My Blue Sting Ray
As you might imagine, life in the Vietnam Era U.S. Army was tough. Maintaining a good sense of humor helped, but what made the experience somewhat enjoyable was buying a five-year-old Chevrolet in 1970 — not just any Chevy, but a genuine 1965 Corvette Sting Ray. The two of us became inseparable.
I had first discovered Corvettes back in junior high school by watching the classic, but cutting-edge, TV series that aired from 1960 to ’64, . Perhaps you’ll recall the thrill and excitement as Tod and that I had admired a few years earlier, but now our heroes were upgraded to a dreamy sports car and experiencing the scenic wonder of America from coast to coast. At my tender age, I admired their lifestyle and vowed I would someday adopt it myself. By high school, I could recite all of the available Corvette powertrains, axle ratios, weight distribution, and other specifications gleaned from car magazines and books studied at the University of Michigan’s transportation library, but I simply could not afford to buy one.
