Sixty-Five Years And A Job Offer

On this day in 1953 the first Corvette rolled off the production line in Flint, Michigan. That was the only year the car was produced there; production was moved to St. Louis the next year where it remained until the Bowling Green, Kentucky plant opened in 1981.

The Corvette is, in my opinion, the quintessential American car both for good and for bad, but mostly for good. Despite what the Guinness Book of World Records claims the Corvette is the best selling two-seat sports car in history with over 1.7 million sold and, despite what Mercedes-Benz claims, the Corvette is the longest-running car model in the world.

To me, the ultimate Corvette: a 1967 convertible with side exhaust. I took this picture during a recent visit my wonderful wife and I made to the Newport Car Museum, which is actually in Portsmouth, Rhode Island and not Newport. We began chatting with Dan, a docent at the museum, and within two minutes he offered me a job based on his perception of my automotive knowledge. When I told him we lived more than 300 miles away he nodded and remarked, “That’s too bad.”

I no longer possess the swiftness with which to chase my dreams.