It's not too tough being something of a one-of-a-kind stand-out in a crowd when you're the caretaker of a true classic. I've been fortunate enough to be that caretaker of my Roman Red 1959 Corvette for over three years. Although she was not my first choice when I started looking for a '59 four years ago, as fate would have it, we were definitely meant to be together.

I had wanted a '59 Vette since I was a young teenager, having fallen in love with the voluptuous body style, the quad headlights, the slit taillights, and the fact that such a car and I were born the same year. When I got serious and started looking for my "dream car" in 1997, I originally wanted a Crown Sapphire (turquoise) '59, of which only 888 were made; I had seen such a car many years before, and thought that color on that car was just beautiful.

Living in West Palm Beach at the time, I contacted several Corvette specialty dealers in the Palm Beach and Broward County area and asked them what they had that matched my "dream car." The resounding "nothing" was truly disappointing. One of the dealers with whom I was speaking, The Corvette Collection in Pompano Beach, said that they knew of such a car that was going to be "available" at an upcoming auction at the Carlisle show, however, due to its having recently undergone a full, body-off restoration, it was probably going to be fairly expensive. Needless to say, they were right, and that $80,000 car went to someone else.

About a month after the auction, however, I received a telephone call from The Corvette Collection. They said that they had just taken delivery of a red '59 that I might want to come down and take a look at. I told them that I really wasn't too interested in a red car (I thought it would too common), and asked how much it might cost to redo that car's interior and exterior in turquoise. They ballparked a figure over the phone (that, ultimately, proved to be way too low), and said that, due to some "unusual features," I should probably take a look at this car first, before considering making any changes to it. A week later I drove the 45 minutes to Pompano Beach to look at this '59.

Oh, boy.

Although not in the condition she is in today, she was still a looker. Roman Red body with a red interior (1,542 made), white coves (805 made), four-speed manual transmission (4,175 made), factory power windows (587 made), and, unbeknownst to The Corvette Collection, she still had her original (August 1958) 290-HP, fuel-injected (FI) engine (745 made), although the FI unit had been removed and a single four-barrel carburetor and matching intake manifold had been installed. However, the "unusual feature" that really pushed me over the edge was that she was car number 00003, and reported to be "the oldest 1959 Corvette in existence." I was instantly infected with the "I gotta have this car" virus.

After several weeks of negotiations (and a number of trips back to the dealership), during which I (some might say foolishly) asked to trade the hard top (which I did not fit under) that was with the car for a new convertible top (which it did not have), we finally came to an agreement and I purchased the car. Unbeknownst to me, however, while she was mechanically sound enough (barely) to test drive for a few blocks, she was not sound enough to drive the 30+ miles back to my home. The Corvette Collection flat-bed trailered the car to my home, stating that such a service was only befitting such a classic. What they did not say was that the car would probably have caught fire on I-95 had I attempted to drive it home!

I took delivery of the car on July 22, 1998. That became the first day of my personal Corvette odyssey, which has continued to this day, and shows little sign of ending anytime soon. While driving the car around my neighborhood that first afternoon, I immediately became aware of a number of "challenges" that needed to be overcome right away, not the least of which were a very rough-running engine, a serious overheating problem, and an overwhelming smell of raw gasoline permeating the cabin. Cosmetic and originality/restoration issues had to take a backseat, so to speak, for the first year, just so that the car could be made drivable and safe.

All four bias-ply tires suffered from dry-rot and had to be replaced (I went the comfort over originality route, and purchased Coker "gangster whitewall" steel-belted radials). The jury-rigged and leaking carburetor (that was also missing a number of parts) was tossed, and was replaced with a rebuilt unit. The "racing" heads and intake manifold that a previous owner had installed were also removed and replaced with more correct components for a non-fuel-injected engine. The non-functioning brake/tail lights, turn signals (front and rear), speedometer, odometer and tachometer were also rewired, recabled and reworked, respectively.

In preparation for the 1999 Labor Day Caravan to the National Corvette Museum (NCM), I pushed the financial envelope to its limits to have the windshield weather stripping replaced, new carpet, exterior door handles and shock absorbers installed, and ordered a new, custom-made, heavy-duty aluminum radiator that was supposed to arrive weeks before the Caravan, but didn't. When the new radiator failed to show up before the August 31, 1999 start date of the road trip, and because the original radiator was cracked, leaked and would regularly peg out at 210º within ten miles of my home, I was forced to drive the car the 1,800 miles to and from the NCM with a "loaner" radiator from another C1 (the new radiator arrived two days after returning from Bowling Green).

In addition to being a thrilling experience that I will always treasure and look forward to doing again many more times, the trip to and from the NCM was exciting for another reason as well: due to the engine's tendency to overheat (even with the non-leaking, but still original [undersized] loaner radiator), the fuel line (which sat dangerously close to the passenger side exhaust manifold) also tended to get VERY hot. This resulted in the fuel vaporizing inside the line at times, which tended to make the car stall at stop signs and traffic lights after having been driven more than a few miles. For those that may remember seeing me and my baby during the Caravan, I learned (the hard way) to not turn her off during drivers' meetings or at gas stations, and to be sure that, if I did have to turn her off, there would be sufficient time for her to cool down before I tried to restart her. Fortunately, a very kind member of the C5 Fighter Squadron showed me a trick at the Road Atlanta Speedway, which was to keep the accelerator pedal planted to the floor when starting until she turned over. Although it sounded terrible, and could take several seconds, it never failed to get her started again.

Upon returning home from the Caravan, which was an absolute blast (!) and where she won her very first award in my care (a Celebrity Choice Award), she had her shiny new radiator installed. However, she still wasn't quite finished testing me to see if we were truly meant for each other. We had just returned from Pompano Beach, where the mechanic I was using there had installed the new radiator. The car had run a wonderfully cool 140º all the way home. I parked her in the driveway, turned her off, put up the windows (the power windows work even without the key in the ignition) and top, locked her, and went inside. About ten minutes later, one of our neighbors started banging on our front door yelling, "your car's on fire, your car's ON FIRE!" I ran outside, keys in hand, to find that she had, somehow, started herself up, was running full bore, and thick gray smoke was pouring out of the engine bay and had completely engulfed the cabin (think Stephen King's "Christine"). I had to unlock the driver's door, jump into the acrid, smoke-filled cabin, stick the key in the ignition and try to turn off the engine. Well, of course, that didn't work! So I popped the hood, whereupon the flames--which had probably been only smoldering until then--really came to life! I grabbed the nearest battery cable I could see through the smoke and just yanked it; of course it didn't want to let go. So I just started yanking whatever wires I could see that were not already burning. Eventually, the engine stopped running and I smothered the remaining flames with a towel that my neighbor had grabbed.

After I opened the doors, lowered the top, and the smoke had cleared, I could only just stare at the mess that used to be the engine bay. Virtually every wire on the passenger side of the bay was a crispy critter, the rubber hoses in that same area were bubbly goo, and what was left of the generator looked like a half-baked charcoal briquette. Needless to say, the car had to be trailered back to the mechanic, where the problem was traced back to a faulty generator that had arced to the battery, restarting the engine, grinding the starter to death (literally), and starting our little Corvette barbecue. Fortunately, the damage was all repairable (all damage is ... for a price), and a month later she was back to running again.

By this time, my wife, Kelly, and I, after 15 years in West Palm Beach, had already moved to Longwood. Shortly after finally driving the car up here to our new home, I met a new neighbor, Wes Rose, who happens to own a very nice 1978 Pace Car and is a CFCA club member. In addition to inviting me to my first CFCA club meeting near the end of 1999, it was Wes who introduced me to my baby's current restoration expert and someone I have come to like and trust a great deal, Dewey Hendricks of Dewey's Just Vettes in Longwood.

Dewey has been instrumental in continuing the ongoing, incremental, laborious, time-consuming and somewhat expensive job of restoring my '59 to as original a condition as I can afford. Dewey has seen to the replacement of all the dash gauges, the re-silk-screening and recalibration of the tachometer and rebuilding of the clock, the replacement of the cracked fuel-filler hose and fuel tank sending unit (which eliminated the raw gasoline smell), and numerous other updates and installations. His latest and biggest task to date, and a personal "wish list" item that has taken me three years to finally see fulfilled, is the installation of a numbers-correct Rochester 7014900R fuel injection unit, air filter, fuel filter, intake manifold and all of the sundry parts and accessories that complete this major assembly. The FI unit was purchased in June from Jack Podell in South Bend, Indiana, and is now sitting atop the engine in Dewey's shop. We are currently searching for a correct heater/defroster unit to complete this particular installation, after which I will be able to proudly open her hood and show off her true and restored fuel-injected power plant.

In the almost two years that I have lived in Longwood and been a member of the CFCA, I have had the extreme pleasure of driving my '59 (my car will never be trailered) to and participating in several CFCA events and shows around Florida. With the exception of the 1999 Caravan, I had not been involved in any Corvette clubs or activities prior to joining the CFCA, (primarily because the car was not ready or truly safe enough to do so). Participating in these wonderful activities and events has allowed me to more fully enjoy my car, to share it with others, and to enjoy the time, energy and devotion that other Corvette enthusiasts have put into their cars. In addition to driving her to Bowling Green in September 1999, she has also been driven in the opposite direction to the Florida Keys for the 2000 Corvettes in Paradise Show.

We are eagerly anticipating the arrival of fall and milder temperatures (I purchased the car with after-market Vintage Air Conditioning, however, this had to be removed in order to install the fuel injection unit and all of its associated plumbing), and the chance to partake again in many of the annual events listed above.

We are especially excited about a return trip to the Keys in November, and that four-day get together with other CFCA members (here's hoping that Pat and Jon Gardner [and others] will join me again for dinner at Kelly McGillis's Caribbean Bar, Grill & Brewery in Key West).

In the meantime, remember to "save the wave," and enjoy those Vettes!

Sincerely,

Mark
- Mark R. Gustetter, AIA