly, yeah,
pretty quickly. About six months later he flipped it. Yeah,
it's like yeah. And so I had never really been
in contact with the gentleman who bought the car from
him now now that it's running, because when I called,
I was calling to check and see, hey is if
(05:04):
it's running, we'd love to come see it. He had
originally sent me videos at one point the first guy
who bought it from us, and he said, yeah, he said,
I love that, he said, but I sold it, he said,
I really had. It was a tough decision. I have
a you know, a white sixty three Corvette or whatever
that his wife really enjoyed, or the sixty six, and
he just decided to sell it. And the gentleman that
(05:25):
he bought it from actually lives closer to us than
the original you know seller. He lives maybe Jodi thirty
miles the man.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Who bought it from him, mean okay, okay, and the
man who has it now.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Yeah. So I made contact with him for the very
first time this past weekend and it was a fun,
awesome conversation and he this is what I enjoyed about
it too. He loves the stories about it. His whole
thing about it is that, and it wasn't so it's running.
It runs great. It was you know, mostly restored, but
he did not want the paint messed with because it's
(05:57):
original paint. I can't blame him for that. And so
he drives it on a regular basis.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Now he clows my mind.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
He drives this around like we need to go to
where he lives and I just want to like drive around.
I want to see that car coming my way.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Yeah, I'm sure he will do that. Well. His whole
thing was he was really happy to hear from me
because again, he loves the stories. And what makes this
so unique, you know, to him, is that a it's
a vehicle that's only had technically two previous owner owners.
The guy who bought it from us really just fixed
it and sold it. But you know, my dad bought
(06:35):
that car in nineteen sixty nine, so he was the
longest owner of it.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
He drove you to kindergarten, didn't he.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Which was my last memory of the car. And that's
a story that I actually, you know, told the guy
when I reached out to him, I was like, Hey,
the last time I remember that thing running was when
I was five years old.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
How cool was your dad rolling up to kindergarten dropping
you off. All the kindergarten teachers must have been like,
oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Yeah, well but think about it, and this is a
this is a really good, you know point. So the
gentleman that bought the car, his name is Kevin. Kevin
was telling me that he also likes to keep things
as original as he can, not all things can be.
The original carburetor is what they were all looking for,
and the original carburetor is one that I wish it
(07:21):
had been. I don't know if it was. There was
so much stuff, and my grandfather was one who had
collected a lot of car parts over the years, and
my dad, after my grandfather and grandmother passed, he wound
up with those at his house. It was impossible to
discern you know, some of this stuff.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Do you think he threw away?
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Well, I mean, yeah, I hate to admit that to anybody.
I think that it's possible. But there were also I mean,
there were carburetors from Cadillacs, there were carburetors from Ford's.
I mean, it's wow, it's a lot of carburetors. And
and honestly, it's a I know that there are people
that do this on eBay, and that's I hate to
admit it because somebody's cringing right now. But I don't know.
(08:00):
And the reason I don't know truly is he replaced
it in the late seventies. It's very possible that it
was long gone. And as when Kevin and I were
talking about that, you know, it was nineteen seventy eight
or whatever, my dad wasn't going to think, you know,
don't get rid of this. It's originally it's kind on
a nine year old car, you know, even outside of eBay.
(08:20):
It wasn't an antique in nineteen seventy seven, seventy eight.
Whenever it was that he fixed it, you know, and
so he had to replace the you know, the carburetor again.
And that story was my dad. Actually, it was one
of the things that scared him most. It failed while
he was driving on the interstate. This is in the
late seventies, and the car floored itself and he could
(08:43):
not get it unstuck. Now, this is in the days
of absolute one or percent mechanical. There's nothing computer controlled, zero,
nothing computer controlled on that car. Everything's a cable that
attaches to something else. You push a pedal that's pulling
a cable, it's moving in another piece of metal. That's how
cars were before computers. And so it floored and he
(09:03):
literally had to just turn the turn the engine off,
which he was really concerned about that creating other sets
of damage. But he couldn't. He was doing one hundred
miles an hour and it was out of control. He
had to turn it off.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Oh I don't know, he's doing one hundred.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Well, he didn't intend to be. And and the thing
is interestate was still in a construction and the barricades
were only about half mile away, so he didn't have
a choice. But anyway, so the conversation went on about that,
and he understood that, but he was really he was
(09:36):
a couple of things he loved. There was a photo
of me and my dad at the car, and we
might have used that when we posted the podcast two
years ago. Use I was in diapers and my dad
was washing the car and and so I've shared that
photo with him. I've showed my dad saved everything. So
I've shared the original ad from the Pontiac dealer that
(09:56):
was selling the Corvette at that time. Yeah, they have
their receipt, and I think we found the original receipt
for the car. I don't know how that paperwork went
up coming in. The original dealership was only forty miles
down the road. So the car has never been out
of the state. Yeah, it's ever since it was delivered
to the car dealer in sixty six and then resold
(10:16):
at another car dealer in sixty nine. It's been around.
And that's something that this new owner finds again really cool.
It's the story as much as it is because this car,
and it just occurred to me this weekend. It's sixty
years old. It's a sixty six. It's a sixty year
old vehicle, and it's in incredibly original, you know, great
(10:39):
shape because he took such great care of it. So
it's a really a fine for anybody who would you know,
who's the enthusiast who wants to buy it. And he's
not trying to do this as a show car either,
which I find interesting too because he could. I learned
so much. I learned so much about that whole process
and the people that we talked to who were all
interested in buying it. There are some enthusiasts that want
(11:02):
it completely restored to its original state, and when you
do that, you're investing a lot of money. In many cases,
you're investing more money than the car is worth. So
it takes somebody who's really got means to do that
and doesn't mind doing that because you're not going to
recoup that investment, you know, because you're pouring so much
into it. But that's that's what the kind that's the
(11:24):
show car thing. That's the you want them, you know,
the ribbon and the metal, and you want to be
able to take it around. You're probably not really driving
it as much as you are putting on a trailer
and taking it and showing it. That's not what you know,
Kevin wants to do. Kevin just wants to drive and
enjoy the vehicle, and in his mind, he's driving it
through my dad's eyes as he can only imagine what
(11:45):
my dad was feeling, thinking and doing when he had
the car.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
That is so exciting.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
It's one reason he's not restoring the air conditioning yet
that's in it because you know, and and the radio
wasn't working unfortunately it you know, it's an FMAM radio
from its time, but he did have to replace that,
but he kept the original because he wanted some you know,
some music. But that's what he said that he's experiencing
and that's what he really thinks is cool for him.
(12:12):
It's the pure story. It's the nostalgia. And I felt
that when I was talking to him, That's what was just.
I was really into the conversation because for one thing,
he's excited about somebody he never met, but that's my dad,
and that's I know how much my dad loved that car,
and as a corvette enthusiast, Kevin knows that same thing.
Every those vehicles all have stories and it's very it's
(12:36):
very special to those and then I mean to those
who to own them and buy them. And so I
can't wait to meet him. We're going to have a
chance to meet him and hopefully and I'll shoot video
of it if we get to. I want to hear
the car, you know, crank. If he allows me to
drive it, great, that's wonderful. If he does. If he doesn't,
and that's not a problem either.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
That's a great attitude to have because it's his car.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Now, well, yeah, yeah, absolutely is.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
I'm willing about it. He's going to let you drive.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
It well, and the trade it's one of those where
you know that, Jody, I'm not always the most practical
person in the world, but there's no place to park
this at home. It's sixty years old, it will have
mechanical failures, and are you really going to drive on
the daily you know. So Kevin doesn't live in the
heart of town, so most of his driving is not
going to be city driving.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Outskirts right and floor in it.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Well, he just doesn't have to worry about as much
traffic or dings or you know, it's a fiberglass body
that's sixty years old. It's not like you're going to
source parts for this thing, and so, you know, but
I'm really glad that he's that he's enjoying it because
that's really what it is about. That's what my sister
you know, said, and she was right about that. The
(13:46):
other part of this is our friend Stephen, who listens
to this podcast on a regular basis and is also
a freelance right well, he's an EMT. He's the tech
who you know sent us a text the other day
about the CPR stuff. But he is an aviation enthusiast.
He's a car enthusiast. I think we've talked about him
on the podcast here before, too, great guy. He's been
(14:07):
writing an article and I feel partially bad about this
when I'm glad I was able to finally hook everybody up.
He wants to tell that story as part of a
Corvette article in a magazine and he and again, it's
because the enthusiasts connect on those stories. They really it's
so much more than just the vehicle and the muscle
(14:29):
power or whatever it is that you love. There's no
wrong way to love that sort of antique. But it's
so many stories wound up in it. I get it now,
And that's why they these when they get together and
they have these car shows, which are not always just
like you know, polished up in the you know, show car,
show car. You're just getting together with a group of
(14:50):
Corvette fanatics or whatever, and that's what they do. They
share stories, they share their vehicles, They love to see
the vehicles, and so this is another natural I think
it extension. And this is going to sound really ethereal,
but my dad would love that.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Of course.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
I think my dad would really love knowing. He would think,
in his words, it would be fine cool. Yeah, it
could be that that's cool, or that's fine fine or
mighty fine. Actually, yeah, it was exactly what.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Mighty fine, right, he would say it just like that.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Yeah, So you never since it stopped running at eighty two,
you never actually have driven it even like Dad had it. No, No,
it's I mean I was way too little to drive it.
You know, when it was still running. I was very
close to get the driver's license. I think we all
wanted to. We hoped we all sat in it as kids.
He would take the cover off and let us sit
(15:41):
in it, and we thought that was cool.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
I sat in it two years ago, whenever it was
right before you know whatever, it was purchased and before
it left our carport.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
It was its tight it's comfy and cozy, but very
different from the vehicles of today.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
It's like going back in time sitting in that.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Car, well, but not in an old timey big car way,
like you're not in control.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
It felt like a little cockpit.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Yeah, it's a I don't know that ergonomic is the
right word, but it's not as ergonomic as today's cars
would be. It sits really low and everything is mechanical.
So to drive that, if I get the chance to
do that, there's no power steering, there's no power breaks,
there's no power assisted clutch. These are all I mean,
(16:32):
it's a heavy spring. I remember my dad telling me
one time, being stuck in traffic was brutal on his
left foot because you're just constantly having to push the
clutch in and kick it back in the neutral. Oh yeah, yeah,
it's not. I mean, I'm sure today's you know, corvettes,
but that was I don't even know if they offered
an automatic in that one back then. But it's a
for speed and so yeah, everything about that is like
(16:56):
manual shifting, manual steering. You can't turn that steering wheel.
It's parked because it's a it's a beast. It weighs
a lot.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
It's hard to It would be hard to mentally, you
know how you mental what do you call it? Muscle
memory drive? You just drive without thinking about it. You
have to think about driving that car.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Yeah, yeah, and I guess again I'm speaking not as
an enthusiasts, so I'm sure that Steven or others could
say the fiberglass body is one thing that made it
lighter than it, you know, would have otherwise been with
a metal body, because it's pure steel underneath in the
chassis and all that. But the outer you know, structure
of the vehicle, it's fiberglass, which is so much lighter,
which allowed the vehicle to travel faster. And his was
(17:37):
the base model version of it. They have an even
more souped up version that was popular at its time.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
They know they had a split window in the back.
That's not what Dane had. That's not the one.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Yeah, His wasn't the split back. His was you know,
the yeah so and uh But anyway, I just I
it was a really cool connection for somebody who I've
never met it and now I'm excited to see it.
But he's he is in love with the vehicle. He
didn't just buy it. He is absolutely in love with
the vehicle, the stories. He said, he's not replacing the
(18:13):
AC because he imagines that's how my dad would drive
sometimes in the summer. I'm like, you know what, I think,
You're right. I don't know the AC. I don't remember
as a kid if the AC was working in that
car or not. It might not have been.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
You don't remember because you were in a diaper.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Well, that's right exactly.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
So we're all going to go drive it.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Trying to court visit in the coming weeks. We'll do that,
and I'm trying to coordinate that with my brother and sister.
Trying to get everybody together at the same time is
a little bit tricky, but we'd like to all see it,
you know, at the same time. So we'll make it
a family trip and you know, let you know how
it goes and we'll take pictures.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
So sweet missed any part of the show. Get it
All on the Murphy Salmon Jody Podcast.
Welcome to the After the Show podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Today tomorrow will be the one about color analysis, ladies,
I promise you.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
But today Murphy's got some excitement.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
I had a really cool phone call that I didn't
get to tell you about yet. Jody and Sam, I
haven't had a chance to tell you either, but you know,
Jody's been home with me. You haven't, yeh. But the
so as you remember when my dad passed away, and
it took my brother and sister and I a couple
of years to really get things squared away. And there
were only a handful of things that my dad had
(00:31):
that were just like real prized family possessions. The rest
it was just very you know, my family that was
a very modest, a family of modest means and.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Accept that one prize, Yeah, that was in our carport
right the.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Cour His corvette is sixty six, which was his pride
and joy, and it stopped running in wait for it,
nineteen eighty two, actually had stopped running before that, so
he basically mothballed and it stayed covered. Every now and
then he would take the cover off and polish it
up and whatever. As he got older, yeah, as he
got older, he stopped doing that.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
His intention was at some point fix it up.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
You know, I don't ever really know what his intention was.
And when you would ask him about it, I think
we got to the place where we stopped asking about
it because we didn't want to make him feel bad.
I really wanted to know the real reason. He never
really said why.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
That red Corvette was the white elephant or the I'm sorry,
not white elephant elephant in the room. It was because
I even knew, you know, after I became part of
the family. Just don't talk about it. It's in the carport,
it's covered. We're not going to go there.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Just walk past it.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Yeah, and but yeah, I mean it was it was
his baby, and if he didn't want it to run,
and he wanted to keep it, that was his business, right,
and we really wanted to keep it in the family.
It was a sixty six candy Apple read I guess
the best way to describe it. Paint was a little
bit faded on it, but not too bad up in
the front, and it was not running. And then my
(02:02):
sister and brother and I realized, Okay, practicality is what's
kicking in here. It's going to take money and expertise
to put this thing back up and running again. That's
not something that we have, you know, the ability time
or otherwise to you know, to do. And then once
you do that, how do you keep You can't title
a vehicle to three people, you know what I mean.
So there was like, how we're going to manage that
(02:22):
part of it. And because even not running, and it
was a corvette, you know, to buy the others out
would be pricey for you know, for one of us,
you know, to be because that's one thing about me
and my siblings is we were absolutely fair about everything.
I feel so blessed that the transition with you know,
(02:42):
the selling, the ultimately selling the corvette, selling you our
childhood home couldn't have been a more peaceful experience for
all of us because nobody was trying to jockey for
more than you know, a fair fair share. That's just
kind of the way we were raised. And I guess
we're blessed that's how things went. So that's we ultimately
decided to sell the corvette. It was my sister who said, hey, uh,
(03:05):
you know, it's said it hit his house for forty years,
it's been sitting at yours for three maybe maybe you know,
it would be better put to use by somebody who's
passionate and would love to have it.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
And so then as she said that, because I didn't
want to be the one to say, and it was
in our car port and I walked past it every now,
and I thought, yeah, so here we are, you know.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
So we go back two years ago and we did
a podcast on that here two years ago, and and
there was a gentleman that we sold it to who
is that's what he does well, he restores vehicles. He's
a corvette fanatic. He also wholesales vehicles, and so he
was excited and he was.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
So happy today he picked that thing up, yeah, and
drove it, like not drove it, but put it on
the what do you call.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
That trailer trailer? What do you call the thing with
for a car?
Speaker 1 (03:57):
It was a trailer specifically forgard.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
But and this is where I'm going, you know, with
this is the story. As I began to you know, learn,
and I guess I knew this from my dad would
go to car shows. But you know, when you're a
fanatic about certain things, it's not just corvettes. There are
people that love muscle cars. There are people that love
model as there are people that love you know, fifty
(04:22):
seven Chevies whatever. Most of the common bond between these
collectors or hobbyists is they love the stories behind the vehicles.
They don't just want the vehicle, They want to know what,
you know, what the story is. And so when the
gentleman who bought it from us, you know, bought it
(04:42):
to renovate it, we told him all the stories and
then he wound up selling it about pretty quickly, yeah,
pretty quickly. About six months later he flipped it. Yeah,
it's like yeah. And so I had never really been
in contact with the gentleman who bought the car from
him now now that it's running, because when I called,
I was calling to check and see, hey is if
(05:04):
it's running, we'd love to come see it. He had
originally sent me videos at one point the first guy
who bought it from us, and he said, yeah, he said,
I love that, he said, but I sold it, he said,
I really had. It was a tough decision. I have
a you know, a white sixty three Corvette or whatever
that his wife really enjoyed, or the sixty six, and
he just decided to sell it. And the gentleman that
(05:25):
he bought it from actually lives closer to us than
the original you know seller. He lives maybe Jodi thirty
miles the man.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Who bought it from him, mean okay, okay, and the
man who has it now.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Yeah. So I made contact with him for the very
first time this past weekend and it was a fun,
awesome conversation and he this is what I enjoyed about
it too. He loves the stories about it. His whole
thing about it is that, and it wasn't so it's running.
It runs great. It was you know, mostly restored, but
he did not want the paint messed with because it's
(05:57):
original paint. I can't blame him for that. And so
he drives it on a regular basis.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Now he clows my mind.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
He drives this around like we need to go to
where he lives and I just want to like drive around.
I want to see that car coming my way.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Yeah, I'm sure he will do that. Well. His whole
thing was he was really happy to hear from me
because again, he loves the stories. And what makes this
so unique, you know, to him, is that a it's
a vehicle that's only had technically two previous owner owners.
The guy who bought it from us really just fixed
it and sold it. But you know, my dad bought
(06:35):
that car in nineteen sixty nine, so he was the
longest owner of it.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
He drove you to kindergarten, didn't he.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Which was my last memory of the car. And that's
a story that I actually, you know, told the guy
when I reached out to him, I was like, Hey,
the last time I remember that thing running was when
I was five years old.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
How cool was your dad rolling up to kindergarten dropping
you off. All the kindergarten teachers must have been like,
oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Yeah, well but think about it, and this is a
this is a really good, you know point. So the
gentleman that bought the car, his name is Kevin. Kevin
was telling me that he also likes to keep things
as original as he can, not all things can be.
The original carburetor is what they were all looking for,
and the original carburetor is one that I wish it
(07:21):
had been. I don't know if it was. There was
so much stuff, and my grandfather was one who had
collected a lot of car parts over the years, and
my dad, after my grandfather and grandmother passed, he wound
up with those at his house. It was impossible to
discern you know, some of this stuff.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Do you think he threw away?
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Well, I mean, yeah, I hate to admit that to anybody.
I think that it's possible. But there were also I mean,
there were carburetors from Cadillacs, there were carburetors from Ford's.
I mean, it's wow, it's a lot of carburetors. And
and honestly, it's a I know that there are people
that do this on eBay, and that's I hate to
admit it because somebody's cringing right now. But I don't know.
(08:00):
And the reason I don't know truly is he replaced
it in the late seventies. It's very possible that it
was long gone. And as when Kevin and I were
talking about that, you know, it was nineteen seventy eight
or whatever, my dad wasn't going to think, you know,
don't get rid of this. It's originally it's kind on
a nine year old car, you know, even outside of eBay.
(08:20):
It wasn't an antique in nineteen seventy seven, seventy eight.
Whenever it was that he fixed it, you know, and
so he had to replace the you know, the carburetor again.
And that story was my dad. Actually, it was one
of the things that scared him most. It failed while
he was driving on the interstate. This is in the
late seventies, and the car floored itself and he could
(08:43):
not get it unstuck. Now, this is in the days
of absolute one or percent mechanical. There's nothing computer controlled, zero,
nothing computer controlled on that car. Everything's a cable that
attaches to something else. You push a pedal that's pulling
a cable, it's moving in another piece of metal. That's how
cars were before computers. And so it floored and he
(09:03):
literally had to just turn the turn the engine off,
which he was really concerned about that creating other sets
of damage. But he couldn't. He was doing one hundred
miles an hour and it was out of control. He
had to turn it off.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Oh I don't know, he's doing one hundred.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Well, he didn't intend to be. And and the thing
is interestate was still in a construction and the barricades
were only about half mile away, so he didn't have
a choice. But anyway, so the conversation went on about that,
and he understood that, but he was really he was
(09:36):
a couple of things he loved. There was a photo
of me and my dad at the car, and we
might have used that when we posted the podcast two
years ago. Use I was in diapers and my dad
was washing the car and and so I've shared that
photo with him. I've showed my dad saved everything. So
I've shared the original ad from the Pontiac dealer that
(09:56):
was selling the Corvette at that time. Yeah, they have
their receipt, and I think we found the original receipt
for the car. I don't know how that paperwork went
up coming in. The original dealership was only forty miles
down the road. So the car has never been out
of the state. Yeah, it's ever since it was delivered
to the car dealer in sixty six and then resold
(10:16):
at another car dealer in sixty nine. It's been around.
And that's something that this new owner finds again really cool.
It's the story as much as it is because this car,
and it just occurred to me this weekend. It's sixty
years old. It's a sixty six. It's a sixty year
old vehicle, and it's in incredibly original, you know, great
(10:39):
shape because he took such great care of it. So
it's a really a fine for anybody who would you know,
who's the enthusiast who wants to buy it. And he's
not trying to do this as a show car either,
which I find interesting too because he could. I learned
so much. I learned so much about that whole process
and the people that we talked to who were all
interested in buying it. There are some enthusiasts that want
(11:02):
it completely restored to its original state, and when you
do that, you're investing a lot of money. In many cases,
you're investing more money than the car is worth. So
it takes somebody who's really got means to do that
and doesn't mind doing that because you're not going to
recoup that investment, you know, because you're pouring so much
into it. But that's that's what the kind that's the
(11:24):
show car thing. That's the you want them, you know,
the ribbon and the metal, and you want to be
able to take it around. You're probably not really driving
it as much as you are putting on a trailer
and taking it and showing it. That's not what you know,
Kevin wants to do. Kevin just wants to drive and
enjoy the vehicle, and in his mind, he's driving it
through my dad's eyes as he can only imagine what
(11:45):
my dad was feeling, thinking and doing when he had
the car.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
That is so exciting.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
It's one reason he's not restoring the air conditioning yet
that's in it because you know, and and the radio
wasn't working unfortunately it you know, it's an FMAM radio
from its time, but he did have to replace that,
but he kept the original because he wanted some you know,
some music. But that's what he said that he's experiencing
and that's what he really thinks is cool for him.
(12:12):
It's the pure story. It's the nostalgia. And I felt
that when I was talking to him, That's what was just.
I was really into the conversation because for one thing,
he's excited about somebody he never met, but that's my dad,
and that's I know how much my dad loved that car,
and as a corvette enthusiast, Kevin knows that same thing.
Every those vehicles all have stories and it's very it's
(12:36):
very special to those and then I mean to those
who to own them and buy them. And so I
can't wait to meet him. We're going to have a
chance to meet him and hopefully and I'll shoot video
of it if we get to. I want to hear
the car, you know, crank. If he allows me to
drive it, great, that's wonderful. If he does. If he doesn't,
and that's not a problem either.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
That's a great attitude to have because it's his car.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Now, well, yeah, yeah, absolutely is.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
I'm willing about it. He's going to let you drive.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
It well, and the trade it's one of those where
you know that, Jody, I'm not always the most practical
person in the world, but there's no place to park
this at home. It's sixty years old, it will have
mechanical failures, and are you really going to drive on
the daily you know. So Kevin doesn't live in the
heart of town, so most of his driving is not
going to be city driving.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Outskirts right and floor in it.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Well, he just doesn't have to worry about as much
traffic or dings or you know, it's a fiberglass body
that's sixty years old. It's not like you're going to
source parts for this thing, and so, you know, but
I'm really glad that he's that he's enjoying it because
that's really what it is about. That's what my sister
you know, said, and she was right about that. The
(13:46):
other part of this is our friend Stephen, who listens
to this podcast on a regular basis and is also
a freelance right well, he's an EMT. He's the tech
who you know sent us a text the other day
about the CPR stuff. But he is an aviation enthusiast.
He's a car enthusiast. I think we've talked about him
on the podcast here before, too, great guy. He's been
(14:07):
writing an article and I feel partially bad about this
when I'm glad I was able to finally hook everybody up.
He wants to tell that story as part of a
Corvette article in a magazine and he and again, it's
because the enthusiasts connect on those stories. They really it's
so much more than just the vehicle and the muscle
(14:29):
power or whatever it is that you love. There's no
wrong way to love that sort of antique. But it's
so many stories wound up in it. I get it now,
And that's why they these when they get together and
they have these car shows, which are not always just
like you know, polished up in the you know, show car,
show car. You're just getting together with a group of
(14:50):
Corvette fanatics or whatever, and that's what they do. They
share stories, they share their vehicles, They love to see
the vehicles, and so this is another natural I think
it extension. And this is going to sound really ethereal,
but my dad would love that.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Of course.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
I think my dad would really love knowing. He would think,
in his words, it would be fine cool. Yeah, it
could be that that's cool, or that's fine fine or
mighty fine. Actually, yeah, it was exactly what.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Mighty fine, right, he would say it just like that.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Yeah, So you never since it stopped running at eighty two,
you never actually have driven it even like Dad had it. No, No,
it's I mean I was way too little to drive it.
You know, when it was still running. I was very
close to get the driver's license. I think we all
wanted to. We hoped we all sat in it as kids.
He would take the cover off and let us sit
(15:41):
in it, and we thought that was cool.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
I sat in it two years ago, whenever it was
right before you know whatever, it was purchased and before
it left our carport.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
It was its tight it's comfy and cozy, but very
different from the vehicles of today.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
It's like going back in time sitting in that.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Car, well, but not in an old timey big car way,
like you're not in control.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
It felt like a little cockpit.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Yeah, it's a I don't know that ergonomic is the
right word, but it's not as ergonomic as today's cars
would be. It sits really low and everything is mechanical.
So to drive that, if I get the chance to
do that, there's no power steering, there's no power breaks,
there's no power assisted clutch. These are all I mean,
(16:32):
it's a heavy spring. I remember my dad telling me
one time, being stuck in traffic was brutal on his
left foot because you're just constantly having to push the
clutch in and kick it back in the neutral. Oh yeah, yeah,
it's not. I mean, I'm sure today's you know, corvettes,
but that was I don't even know if they offered
an automatic in that one back then. But it's a
for speed and so yeah, everything about that is like
(16:56):
manual shifting, manual steering. You can't turn that steering wheel.
It's parked because it's a it's a beast. It weighs
a lot.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
It's hard to It would be hard to mentally, you
know how you mental what do you call it? Muscle
memory drive? You just drive without thinking about it. You
have to think about driving that car.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Yeah, yeah, and I guess again I'm speaking not as
an enthusiasts, so I'm sure that Steven or others could
say the fiberglass body is one thing that made it
lighter than it, you know, would have otherwise been with
a metal body, because it's pure steel underneath in the
chassis and all that. But the outer you know, structure
of the vehicle, it's fiberglass, which is so much lighter,
which allowed the vehicle to travel faster. And his was
(17:37):
the base model version of it. They have an even
more souped up version that was popular at its time.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
They know they had a split window in the back.
That's not what Dane had. That's not the one.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Yeah, His wasn't the split back. His was you know,
the yeah so and uh But anyway, I just I
it was a really cool connection for somebody who I've
never met it and now I'm excited to see it.
But he's he is in love with the vehicle. He
didn't just buy it. He is absolutely in love with
the vehicle, the stories. He said, he's not replacing the
(18:13):
AC because he imagines that's how my dad would drive
sometimes in the summer. I'm like, you know what, I think,
You're right. I don't know the AC. I don't remember
as a kid if the AC was working in that
car or not. It might not have been.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
You don't remember because you were in a diaper.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Well, that's right exactly.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
So we're all going to go drive it.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Trying to court visit in the coming weeks. We'll do that,
and I'm trying to coordinate that with my brother and sister.
Trying to get everybody together at the same time is
a little bit tricky, but we'd like to all see it,
you know, at the same time. So we'll make it
a family trip and you know, let you know how
it goes and we'll take pictures.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
So sweet missed any part of the show. Get it
All on the Murphy Salmon Jody Podcast.
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