Long Island Vettes - Membership Profile

	Member Profile – Joe Russotto Hi. My name is Joe and I have been a CAR CRAZY, VETTE CRAZY GUY for many, many years. There, okay, I said it. Are you happy? Now, I will share with you one of the many corvette stories and memories that I have. I have been a corvette lover since I was an eleven-year-old boy and now, as a 54-year-old man, the love affair continues. I will never forget when the new Chevrolet commercial aired and showed a rear view of the all-new 1963 Corvette Split Window Coupe. It was truly love at first sight and I was riveted to the screen as the camera panned around to the front of this beauty and the headlights opened up. It was at that moment that I knew one day it will be mine.
I was hooked and reeled in for a lifetime of fun in this love-hate relationship. Even though I have owned many corvettes through the years, I had always longed for a 1963-67 Coupe, with factory installed A/C. It was March 31, 1992, shortly after my 42^nd birthday, and I was on the lookout for the car of my dreams. On night, my friend Mike Alioto, from Alioto & Sons Transport, called and said he had found it, a 1967 Corvette Coupe with A/C sitting in a body shop in Garden City, NY and asked if I was interested in taking a look at it. He went to say that while he didn’t know much about this Vette, he did know that, along with some other parts, the factory A/C was missing and the car was kind of a “BASKET CASE”. Despite this, I felt like a kid who had just found the cookie jar, I had the feeling that this was it this was the car unlike others I have seen. I called the body shop the next morning and made an appointment to check out the car as soon as possible.	The author and his “Baby Blue” at the recent Corvette Show at the North Bellmore Library where he took home a Platinum Level Award.
“Baby Blue” on the show field at the Vanderbilt in 2004 where it took a Best In Division Award.	While at the body shop I got the good news and, of course, the bad news. The car was a 1967 Corvette original big block with factory A/C at birth. It had been sitting for years in the shop and was a mess covered with body shop dust and debris. As noted before the A/C was missing, along with some other hard to find parts but the chassis had been restored earlier and showed no signs of rust. The body had the fender flairs of a 60’s custom job with a spoiler and the front bumpers had been removed. The interior had the seats, door panels and dash gauges but everything was in dire need of replacing and restoring. The bodywork and paint job, though somewhat new, needed to be stripped and redone.
My work was definitely cut out for me but I was up for it. After all this was the car of my dreams. Mike transported my basket case home to Plainview, NY and thus began the tedious task of labeling all disassembled and unusable parts. After taking a complete inventory and making a list of parts, it was off to the body shop for more than a year of hard work and frustration. Finally my Baby was painted and on its way home. Although the original color was Sunfire Yellow, I wanted something different. The PPG two stage blue, and silver stripe on the new “427” hood looked great The underside of the body was also painted the same PPG blue. It matches the topside perfectly and it cleans up very easily. The front nose and hood emblems were hand painted on by my friend, John Riccio of Max Customs in Hicksville, NY. Now with a 30 over bored 454 and mild Crane cam hooked up to a M21 4 speed this 454 appears to look all stock, just the way I like it. I truly love the way it both looks and sounds.	Another photo from the Vanderbilt show.
First Place at the Gold Coast Show 2004.	The rear drive gear was replaced with a 3:08 ratio, which made the side pipes much quieter on the open road, with a very little improvement on gas mileage. My Baby looks like a million bucks and even though it feels like it cost at least that amount, it was all worth it in the end. When all was said and done, the years that it took to complete my “Baby Blue” were all forgotten the fist time I turned the key, heard the engine roar and went for the maiden voyage. I have been driving and showing my Baby Blue for four years now and have been awarded many First Place, Best Engine and Peoples’ Choice awards. I have also received many compliments at all the local cruise in spots. This Mid-Year is a pleasure to drive at any speed and has made my dream of many years ago come true. Live the Dream. It’s worth waiting for. That’s my Baby Blue. LIV Member Joe Russotto