The Largest NCCC Club

Tulsa World Article - By Cary Aspinwall, Reporter

For these car owners, only a Corvette will do. It starts with Matchbox cars, really. That itsy bitsy Corvette -- she reels them in with her shiny, long-legged front and never lets them go. They become Vette people, and no other car will do. The allure of a Corvette is so strong, when those kids grow up and buy the real deal, these proud owners join clubs devoted to her beauty. 

They spend weekends driving places with her other loyal servants. Tulsa guys and gals seem to fall especially hard for Corvettes. The Tulsa Vette Set is the largest NCCC club in the nation, with hundreds of devotees turning out for monthly meetings and special events. That would be the National Council of Corvette Clubs, the governing authority of so many clubs devoted to her beauty.

            There's an International Council of Corvette Clubs, because the obsession goes beyond just American guys and gals. Shari F. and her husband, Scott P., have two Corvettes, his and hers. The pair, who were high school sweethearts at East Central, got their first taste of Corvette ownership back in 1973. Scott, who owns a classic car restoration business, bought his 1963 Stingray then. Almost 20 years later, they decided Shari needed her own. The engine of her 1963 Corvette Stingray convertible roars like a lion under the car's shiny pewter hood.

            "It's definitely a head-turner," she said. "You drive one to get noticed." It took four years, and lots of help from her husband and son, to get her Stingray into head-turning condition. But along the way, Shari learned how to do fiberglass body work and rebuild the carburetor. "I wouldn't want any other year, really," she said. "It really is the iconic Corvette, in my mind." 

Let's go for a ride.

            You slide in the seat and smile. So this is what it feels like to be the coolest kid in school. You turn the corner, and everyone stares. Then you're off. Vroooooooooom. Corvettes have big, noisy, growly engines that can make it hard to converse while driving. Who wants to talk, anyway? In a Honda Civic or a Ford Taurus, you are merely driving. From point A to point B. In a Corvette, you're cruising, destination unknown. People stare because you are having more fun. And you're passing them, hair in the wind, feeling a little reckless. Who cares about gas mileage and insurance and the expense of repairs? You go for a ride and start thinking, "Maybe I'm a Corvette person." A Corvette person trapped in a Toyota Corolla, just waiting to get out. Growl.

Kissed by the stars 

            Forget Manolo Blahniks and Jimmy Choos.

            You want to grab a guy's attention? Get a Corvette. Cherry Valance, no doubt the coolest girl at her school in "The Outsiders," drove a Corvette Stingray around town while flirting with Ponyboy and Dallas Winston. Her rich soc boyfriend may have been murdered, but she rode off into the sunset in that sweet red Stingray. Debby T's yellow Corvette Stingray is so hot, Jay Leno kissed her. She and other classic car owners were asked to drive cars to usher Leno into a charity event in the Tulsa area a few years ago. When he got off the plane at Riverside Airport, he made a beeline for her car. She called him Mr. Leno ("Call me Jay," he said), and pointed out her husband a few feet away, taking pictures.

            "He said, 'Well, I'm going to make him jealous,' " she said. "And he just laid a big ol' fat kiss on me and a hug and I said, 'I don't think that did it.' " Debby dreamed of owning a Corvette since she rode in one in 1965. "It had just always been my dream car," she said. "You get in and you feel 16 again." Same goes for her her husband, Dave. He can hardly believe his luck that he and the wife now own two Corvettes.

            "When I was growing up, I'd have liked to own one, but I never dreamed that I would own one," he said.  Get out the lead, Fred 

            $10,361.22. That's how much it cost Barbara J. to bring Fred home from the Chevy dealership in 1977.

            "I had to pay sticker price. They wouldn't come down a penny," she said. She was 22, fresh out of nursing school, and when she first showed up at the dealership to buy Fred, her white Corvette, none of the salesmen would talk to her. She had to write the check before they would even let her drive the car. "I was hooked," she said. "I had to have that car." Fred is the only Corvette that she wants. He's the reason she met her husband, Marshall. They met through Tulsa Vette Set. When they were married in 1990, the church parking lot looked like a Corvette rally. She teases Marshall that she wants to be buried in Fred. She will never, ever sell him. Fred even has his own garage.  One of the cool kids 

            Ask Corvette owners what model year is their dream year, the car they would die of happiness to own. The answer usually turns out to be some year around the time he or she was a senior in high school. Turns out we all just want to feel like the cool kid in school, long after we've grown and raised our own families. Byron F. used to walk through the parking lot of the former Bill White Chevrolet on his way to school each day, stare at a blue '65 Stingray on display and tell his friend: "I'm going to own one someday." It took Byron 30 years, but the aircraft mechanic got his dream car -- and then some. Now he and his wife, Sundra, are on their third Corvette. But the third one is hers, technically. The personalized license tag: Hehad2. The cheeky tag gets them thumbs-up and waves from passing drivers. "But very few get to pass us," Bryon laughs (not so much when he's asked about speeding tickets). Byron's first two were lost to accidents, but he's working on getting another. A muscle car, something loud and fast. "I like the coolness and the handling," he says. "It's just the ultimate car."  Family of fans 

            Being the cool kid with the Corvette before your empty nester years will cost you dearly, at least in insurance premiums. For newer Corvettes, estimates put the average insurance premiums at no less than $2,000 per year depending on your age, driving record and place of residence. Darrell W., 21, one of the Vette Set's youngest members, estimates that insurance for his 1998 Corvette costs about $325 per month. He got his first Corvette at 14, a 1977 Corvette his grandma found for him just before she passed away. He worked on the car for two years before he could legally drive it. All the while, none of the kids at school believed that he owned a Corvette. "My sophomore or junior year I finally got to show it at school," he said. "Some still thought it was my dad's."

            Nope, Dad has his own, a '64. Darrell's family is a tad Corvette-obsessed. Grandma bought one for Grandpa years ago, and then everyone had to have one. Including aunts and uncles, there are at least eight Corvette owners in his family. Diehard, diecast. 

            Shari got to see her husband, Scott, live out every little boy's fantasy when his 1963 Corvette coupe was replicated into diecast miniature toy form, a Johnny Lightning car (one of Matchbox's main competitors). Scott's car was featured in a magazine spread and displayed at the National Corvette Museum, and the toymakers liked it so much, they captured it in miniature -- right down to the No. 37 painted on the side. "Every time he thinks about it, he just gets the biggest grin on his face," she said. Somewhere, some little boy has Scott's Johnny Lightning car, and another 'Vette lover is born.