"I’ll never forget the feeling that came over me when I first saw her." Joe has always been a Corvette enthusiast. He owned a 1994 and decided it was time to grow his collection. A friend told him about a dealership in Ohio that was selling off their private collection, and Joe bought a one-way ticket knowing he was going to drive one of those cars home.
Joe wanted the Corvette fun to be a family experience and, since the 1994 celebrated the year of his son’s birth, he was hoping to find a 1958 to match the year his wife was born. After landing in Ohio, he headed straight to the dealership and into a hangar where the cars were stored. There sat an original 1958 with a 283 dual four-barrel carburetor with only 32,850 miles on the clock. Joe "was in love all over again." He bought the Corvette and drove it back home to Hudson, Florida.
After having the car for less than a week, Joe decided he wanted the original lacquer paint redone to get that factory-fresh look. He took the car to the guys at Touch Of Class Auto Body in Hudson, where it spent four months having the body prepped for the perfect finish. When a friend restored an old Coca-Cola(R) syrup dispenser to its original deep red color, Joe noted that it was the perfect red for his 1958. White paint was sprayed onto the coves to finish the look. Both paints were lacquer basecoat/clearcoat.
Because the interior and drivetrain were in such perfect condition, all that was needed was a little dusting off. Joe had a new factory original convertible soft top put on to complete the Corvette.
The completed car has become a true family member. Joe and his wife would never part with it. The car gets a once-a-month drive and goes to an occasional show--where it always takes home a trophy.