It was in 2004 that Kev planted the seed of Corvette and the hunt was on and mid 2004 one was located and with the approval of the Bride it was purchased.
The car had to be a 1968 to 1972 chrome bumper and preference was to get a 70-72, didn't want a big block as I had owned trucks for 25 years and know all about fuel bills.
The car purchased was a 1971 garden variety stock standard Vette but the body was in great shape, it was, and still is LHD, and mechanically was ok, I actually drove it home on trade plates and that was the last time it was driven on the road until Oct 2021.
There was surface rust on the chassis so the only real way to fix it was of course to take the body off and seeing we went that far lets take everything else out as well, the bare chassis was then sandblasted and painted,
While everything else was out, may as well do that as well, so the engine was rebuilt, the gearbox rebuilt, the diff rebuilt, trailing arms rebuilt, new brakes, new steering and about this time the Bride turned into the Minister of War and Finance.
Once everything was refitted the body was painted and bumpers re-chromed and according to the Minister every nut that could be purchased from the US was, the year was now 2019 and the Minister was slightly concerned at the time taken to get to this point.
The Minister for War appeared and said that the Minister for Finance would not reappear until the 1989 C4 was sold, apparently I needed the incentive of not having a Corvette to drive to get the 71 finished.
Now if you have ever started something and had more than one sleep before you finish it you know that you forget one or two things, at this point all I can say is "thank god for Graham" and when things don't go quite to plan his explanation is "it's a Corvette" which I now have permantly burnt into my brain.
The registration process was straight forward, the plan was to get the identity check done at Nuriootpa police station and then to Angaston for the inspection, one day, one permit - WRONG - a phone call to Nuriootpa police had my place of residence on the wrong side of the creek and therefore out of their police district - it's a Corvette - "you will need to go to Regency Park for the Identity Check".
On the Wednesday it took 5 hours (4hrs 40mins waiting - 20mins for the check) - it's a Corvette- and, the Vette broke down on the way home and required a ride on a truck to home and the next day a ride to get the issue fixed - it's a Corvette-, the Vette was picked up 9 am Friday morning and the roadworthy Inspection was at 10.30 am got there at 10 am and went straight in and this was the least painful part of the whole process, it passed with flying colours.
Paperwork in hand take the Vette home, take the dog to the Vet, and, then down to Kevs to get the Club registration paperwork then off to Service SA at Gawler where the plates were waiting to complete the process.
At the counter paperwork was presented and the Vette was to be in joint names but the Club paperwork only listed my name - it's a Corvette - and how did they know whether the Minister was a member of the Corvette club, frantic calls to Kev and Gary didn't solve the problem so a double frantic call to the Minister to get to Gawler with her membership card (if she could find it) before 5 pm it was now 4.30pm, at 4.50pm it was registered.
I didn't have any energy left to put the plates on the Vette until Saturday.
The restoration process was a piece of cake taking seventeen and a half years now the Minister wants her 1946 Ford jailbar truck done but she doesn't think either of us will live long enough to see it happen, she has no faith.
