Spring 2007
Love is in
the air everywhere I look around…it must be spring! No, I’m not singing John
Paul Young’s 1978 hit, but it is something I believe in!
This Dan’s Say is
coming from my softer, gentler side. Springtime is when a young man’s fancy and
an old man’s fancy (Iike mine) turns to the romantic side of life and
relationships. I have been to a number of my friends weddings lately. Some of
them were my civilian friends (those who don’t own Corvettes), but the majority
of them were my Corvette friends. One particularly FUN wedding was definitely a
Corvette Wedding, the marriage of Lance and Michele Miller. You know
Lance Miller as the son of Chip Miller who founded Corvettes at Carlisle.
Needless to say the wedding was a true Corvette event. There were Corvette
people from all over the country. It was almost like a mini Corvette show
without Corvettes. Jake and I had a great time there since it took place in
sunny Florida just across the state from us in St. Petersburg Beach. If you
would like to see more of Lance and Michele’s wedding and their Corvette
friends, visit their website at
www.micheleandlance.com/afterparty.php
. I am looking forward to attending the
upcoming wedding of Kevin Mackay (Corvette restorer extraordinaire) and the
lovely Christina Cantone. If you remember, their love story appeared in our
Winter 2006 issue. Don’t miss the continuation of their Corvette romance on
page 16 of our magazine.
Let’s talk about MY
romantic love affair. Romance is Great! And when you’re in love, you feel like
you’re on top of the world! You’re heart beats a little faster. Your breath
quickens and you feel that little tingle at the end of your fingers that tells
you that you are as happy as can be. Everybody looks at you wearing that wacky
grin on your face and they know what’s wrong with you….you’re in love!
This has just happened to me since I walked out to the garage and caressed my
new love, a Velocity Yellow Z51 2006 C6 Coupe! Yes, I finally made the leap.
Shunning my “old flame” C5 for a slicker, younger, sexier C6! Sounds like a
mid-life crisis to me! So if you see me walking around the Birthday Bash with a
huge grin on my face, you will know why!
Enough of this mushy
stuff! Spring not only means love, it means get your motor running and get
out on the highway….the adventure I’m looking for is the adventure of our 10th
Anniversary Celebration at the Birthday Bash and what a great time it’s going to
be! Old Barnum and Bailey can take a lesson from Roc Linkov and the Museum this
year because this Birthday Bash promises to be the biggest and best Birthday
Bash there ever was! There will be dancing and singing in the island style
as we celebrate the tropics with the Museum’s Birthday Bash “Margaritaville”
party. So you might want to throw a couple of Hawaiian style shirts in the back
of the Corvette for this fabulous party time! I look forward to seeing all of
my old friends and meeting some new friends at this 10th Anniversary
gala of the Official C5/C6 Registry. Gather up your friends and make your
reservations now because April is not that far away. I hear we may even have
members coming from Europe. So if you want to start off the springtime right
with a great road trip and a great party, grab a friend, call the Museum and
make arrangements to come to the 10th Anniversary Celebration at the
C5/C6 Birthday Bash. We’ve highlighted this fantastic event on page 12. We’ll
see you there!
Speaking of ten years, we
didn’t want you to miss hearing from our first two Registry members, who joined
on August 29, 1997 at our first Labor Day event at the Museum. I’m still
chuckling at these two, and the memories they brought back of the early days.
Don’t miss Dan Douglas [C5R# V0003] and Julia Tuttle’s [C5R#
V0004] recollections on pages 7 and 9. This was so much FUN that we
plan to continue throughout the year featuring our Charter Members as they talk
about their love affair with Corvette and our fabulous hobby. So, Charter
Members, send us your stories!
It is so hard to believe
that this is our 10th year of the Official C5/C6 Registry.
It seems like only
yesterday that we had our first Birthday Bash at the NCM. I think we had all of
300 members and their spouses present, but that was a pretty good showing
considering we only had 600 total members then. The highlight of the weekend was
the dinner inside the NCM Rotunda among the historic Corvettes with the man
himself, Chief Engineer Mr. David Hill telling us all about the new for 1998
Active Handling system. David even brought eight Active Handling Corvettes from
Detroit for us to test drive at the nearby Beech Bend Raceway. What a blast
driving through the cones at full speed in someone else’s vette! Naturally, I
pushed mine to the limit and maybe a little over. My GM co-driver did have a few
words with me after our run about responsible driving, but in my
excitement I thought he was talking about responsive driving! We’ve had
nine great Birthday Bashes and I know this 10th one is going to be
the best yet!
So share the love and do
something nice for that special someone, like a nice moonlit ride in a shiny
Corvette. Until next time, Happy Valentine’s Day and Happy Easter!
C5Ya!...I mean, I guess it’s
C6Ya!
Dan
