Jim Schindler's Corvette Web Site
2009 Corvette Z06 - Bought new August 2008....
My father also liked cars and had strong mechanical skills, however, because he had six kids we always had a station wagon growing up. It could have been worse - mini vans had not been invented yet.
Then came my neighbor in Atlanta. This was in the early 1960's. They had a kid close to my age. His father was a car guy. Big into NASCAR, and he worked in the automotive industry. I remember when we built a "coaster cart". We had lots of hills in our neighborhood, and we were too young to be trusted with actual horsepower. For reasons that only a kid can understand, we named it "pissonya 1". You can see by the name, we had plans for more.
Then came my Grandmother on my mother's side. She bumped my "car guy" status into high gear. How did my grandmother do this? Glad you asked. My grandparents had a farm in Ohio while I was growing up. Every year we spent a week there on vacation. In 1965, my parents decided to "leave" me there for an extra week (we lived in Atlanta at that time). During that week, my grandmother took me into the local small town to run errands. We went into a drug store and she asked me if I wanted to buy a magazine. I bought the August 1965 Motor Trend. I still have that magazine, along with about 2000 other car, motorcycle and boat magazines. I have every one that I ever bought, except one. Interestingly enough, the one I don't have is Car and Driver, October 1968. Why do I remember so well? Because it had a comparison test between a 435 HP Corvette and a 427 Shelby Cobra. I was a huge Cobra fan.
