Eye Candy: 1962 Chevrolet Corvette

Bob McKay: Wheel Drive

Occupation: Dentist

The Car: 1962 Chevrolet Corvette

I grew up in Oshawa and I had always wanted a Corvette after three of us at the Orillia Folk Festival in the corvette of our friend Max Darlington in 1957 or in 1958 to see the new singing stars Ian and Sylvia Tyson. It was around 1959 and I was 16 years old.

Max, who was older, was a close relative of the coach of the famous Canadian racehorse Northern Dancer.

After high school in Oshawa, I studied dentistry at the University of Toronto and graduated in 1968. I moved to St. Catharines – a big sporting city where I lived. I played hockey with the OHA and the Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU

In 1973, I bought my 1962 Red Corvette convertible at my mechanic for $ 4,000. year of the first generation C1 series (1953-1962), she had soft top, wheels in mag and, although she lacked some parts and accessories, that was my chance.

A year later, I had a phone call from a friend who said that there was an ad in the newspaper for a hardtop 62 for sale in Niagara-on- "I drove there in the Corvette and met the owner, who was floored." "It was my car!" he exclaimed, realizing that "it's my car!" he was an old property . Silenced

We have established that & # 39; there were any & # 39; other owners between us and the car came to Sudbury. He said that he had kept the roof hard because the buyer could not pay his price, so he began to strip the car until the price was correct. It had the original wheels, the hubcaps 62, the front chrome bar, the glove box and some other parts.

He wanted $ 300 for the top and I said, "I'm going to give you $ 350 for all this. "At the time, a friend who was a car driver said that I received over $ 1,000 of coins that day. I do not want to guess what it is today.

It was the beginning of my mission to make the car as original as possible. I discovered the National Corvette Restorers Society (NCRS), I joined the club and I am still a member today. This is the best option for repairs, new and original parts, and everything you want to know about Corvettes. I procured the specification guide, judgment and technical manuals of the company from 1953 to 1972.

I discovered that most of my car was original, with correct numbers. The VIN number dates from the badembly of my Corvette to July 18, 1962, and the engine, transmission, rear end and many other parts are originally with matching numbers. There was even the original Wonder Bar radio. I bought a stereo at Corvettes at Carlisle, the largest Corvette event in the world, which was held in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, which perfectly matches the dash, and I keep the radio and the top Wonder Bar in a box.

I bought a decent interior of Texas and had it installed in St. Catharines by a local upholstery shop. A 1962 stainless steel exhaust system was installed and a new set of white-walled radial tires was installed. I had the acrylic car paint repainted using the correct paint codes & # 39; 62, which will not crack like the original painting. During this process, I discovered that the original color was white because someone missed painting the inside of the small box between the seats and inside the hardtop, as the original red cars had red peaks. The visors are also white, not red. The hood is white, but comes with optional colors.

A new four-cylinder carburetor conforming to the original specifications, with chrome engine, stickers, valve covers and many other missing parts. I made a list of all the missing original parts and I am still working on this bit by bit. Unfortunately, I lost my shifter, seat belts, and buckles because they were thrown by mistake, but have since added a new reproduction of the lever and the correct buckles. I can not find the red belts because there were four versions this year, with the loops, and mine are the latest version.

I had the car judged in 2003 by the Ontario chapter of the NCRS, which ranked it as a Level 3 Car with a score of 81.5 points. With recent updates, I'm sure it's probably a level 2 (85 points) today. To be on top, you need a score of at least 94 and my only regret was not having done any restoration because getting to level 1, or other rewards like certification Bloomington Gold is impossible without that.

The Niagara Corvette Club, a very socially active club in St. Catharines, and even though we do not live in Niagara, we still maintain our members

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