Triumphs and tales motor on through the decades

I happened upon these two interesting Corvettes and talked with the owners at the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals last weekend in Rosemont.

Kent Hussey graduated high school in 1963 and two of his best buds were Tod and Buz. They weren't classmates but rather screenmates, sharing the glow of the TV on their show "Route 66."

"I spent countless afternoons in front of the television watching them drive around in their cool Corvette," Hussey says. That left a big impression on the Atlanta resident, who went on to become a lifelong 'Vette aficionado. In fact, his whole family loves 'em.

"We had a family of six boys," Hussey says. "As we all got out of college, we started owning Corvettes."

At one time, five of the six brothers owned one. They all diligently worked odd jobs, mostly at local service stations, to pay for the cool rides. Kent bought his first Vette, a '63 convertible, in 1969 soon after finishing graduate school. He daily drove it for a year before selling it to a younger brother.

Because of his passion, Hussey is always looking for unique examples and found one in the 1963 Daytona Blue coupe he owns today. It has quite the pedigree and all of its legacy was forged blasting around Midwest racetracks. In fact, the first five owners all signed affidavits of non-road use because of its extreme racing capabilities.

The Corvette was sold new by Kurdys Chevrolet in Richmond, Indiana, on March 6, 1963, to Steven Hull. He then passed it on to Richard Dietz in 1965. Dietz took the car through the Sports Car Club of America driver school at Nelson Ledges in Ohio that spring and several other regional SCCA races around the area.

Dietz also competed in the June Sprints at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, in '66 and '67. In 1970, he sold the car to James Testa, who a year later sold it to Atley Peterson. Peterson was a student at the General Motors Institute in Flint, Michigan. By then the vehicle had received modifications, including fender flares, a roll bar and other safety equipment.

Peterson promptly painted the car yellow and, feeling inspired by his predecessors, took it racing, wrecking it at an SCCA event in Britton, Michigan. He passed it on in 1974 to Danny O'Brien, who had big dreams of fully overhauling it. That vision faded and soon thereafter, the vehicle was rolled into a southern Illinois barn, where it sat until 2012.

The Corvette's condition remained exactly as it was the day it was crashed and removed from the racetrack in Michigan. A new owner purchased it and commissioned a frame-off restoration. The stunning final product had no trouble racking up an impressive list of awards before being purchased by Hussey earlier this year.

"I've always been fascinated by cars that were raced and have a unique history associated with them," says Hussey, who has a competition race license and has raced for about 25 years.

Tod and Buz did a lot of good in their travels. Just like how they helped Hussey find a lifelong love that still stirs his passion today.

What the doctor ordered

Andre Baritelle has his grandmother to thank for his 1966 Chevy Corvette. It wasn't hers but she sure brought it about.

Her husband, Dr. A. Lamonte Baritell, was a car enthusiast and during the 1960s piloted a Mercedes-Benz 300SL, complete with gullwing doors.

"Grandma finally had enough and made him get rid of it," Andre recalls. "She found it unladylike to get in with a dress on."

That worked out great for LaMonte; he was itching to own a race car. His desire wasn't to tear up official courses but rather blast along the coastal highways and byways outside the family home near San Francisco.

The physician, recently retired from Kaiser Permanente, was ready to slow down - at least from a career standpoint. LaMonte was friends with the owner of a Chevrolet dealership in nearby Oakland who tipped him off about a handful of track-prepped but still street legal 1966 Corvettes that were available.

LaMonte ordered a silver coupe and used it commuting from his home in Walnut Creek, California, to his ranch in Red Bluff. "He loved the speed and immense power of it," Andre says.

Andre's earliest childhood memory of being in the car was when he was 7. "We pulled onto the 680 freeway and he hit the gas hard," Andre says of his grandfather. Sure enough, a speeding Corvette bullet didn't go unnoticed. Before long highway patrol had pulled them over.

Though retired, a sly LaMonte whipped out his medical card and waved it at the cop, claiming to be en route to a medical emergency. The skeptical cop took off his sunglasses, peering more intently at the passenger seat and the young boy giggling. With an appropriate air of disbelief, he questioned: "Let me get this straight: you're going to a medical emergency?" Grandpa waved him off and retorted, "We have nurses and aides who baby-sit!"

With that, LaMonte put the car in gear and drove off.

These kinds of shenanigans and motoring joys didn't last long. Dr. Baritell passed away a few years later. The classic was passed to Andre's father as part of his inheritance.

Together, in 1983, the father-son team completed the vehicle's first restoration. After showing it just one time, it was put into storage in the Napa Valley where it sat for the next 30 years.

Andre's father offered it to him and, without hesitation, the Sequim, Washington, man agreed to take over the precious family heirloom. In 2012, the vehicle was gone over again.

Grandma was the one who led the family to the car and it was the car that guided Andre to his profession: engineering.

"It stemmed from being around Grandpa, his Corvette and getting to experience it firsthand," he says.

• Share your car's story with Matt at auto@dailyherald.com.