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The Blue Corvette Collection

         So what’s with all of the blue Corvettes? 

 

I don’t really know!!!  Between the two of us, Anthony and I have owned more than 30 Corvettes - mostly C-2s and C-3s as that’s what we grew up with, it's what we like and what we know! But also, I drove Corvettes on the road for work as a traveling music products salesman for 33+ years and I've raced the more modern Vettes at Lime Rock Park and NJ Motorsports Park, too.

 

To say that we like Corvettes would be an understatement! They are a huge bang for the buck in terms of performance, they are not expensive to maintain, they are collectible and they are a pretty iconic symbol of the good ole USA and the pinnacle product of America’s auto industry. It seemed every time that we went to sell one of our Corvettes I would lament selling the blue ones!  Pretty soon I personally had a LeMans blue C-6 Z06 for work and track, a Targa Blue C-3 LT-1 as a weekend car - (kind of a throw back to my youth!) and my son had bought a very cool C-5 Convertible in Dark Metallic Blue - so there were three beautiful blue Corvettes in my life on a regular basis. One day I kind of thought that I should just “finish the set” and collect one important blue Corvette from each one of the Corvette production generations.  C-1 -> C-7.

 

A pretty whacky idea - (I know!) - but I play a blue drum set and have a collection of blue guitars so it seems that for me, all of the toys must be blue!  So here's what’s in the personal garage - (a garage that needed to be built to store these cars after this crazy idea of seven blue Corvettes came to fruition!) - and no, they are not for sale…

 

1961 Corvette 283 / 270 hp C-1

I was looking for a 1961 Corvette in rare Jewel Blue - maybe because I was born in 1961 or maybe because a close friend had a ‘61 in high school when the Corvette bug bit us hard at an early age. This is a one year only color with only 855 made in this hue, even more rare in this color with the white coves with only 415 made in this two tone color combo.The Jewel Blue has a powder puff blue / last of the ’50’s dream car look to it that is certainly unique. When older folks see it today they seem to smile a lot as it hits some sort of younger memory portion of their brain!

 

I bought this car from a gentleman in LI who had owned the car for 13 years and had driven it less than 100 miles since he purchased it. The car was completely restored 13 years previous to a very high standard - new paint, new white convertible top, new blue interior, original matching numbers motor was rebuilt, etc… but from sitting in his meticulously kept garage all of those years the original bias-ply tires had flat spotted and the original wheels had even bent themselves!! (Note to self: drive these things!!) I have since replaced the wheels and tires, choosing to go with Coker Tire’s vintage wide whitewall RADIAL tires. Had them mounted, balanced and did an alignment.  Replaced the wiper motor and wiper mechanisms - that is one crazy set-up! (I think hamsters running around in their wheels would be the closest way to describe the wiper design of the time!)  Did a quick tune-up and it now runs flawlessly - special thanks to Steve and the guys at Auto Turismo Sport in New Milford, CT. for rebuilding and timing the two four barrel Carter AFB carbs. Then to finish off the car, a completely new hardtop was rebuilt from scratch by Beth at Entec in Pittsburg, PA.

 

This is a super mint, super rare high horsepower Code 468 - 283 / 270hp, solid lifter, small block Chevy motor, with four speed manual transmission - (the only more powerful engine of the period would be the 283 fuel injected motor with 315hp) - making this overall car not only blue and beautiful but unique and collectible. 

 

1967 Corvette Coupe 427/435 C-2

The 1967 Corvette seems to stand as a high water mark / design standard for all Corvettes.  C-2s are just so cool, so loved as a result. I have owned seven ’67 Corvettes and most were coupes and all were L-79 327 / 350 motors - my personal favorite.  Then this big dog came along! The monster L-71 427 / 435 horse power solid lifter three carb big block fire breather!  This car is a coupe in Marina Blue - the quintessential ’60’s color - with black interior and a black “stinger” hood. It has lived an easy life - part of it being a nut and bolt restoration and the rest having lived in a few well known collections. This car came to us in a “package” with two other cars and while we sold off the other two - this one I had to keep.

 

It was originally a California car and lived in Calif., Western Canada and Houston, TX. with its original owner and two collector owners. It’s matching numbers throughout, everything is there including the California market only smog equipment and shoulder belts. It’s a four speed manual with Red-line tires - not much else!! No power steering, no power brakes, no power windows, etc… people ask - “is it hard to drive? hard to steer?" No, not at all - once you’re over 5 mph it drives like a dream - a heavy big block with no power steering seems like a chore but I love it - as this car is authentic and drives perfectly. This one stays…

 

1972 Corvette Coupe LT -1  C-3

The chrome bumper C-3 Corvettes from ’68-’72 are my personal favorites - having grown up with them. I’ve owned a few and the LT-1 ranks at or near the top for us, as I have this one, Anthony has a ’72 Convertible and his brother, Michael, has a ’71 Coupe - so we are no strangers to the allure of the high revving solid lifter LT-1 Chevy small block!  We love them and always seek them out. I got this particular car at Corvette Carlisle from C-3 Corvette fanatic Steve Burns from Michigan.  Steve is well known in the Corvette NCRS family having restored a few C-3’s including this one that was asked to be shown at the NCRS display booth at Carlisle Corvettes in 2016.

 

This car has received a Top Flight score from the Michigan chapter of the NCRS along with a previous LS-5 car that Steve prepared. This car is in Targa Blue with a black vinyl interior with power steering, power brakes, tinted glass, tilt/telescopic steering and AM/FM stereo radio…. ’72 is also the last year for the chrome bumper C-3 Corvettes and the last year for the high horsepower, high revving, solid lifter LT-1 motor. I felt that this was an important one. Steve Burns having owned it and restoring it motivated me to buy it; plus it was the right color!

 

1994 Corvette ZR-1 C-4

The Corvette C-4 - is a big advancement over the troubled late C-3 cars but they still don’t get a lot of love these days. I think that the knocks on these cars are over exaggerated as I have owned three C-4s - an ’85 coupe, an ’89 convertible and a ’96 Silver Anniversary coupe. I put over 130k miles on each of them when working on the road back in the day - and they never once left me stranded and I never had a problem. They were solid and advanced for the time - I guess for some they just haven’t aged well and none really seem to be collectible at this time except for the ’90-’95 ZR-1 - Chevrolet's “King of the Hill.” That brings us to this car; this ZR-1 is the later ’94-’95 iteration with 405 horse power vs. the earlier ZR-1’s 375 hp. This is also a unique car as only 45 ZR-1’s from ’94-’95 were built in this color of Admiral Blue.

 

This car extends its uniqueness by being serial number “10” of 1994, I believe that it is the first Admiral Blue ZR-1 car built and the first owner of the car was none other than General Motors and they owned it for 2 years. I believe that they may have owned it to use as a demo car to show the new color of Admiral Blue and the new later iteration of the 405 hp ZR-1. The ZR-1 motor was designed by then GM partner Lotus and was built by Mercury Marine in Stillwater, OK - not by Chevrolet in Bowling Green, KY or Tonowanda, NY. where all of the other motors were built. It features a 32-valve dual overhead cam design from Lotus - the first and only DOHC motor from Chevrolet - (so far!)  

 

It revs like a European sports car and has lots of torque like an American V-8. This car also features both a solid targa top and smoked clear top. I believe that this is the car that began Chevrolet’s journey on the path to further advancements by opening up the design and engineering team’s collective minds to more of a world view and helped to usher in the even better C-5 Corvette.

 

2001 Corvette Convertible C-5

I don’t personally own many convertibles - sure I drive them and work on them when we get them in, but I usually prefer the solidness of a coupe. That preference changed with the C-5. I owned an ’02 C-5 coupe and later an ’04 C-5 Z06 - I used them every day for work putting on 125k miles on each of them and I raced them at Lime Rock, too. They are tremendous cars; incredibly comfortable and STRONG! When my son was looking for a car we were drawn to the C-5 because of its advancements, the trouble-free nature of the LS motor and because it was big!! Or rather big enough for him - at 6’8” tall, the C-5 may be the only Corvette that my son truly "fits" in and we tried out the convertible because it gave him another inch of headroom.

 

This car is just a great all around performer / cruiser. Unique very Dark Blue Metallic with the tan top and interior and a manual six speed.  It pushed all of the buttons as a safe and reliable sports car - more of a world car. It really hits the nail on the head and began Chevrolet’s return to world beating dominance on the racetrack. The factory design and build is in a word - solid. We love dropping the top on this one!!

 

2007 Corvette Z06 C-6

When this iteration of the Z06 came out, it was hard to believe that they were going to improve the base car by so much, as the 400 hp LS2 in the standard Corvette was already such a great car.  The Z06 with 505 hp put the car into a new class! I bought this car used off of a Chevy dealer’s lot somewhere in NJ - it was three years old and only had 1,050 miles on it - apparently owned by a GM exec. that didn’t have much time to use the product!

 

The car was effectively “new” in the exact colors that I wanted, LeMans Blue - (Chevy, having just won the big French race, named the color after it!) - with a titanium and ebony interior - two tone black and gray - pretty slick! Oil cooler, insane power, unbelievable six piston brakes - it was ready for the track out of the box and I used it there and for my day job selling music products all over Metro NY and New England. I went everywhere with this car and it never ceased to amaze me. Always in control and never overtly scary - it handles and stops like a dream - but lean into the throttle and you’ll understand why multiple news outlets named the LS-7 427 / 505 hp motor - engine of the year.

 

2016 Corvette Z06/Z07 C-7

650 horse power / 650 ft. lbs. of torque - Just think about that - hard to fathom and even harder to think about “anything" when you drive it! It’s intimidatingly fast. This is the only Corvette that I have ever bought new. After I had a chance to visit the Bowling Green, KY. Corvette factory, take the tour and wrap my head around what was being built in this place - I thought that I should prepare myself for that much horsepower by getting the Z07 track package with carbon ceramic brakes, extra aero to keep the car planted and special purpose dry weather only Michelin Sport Cup 2 tires - just to keep myself alive. It is crazy fast!! (One can only imagine what the new 2019 755 hp ZR-1 is like!)

 

The color of the car is Laguna Blue Tintcoat and sports a non-factory recommended color combination override of Adrenaline Red interior. Blue / Red - so European!  C-7s are a super car now after all, and compete with Ferrari for sure - so why not give it a unique blue / red 1960’s Ferrari-like color combination? - Superman’s colors!!  Also, now all of these blue Corvettes have every possible interior color to go with their blue exteriors - blue, black, black and gray, gray, tan, etc… might as well throw a crazy red interior in there!  

 

 

For more evidence of blue Corvette craziness there's lots of extra photos in the photo bar below.

 

If yer "Counting Blue Cars" - the number is SEVEN - C-1 -> C-7!  

And if you see a blue Corvette drive by... wave and say hi... it might be me!



 

I hope that you enjoyed visiting the Blue Corvette Collection!  

 

PS. Did you notice all of the Corvette crossed-flag logo changes through the years from generation to generation in the photo insets above? (There will be a test later!) 

The things that we have learned about Corvettes - through all of these years of owning, buying, selling, collecting, driving, racing, repairing and restoring Corvettes - go into every Corvette that we sell. Are you looking for one?  Let us know and put us to work helping to find the Corvette of your dreams!! 

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