Classic Wheels Spotlight: 1959 Corvette

This is a story about being in the right place at the right time, and a tale about how a car somehow became an irreplaceable part of one family’s history.

The starting point for Dennis Jeray’s journey to find his prized 1959 Corvette begins when he visits a friend’s office and notices a model of an old Corvette. He remembers commenting that he “liked old Corvettes, too!”

The next time he returned to that office, his friend said he knew of a 1959 Corvette that was going up for auction because the owner was filing for bankruptcy. Dennis eagerly took down the information and contacted the person in charge of the auction. Based on the price, Dennis felt he would be able to afford the possible high price that the auction might bring.

According to Dennis, when he mentioned this to his ‘Vette friend, he suggested he call the auction back and ask if there was any way he could buy the car outright. Dennis, 68, made an offer – and the 1959 Corvette was his. He got the ‘Vette to his home and it became a member of the family. That was 37 years ago.

Dennis says once he had the car at home there was a lot of work to do to get it into shape. Most of the repairs were to the interior and some minor mechanical tweaks. The interior was diamond tucked and rolled, including the dashboard and under the hood.

All of the ‘Vette’s old interior was removed and reupholstered. The seat frames were kept and reworked with new padding and original-style seat covers. The dashboard had to be repaired because of the way the original material had been glued on.

Dennis and his wife, Linda, enjoyed taking the car to car shows and on-road rallies. In 1994, on the way home from a fateful trip to a Bloomington, Illinois, car show, the engine gave out. When Dennis got the car back to his garage, he and a buddy pulled the engine out to be rebuilt. Turns out it wasn’t the original engine, but a 1967 small block 327.

Focusing on performance, Dennis added a competition cam with roller rockers, along with 11.1 to 1 compression pistons. A new Edelbrock 650 cfm carburetor replaced the Holley that came with the car, coated headers, and a 3-inch exhaust were added. The car got the name “Thumper” for the lope from the cam, and the rumble of the exhaust.

Over the years, the exhaust was replaced with 2.5-inch pipes that run all the way to the rear, just like when it came from the factory. Behind that 327 sits the original Saginaw 4-speed transmission. Dennis says he believes that the posi unit is a 3:70 to 1 gear ratio. The steel wheels are the originals that came with the car in 1959.

The body has been soda-blasted and painted black. When Dennis got the ‘Vette it was a midnight blue. Originally, the car came with a removable hard top, but it was replaced with a functioning soft convertible top. Several body shops have had their hands in the restoration of this car. The shop where the car finally wound up, exceeded Dennis’ expectations.

One fateful day, Dennis decided it was time to sell the ‘Vette. He had a guy who had driven a few hours to see it and even test-drove it in the rain before letting Dennis he would like to buy it.

That night at dinner, Dennis told his wife that he was selling the car, and the buyer was coming the next day with a trailer. His 7-year-old daughter, Katie, started crying and begged him not to sell the car. She told him that she loved the car and she knew that he loved the car, too. Katie cried until he told her that he would not sell it. He contacted the buyer and told him that he just couldn’t sell it to him.

Today, Dennis says that even if someone offered him $200,000, he wouldn’t sell it. He says there are too many memories associated with it now; both of his daughters, Julia and Katie, used it for their weddings, in addition to all of the car shows over the years that were family events.

Author’s Note: Katie contacted me to see if I would be interested in doing a story on her dad’s 1959 Corvette, it was his “pride and joy.” It turns out that this outstanding car is the “pride and joy,” of the entire family.