For me, the love of Corvettes began early. In the mid-1960’s, when I was about 6 or 7, I got a model car kit of what was called the Mako Shark II. That was a Corvette show car and concept that never made it to production. I thought it was very cool and futuristic but knew really nothing about cars or brands. My dad helped me put it together and I apparently bored relatives and friends about the overwhelming “coolness” of this car for some time after.

A few years later, around 1968, my dentist, who lived down the street from us, bought a new Corvette Stingray. It was gold with a black interior and my brother, and I promptly rode our bikes over to gawk at it in his driveway. At my next dental appointment, my mom said that I talked so much about it that he finally said to pipe down so he could get to work. I again thought it was the coolest car I had ever seen. He was a single guy, and looking back, I assume he was a bit of a playboy, and the car was part of the whole image.

In the early 1970’s, there was a TV show called “The Magician”, starring Bill Bixby. He played a magician who also solved crimes and his ride in the show was a white Corvette. I loved that show, especially his Corvette!

In high school, there was a guy in my class, Ron Keegan, (who was a member and officer of this club in the 1980’s). We had a study hall class together senior year. He talked of Corvettes incessantly and always said he was going to have one, some day. I liked cars and talking about cars for an hour each day was about as good as it gets. Ron has since owned many Corvettes and still has an all-original 1968 stingray. Incidentally, our high school gym teacher was a guy named Bill Wosilius. He has a 60’s Corvette and later became President of the NGCA.

In college, I parked cars at a local country club in the Summer as one of my jobs. I learned to drive a stick on a member’s 1978 Datsun 280Z. Working there allowed me to drive all kinds of cars, including BMW’s, Mercedes, Audi’s, Porsches, and occasionally a car like a Corvette. I lived for those opportunities, although most of the members’ cars were Cadilac’s, Buicks, Mercedes, and Lincolns.

Some years later, as Corvettes evolved, I grew to really like the C4 version. I still think it might be the nicest, cleanest, body style. I knew that the 1996 model year would be the last for the C4 and I wasn’t crazy about the C5 model that I’d seen advance pictures of in Motor Trend magazine. The dimensions and proportions just didn’t seem right to me. Unfortunately for me, in 1996 I could only have one car and could not afford a Corvette, so no Corvette for me.

Flash forward to 2017 and I was mindlessly searching the internet (www.buyavette.com) for “1996 Corvettes for sale” and found a nice one. It was a little more than I wanted to spend, but it was Torch Red, the color of choice, and looked like it was in great shape and only had about 34,000 original miles on it. It was in Atlanta, and I bought it just from the pictures and listing on the internet. I had it shipped to New Jersey, and it arrived a few weeks later.

I enjoyed it and I got lots of waves in it. It was at this time that I joined the NGCA. I really enjoyed owning and driving that car. It handled really well and had what was a lot of power for a car of that era. Today, many family cars have about the same 300 HP. Even if it was no longer the fastest and best-handling car available, it was a blast to drive.

When the C8 model came out, I initially didn’t like it, but it steadily grew on me. After a few years of thinking about it, I finally took the plunge and ordered a new LT2 Corvette Stingray in Torch Red in September of 2024. I was told it would take about six months to come in. However, in a bit of a surprise, I took delivery on November 20, 2024. I sold the C4 in February of 2025. If I had more garage space, I would have kept it.

The timing of the delivery was not great just before Winter. I did get to drive it a few hundred miles before tucking it away. I look forward to thousands of miles in this car in the years to come. As a kid and a young man, I never thought I would own a mid-engine supercar, and now I do!

—John Bryer