National Corvette Day, June 30, 2019

On June 30, 1953, the first Corvette came off the rather cobbled-together assembly line in Flint, Michigan.  In 2008, the US House of Representatives passed a resolution that June 30 be declared "National Corvette Day." I had no idea but will always celebrate accordingly. 

The Politico blog was unimpresssed with the resolution:

My only other problem with this resolution — except for the fact that it is a stupid waste of time — is that it really doesn't even mention the most important stuff about the Corvette. Any resolution on the 'Vette that doesn't include the phrases "Whereas it will help you get chicks" and "Whereas it looks really cool" just fails to do justice to this legend on wheels (thanks to an unnamed colleague for that point).

In celebration of National Corvette Day (an Official American Holiday!) I took out the C6 for a short drive to Cumberland, figuring that going more rural would save the car from the horrific roads I banged over in central Ottawa yesterday. There is a bakery, the Black Walnut, in Cumberland where my order of two date squares and a coffee became three date squares and a coffee as it was nearing the end of business.

There was a couple there with a shiny C7 but for the first time I met a not-very-friendly fellow Corvette owner, although the lady seemed nice enough. I am still puzzled by people who spend all that $$$ for a Corvette and then don't drive it. No matter--I had a nice drive and then stopped by the Cumberland Heritage Village Museum for a photo op. Three date squares are now sitting in the kitchen meaning I probably will have to go running again.

2nd Annual Cruise For Parkinson's--Ottawa, June 29, 2019

With the lousy weather and other activities, our first car event for 2019 was the 2nd Cruise for Parkinson's. It was held in the parking lot of Overflow Brewing and although I arrived pretty late I still got a dash plaque, so only around 40 cars were in attendance from 9:00 until about 2:30. It was pretty hot so it was nice to pop into the brewery and have a cool one (or two).  This helped to make up for the savage beating the poor Corvette took on Ottawa's now unbelievably bad potholed streets.

I spoke with one of organizers, a nice lady whose husband succumbed to Parkinson's Disease last year. I was happy to make a donation but the turnout must have been a disappointment in spite of the good weather. It is a long weekend so that could have been part of it but I personally think the idea of "cars & coffee" or "cruise-in" events where you come and go is preferable to car shows where you are there for the major part of the day.

There were two other Corvettes present (a C4 and a C7) and I spoke to the owner of the newer car for a while. He bought his C7 in September 2016 and has put 64,000 kms on it--bravo! He was about to depart on his "trip of a lifetime," heading down Route 66 to Arizona, but stopping at the National Corvette Museum in Kentucky as well.

I also spoke with the owner of a pristine black Miata, as well as Chris, who brought his recently customized '55 Chevy, and who does great paintwork (as my Corvette can attest!).

There were some peculiar cars that drew attention.  There was a 1970 Vanagon, a VW Beetle conversion to become a minivan which looked quite nice.  But the weirdest was a first generation Mazda RX-7, which was produced from 1978 to 1985, but this example had its Wankel rotary removed and replaced with a Small Block Chevy 350 V8, a truly time-consuming project but apparently one that is done fairly often.  Later versions of the RX-7 have even received LS-series motors (like the one in our Corvette).