Youthful Corvette fantasy becomes longtime reality

John Conway wasn't going to let something like being out of money stop him from getting his dream car.

Here he was at 19, with the whole world ahead of him, and Conway had already decided he wanted a Chevrolet Corvette to tool around in.

"They were sleek, fast and represented the true American sports car," the Bartlett resident said.

The dream was mighty big but his dollars were mighty low because Conway had already purchased a new 1976 Chevy Camaro. His younger self was certainly passionate, but perhaps not the most prudent.

Still, he pressed on toward his goal, coaxing his brother, Bob, to loan him $900 to help fund the Vette fantasy. After searching the area, he discovered a 1961 Corvette in Arlington Heights, scoring it for $1,800.

"It was a drivable project car," Conway said. "It had seven coats of varying white, red and yellow paint on it."

But at the end of the day, Conway had his four-wheeled unicorn. Life was great and he promptly lived it up that summer. And then he promptly parked the Chevy as fast as he could.

"Everything was so bad and shoddily put together," he said. "It wasn't at all what I thought it would be like."

The previous owner had raced the Vette and the powertrain was tired and very abused. That owner had also modified the car with some garish touches. "There were wraparound taillights, Frenched headlights and the whole thing looked like a car from the 'Hot Rods From Hell' movie," Conway said.

He set off on a four-year redo, working in his mom's garage in Hoffman Estates. The fiberglass body was stripped down and repainted in proper white paired nicely with its red interior. Conway took the time to remove and paint the engine. As soon as he had back in the vehicle, he went for a test drive.

"I pulled onto Route 72 and heard a massive crunch," he recalls. The harmonic balancer (a heavy spinning pulley on the front of the engine) had come loose, bounced off the road and shooting into a nearby field.

The next stop was to an engine rebuilder who properly went through the power plant. "I told the builder to have it be faster than a '76 Trans Am - the fastest car I had seen on the streets," Conway said.

The Corvette was completed in 1980 and Conway has kept the prized possession ever since.

"The overhaul taught me a lot of things. The biggest was to never be afraid to take something apart," Conway said.

In the decades that followed, he's enjoyed carrying his kids to sporting practices and even teaching his daughter how to drive in it.

"The car is still so fun to drive," Conway said. "It's full of things like a mushy suspension, soft brakes and heavy manual steering, but that's the charm. It's not cut and polished."

True to his roots, Conway still enjoys being able to do things on the cheap with the Corvette.

"Despite its vintage, it's still a Chevy," Conway said. "I can buy parts for it at any part store."

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