The one that got away

azmuscle on Jul 10, 2026 said:

I wanted to change my profile pic and I found this pic on file and considering THIS is my all-time favorite, I had to make it my profile image. 1964 Corvette Coupe (always wanted a coupe) 327 300 HP 4 speed Muncie M20 wide ratio and a highway friendly 3.08 back in the diff. I literally had to dig this car out of a barn in Dragoon AZ. It was half in and half out of the barn. But this was my dream car, I didn't care how it looked. It was mine. A car I wanted back in my youth of the Muscle Car Era. I was born into a very poor family and to me this was a sign just to me, I had finally been able to reach this pinnacle of owning a C2 Corvette. I did not care how the car was. I got it running and dug it out of the mud it was buried in. It was like finding that gold nugget the miners were always chasing.

Got it home, and cleaned it up and did what I could with the budget I had left after purchasing the car. I paid half in cash and the seller let me pay the other half on my credit card.

The 64 was just a basic Corvette, but that is all I needed. I began the repairs of rebuilding the headlight motors as they were seized. I performed the operation on the motors like I was doing surgery on a patient. The moment of success, all the lights out in the garage and I flipped the switch and the headlights rolled over and I was as giddy with success.

This all may sound boring to the readers, but I'm reliving it all as I recall the moments.

The car needed some body work and paint, and when the estimate came in at $10K, that was enough for me to love the car even more in it's present offering.

Sadly, where my wife and I were living in Tucson, the gang graffiti began to show up and houses on either side of ours were broken into and our mail had been missing. My wife and I agreed it's time to move before it is us. My neighbor was even a LEO and his house got robbed.

The only way to move and buy another place was to sell the 64. And so it went to Utah for a total reconstruction and I used the funds from the sale to be able to move to a better, safer place.

I recall watching the 64 be loaded onto a Uhaul trailer and watching it slowly disappear as it went out of view. My thoughts: I never should have sold it. But you do what you do, when you have to do, what you don't want to do, but it needs to be done.

well that's my sob story and if you cried like I cried over a piece of metal, maybe you know what I'm talking about.

Onward and upward......to infinity and beyond.

Mario on Jul 11, 2026 said:

What a sad sad story Rob with your 1964 Corvette. I remember when the 64's first came out I graduated high school in 1964 and Corvettes were hot back then. Everyone loved the 64's over the 63's with their annoying split window that had a blind spot. The 64 had a full back window with a great view.

Sad you had to sell the car in order to move away from a bad neighborhood, but you got to go to a better one. And safety is always number 1. So just look at it that way. You're here now Rob because you made a wise decision based on facts not emotions.

We all shed a tear with your story because we've all gone through the same pain. At some point in time we have all sold a car we loved because we had to for a very good reason at the time.

I too have had to sell some of my favorite cars because I needed to. My last sale was my 67 Impala White Lightening that I owned for 10 years because I was downsizing selling my house and buying a Condo in a better neighborhood. I regret the sale but I traded that for living in Oyster Bay with Car Shows every week. As they say Location, Location, Location.

We still have our memories Rob and lots of stories to tell. And I'm one to always listen to your tales. Best Regards, Mario

azmuscle on Jul 12, 2026 said:

Thanks for your understanding and support. I've learned, every car has a story and every car owner has a story. Mine is no different than as you said yours. It's not out of pity or even understanding that I post this. This is mostly about MY FAVORITE car. Yes it's gone and I'm glad I found 2 pics of the car. It's not a sad story. It's just a story. And we all have one or more of "OUR" stories. I'm sure your white Lightning has a spot in your heart and your car memory.

My purpose is to explain how MUCH the car meant to me, and how I didn't bite on others, especially Corvette owners, who threw their 2 cents in like I was expected to make the car to their satisfaction.

I hope or hoped the message is, I loved, absolutely LOVED what this C2 meant to me. Achievemnet, and the best part, IT'S SIMPLICITY. I like a simple life. And to get in the C2, the whole world disappeared, even the gang riddled neighborhood issues.

The hard part was the sacrifice that had to be made to yes, make a better life for my wife and me. The loss if the C2 has made me appreciate the simpler life now. So out of the ashes, comes hope and faith.

The C2 wasn't perfect. Neither am I. The bonding I did with that car, is what I miss. I've never bonded to a car like the C2. The C2 took me away from this world and put me into a place where gangs were not my focus. But like you said, I made the right decision selling the car. It was just one of thee hardest decisions of where the right thing to do, also was the most painful thing to do.

So it's just my story about a car that changed my life in many ways. That's all nothing more, nothing less. It is what it is.....