The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

economist suntribune wheels thursday july 112002 21 ifs hard to believe the corvette is about to turn the big fiveoh but the fact is the car that faced cancella tion just two years after its intro duction because of slow sales is now an aging baby boomer and a cultural icon that is revered like no other mark hamill drove one in corvette summer dirk digler had a sting ray in boogie nights and prince couldnt resist singing about his little red corvette it is passion and romance rolled up in a fourwheeled plas tic body its a v8powered drug that turns otherwise sensible humans into corvetteaholics they collect corvette models they belong to corvette clubs they enter their cars in corvette shows wear corvette clothes including underwear and take corvette vacations doug macdonald a 64- yearold car dealer turned the entire basement of his new home into a 3600squarefoot showroom for his convoy of 1 6 vettesof all stripes i think the car is so unique ford keeps coming back with the thunderbird and chrysler has the viper but nothing seems to have the pizzazz and excitement of a corvette macdonald thinks the vette phenome non is partly based on its split personality with a corvette he says you can drive it downtown its like a pussycat until you hit that accelerator and it comes alive i think thats the attraction nostalgia also has something to do with it at least in presentday terms collectors are in their 50s and 60s and grew up watching tod styles and buzz murdock in the classic television series route 66 carefree and foot loose seeing the country in their chevrolet its amazing the number of people wholl call me and say you know a neigh bor of mine had a corvette 35 years ago and i always said when the kids are educated and ive got a little money for a toy i want a corvette and i want you to find me one ill bet that happens to me 1 5 times a year how this cult the corvette nation came about considering the cars rocky beginnings can be attributed to one thing boys and their toys when us service men stationed in europe returned home following the end of the second world war they brought with them small two seater sports cars most were mgs and jaguars which were basic and fun to drive whats more there was nothing like them on this side of the pond harley earl the chief designer at general motors noticed the trend in the late 40s and wanted to get in on the action so he set out to sell the bean counters on the idea that the time was right for america gm actually to have its own sports car in addition to being a capable designer earl was also a smooth salesman he convinced gm brass to let him build a prototype to show at the 1953 motorama which was gms traveling car show at the time in new york city the head honchos indulged earl with one exception under the slick body he had to use stan dard running gear already lounging in gm parts bins that nearly doomed the project from the start certainly earl cobbled together a great piece of eye candy that became an instant hit with the general public however the production window did nt allow enough time to make steel body panels so the fibreglass showcar molds were used fit finish and durability of the 300 handbuilt 1953 cars all pearl white with red interiors was suspect and all were powered by a lacklustre 1 50horsepower 235cubicinch sixcylinder engine mated to a twospeed powerglide automatic a com bination despised by sportscar enthusiasts sales went nowhere fast and gm con sidered cancelling the whole project however it just so happened that ford which had hit a home run with its new two- seater thunderbird would help shqw chevrolet that earls dream could in fact become reality it just took a guy like zora arkusduntov to ensure the corvette would never look back the legendary european racecar driver and motorhead was already working at chevrolet when the corvette arrived lobbying to turn the car into a true perform ance piece he would eventually become corvettes chief engineer using earls styling a 1 95horsepower v8 and a threespeed manual transmission the corvette became a hot little number for 1 955 it was a pivotal move that would put chevrolet at the top of the north american performance pole for the next five decades even at 50 the corvette and the per formance promise it makes shows no signs of aging collector enthusiast and vetteaholic doug macdonald and millions of others see to that the corvette seems to have magic otto stein specializes in classic cars as a writer with wheelbase communications a worldwide supplier of automobile news reviews and features whats important to you is i courtesy wash with every service same day appointments service shuttle offering free customer drop off pick up factory trained staff rental vehicles available summer vacation inspection special oil change special with 41 reported written inspection includes 10w30 oil genuine hyundai oil filter 41 point reported inspection lubrica tion environmental disposal all sales taxes are extra s brake inspection a complete visual inspection of front rear and parking brake systems for operation and performance and road tested all sales taxes extra air conditioning inspection a complete inspection of all ac components including compressor freon level lines evap receiver con- denser and temperature coldness all sales taxes extra 95 cooling system inspection complete inspection of coolant system includes belts thermostat hoses rad condition rad pressure cap coolant level coolant strength and over all leaks and condition all sales taxes extra 24 95 1s off all genuine hyundai accessories personalize your vehicle with the great selection if genuine hyundai acces sories that were made with your car in mind markham tltu 111 u 41 4641 hwy 7 markham a kennedy 9059488010 mom i i highway n pr3 n w4e s 6 iu 407