The Great Corvette Restoration end of season 1

The Great Corvette Restoration has ended season one, with a little push into the sunset. Yes the car sat to the east of the garage and it was pushed into the garage (toward the west) where it will sit until a warm day sometime next year.

I will admit two things to my dear readers, yes it is still readers, I saw four people check out Nastia’s birthday and got a hardy laugh at my jokes and are amazed about KJ’s abstract self portrait that I’ve dubbed KJ reflects on the world. The two truths I’ll admit to since my wife is not one of the four readers. The first truth about the Corvette is I’ve greatly underestimated the cost of repairing it. I thought a couple of new parts and we’d start the engine. No, I’m replacing or will replace just about everything from bumper to bumper and everything under the hood.The second, and more damaging, believe it or not is the engine is so far beyond my ability as well as Elena’s abilities, I don’t know where to go with it. I guess a third truth would be I should have gone with the white 1979 C3 Corvette. The engine was made before all of the advanced crap on the 1986 C4 we have, but it’s a convertible! How could a rag top guy like myself pass up a classic convertible. The 86 is the first year they made a convertible in years and they only made a little over 7,000! Plus it’s a stick and I’m sure you’re tired of me talking about my love for this ancient and severely outdated technology.

I knew it was getting time to move the Corvette. Teri was giving me subtle little hints like, “If you're not going to work on that thing, get rid of it!” or the equally tender, “I’m calling the junk man, if you don’t do something with that car!” I’m very sure my wife doesn’t read my blog because she still talks to me after I reveal things like that. For the last several weeks I’d been cleaning out the garage anticipating the move of the car into the garage. Silly me thought in April or May of this year, when I got the car and fall came we’d just start the engine and back it into the garage. We’re not there yet. The slope of the driveway is not too steep, but it is steep enough that several years ago when it was icy, I backed into the driveway and I had to do it several times because everytime I’d go to put the car in park it slid back down the driveway.

I opened the garage doors and called Elena to help. After a few minutes and an attempt, I called Sean and Nastia. Nastia was too scared to steer the car, so Elena was volunteered. Nastia, Sean and I put our backs into it and gave it the old college try. To my amazement we managed to move the car in the right direction, toward the garage. The car cooperated by not rolling down the driveway toward the road and the barrier across the street. After a couple of steering adjustments to straighten out the car. It had gotten crooked from falling off the jacks several times. It turns out when you jack up a car on a gravel driveway, it will eventually sink and fall over. It did that about four times, thank God no one was hurt. After the steering adjustment Nastia starts to complain that she’s pushed so hard, her ovaries are hurting. SHe

agrees that maybe steering isn’t so bad. Elena and her exchange place and after a couple more miracles, like not hitting the drives mirror we get the car into the garage. It sits about where the Mustang has sat for the last eight years and it awaits the first warm Spring day of 2025.