Corvette Club travels to Muscle Car City

Corvette Club traveled this past Saturday to Punta Gorda, Florida, to visit Rick Treworgy's Muscle Car City. Treworgy made his money in the construction business, and his passion for Chevrolet sports and muscle cars is exhibited in this over 150 car collection in a former Wal-Mart alongside US 41. I met Rick, and he shared his comments on the collection, including "I have every year's Corvette except the 1953, and I had one but could never get it restored right after an earlier owner had an accident with it". I reminded him that he also was missing the 1983, and we shared a laugh at that inside joke.

The Club started off at eleven AM, after meeting at the Burger King - we had 40 individuals for this trip, out of our club membership of more than 100. A lot of our "snow birds" had already departed, so a darn fine turnout and we convoyed south the seventy miles on I-75 to the museum, then ended the day at a local seafood restaurant. Our club loves to eat, almost as much as we love our Corvettes. On the trip down, everybody behaved and it took just a bit over an hour to reach the destination. On the way back, I'm not telling how quickly my return was, but suffice to say that car (which had been driven across Alligator Alley from a dealership in Miami) had probably gone faster in it's first 250 miles than I took it when the odometer was rolling over 500 miles. My buddy was impressed by the speedometer that indicated up to 200 MPH - I doubt my Grand Sport would ever see that number on pavement. I can tell you, at 100 you just don't feel like you're going any faster than 50.

The collection was impressive, with so many neat cars from the sixties and seventies. In addition to Corvettes, there were GTO's, Firebirds, Chevelles, Camaros, and many examples of each that showcased various engine sizes and varieties. A whole row of 57 Chevy's also were displayed, an icon of many of our misspent youths. I remember my first car, inherited from my mother - a 57 Chrysler with push-button automatic and tail fins that could impale. For a graduate of the class of 65 in high school, however, this place was nirvana. Oh, for those who don't recognize it, that's the classic 1963 split rear window Vette. Only year it was made - people didn't like it then, but today a valuable collectable.