By Jillian Hanks , Bee Newsroom Assistant

last updated: December 19, 2008 11:31:41 AM

Name: Chuck Evers

The car: 2003 Chevrolet Corvette

The correct way of calling car now is: 1953-2003 Commemorative Edition

What sparked the interest: When I was in the eighth grade in 1953, I was riding my bike to a Saturday show and I rode past a Chevrolet dealer and saw the Corvette on the showroom floor. Oh, boy! So much for the show. I went in and looked at the car -- WOW! Love at first sight. An American car that I could look over the top of. I went home and got my dad and we went back up to see the car. My dad was usually right on most things. He said the Corvette was just a fad and a passing fancy. I am sure glad he was wrong on that.

Road to ownership: I had a late-model Corvette Coupe that I got when I retired. I saw the first prototype of this in 2003 in Monterey at the 50th Corvette birthday bash. I then found out the cost, etc. Two years later, I was going to buy a new ZO-6 Vette. After checking out cost between the two, I decided to spend more money and get a convertible so I could get one of these cars custom built. I bought the Vette convert and three days later it was on a truck going back to Detroit to be a hand-built custom Corvette. The best thing about the car is the old 1953 style with all the new safety features of a new car.

Under the hood: It is a 346-cubic-inch LS-1 engine. I have the Hyper Tech and power chip setup installed. It has the K&N intake with all-stainless-steel Borla exhaust system.

Body of work: The body is completely hand built using only the doors and flapper behind the seats. All new body parts and a really special Wine Berry Candy Apple paint job. It is custom to make the car look like a 1953 Corvette.

A favorite memory: When they delivered the car to our home, people took several photos of it, and anywhere I go, there are many, many photos taken of the car. It has won several best-in-show awards also.

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