Man Flies to Germany To Get the 1966 Corvette He's Been Hunting for Months, It's in Pieces

The former owner of the 1966 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray, a man from Kentucky, bought it in 2015 but never drove it. Roger found the C2 Corvette on the Internet three months ago and has had his eyes on it since then.

When he inquired, at some point, the seller told him it was already sold. But the one who wanted to buy it could not come up with the entire amount of money. So, he had to give it up, and Roger was back in the game. He withdrew money from the bank and went to Hockenheim, in Germany, to bring the 'Vette home. It is double what he paid for any car not running so far.

He drove to Hockenheim, the town where the Formula 1 race takes place, to pick up the six-decade-old Chevy Corvette Sting Ray. He borrowed a trailer that he attached to his classic two-tone Chevrolet Nomad to trailer his new old 'Vette back home.

The 1966 Chevy Corvette is powered by a naturally aspirated, carbureted 327-cubic-inch (5,354 cc) V8 engine, which pumps out 350 horsepower (355 metric horsepower) and 360 pound-feet (488 Newton meters).

"Pumped," in Past Tense, is actually a better word for that. A four-speed transmission helps the V8 put the power down through the rear wheels. ProfessCars estimates that the car accelerates from 0 to 60 mph (0 to 97 kph) in 5.6 seconds and runs the quarter mile in 14.3 seconds. The figures were not bad at all for the era it comes from. The V8 had to pull a car that tipped the scales at 3,181 pounds (1,443 kilograms).

The seller does not want to show up on camera. He stored the car in what used to be a barn and is now a garage. Roger finds it lifted, with the rear axle disassembled around ten years ago, with no wheels and several components removed. But he already knew that he had to put it back together like a puzzle.

The ex-owner never put it back together again. Roger is going to do it with the help of a mechanic, who sounds like a Corvette enthusiast. Besides, he has worked on Corvettes before. Many components are neatly lined up on the shelves and on the floor of the former barn/current garage. That is where the original Goodyear tires are, too.

The 58-year-old car has a stunning interior. It is a full black leather cabin with a diamond pattern that covers the seats, door cards, and headliner. Roger is planning to lower the car and make it sit closer to the ground, so he is going to cut a few inches of the springs.

One of the previous owners wanted more than the standard dual lights at the back and made cuts for the third taillight, each on one side. All six of them have to go back on the car.

Roger and the mechanic push the Corvette out of the garage and into the Biergarten (that is German for "beer garden"). The Corvette Sing Ray sees the daylight for the first time in nine years.

They have to push it all the way to the trailer without making a stop. The police in Hockenheim are very serious about parking rules and can easily fine drivers just for stopping on the side of the road to get some rest.

Up on the trailer it goes and is soon on its way to a new life. Roger says the day went fine: he has got no busted-off fingertips and no metal objects in his eyes, but he smells like ten-year-old gas because of the Corvette that is on the trailer behind him.

He is ready to perform a power conversion on the C2 Corvette, and he already has the kit to do it. But before that, he takes the Chevy to a car wash for a little refresh.

Once he arrived at his shop, Roger also found the emblems that he thought were missing. The previous owner had put them in a box in the back seat. The car has 115,000 miles (185,075 kilometers) on the clock, and they might just be real because nothing is worn out on board the Chevy.

Roger is going to close the hole for the antenna in the trunk lid. He is going for Spotify instead of some radio signal. But not just yet. He is still savoring the moment. The car that he had been obsessed with for the past three months is finally his.