Starship Coconut is our 1995 Corvette convertible. Actually, it’s the Navigator’s Corvette because she mugged my brother Eddy to get it.
In March 2018, the Navigator and I were returning home after dumping some debris. As we turned onto our street, the Navigator saw a beautiful white Corvette parked in the driveway.
“Whose car is that?”, she asked.
“It’s Eddy’s new Corvette.”
“Is he sellin’ it?”
“I don’t think so. He just bought it a few weeks ago.”
I parked the truck and was turning off the radio when the Navigator jumped out, ran through the open garage, and into the house. She found Eddy and his wife, Estela, sitting in the living room talking with the kids. The exchange went something like this.
She asked Eddy, “Are you sellin’ it?”
Eddy was startled and replied, “I wasn’t thinking of it. Why?”
“How much do you want for it?”
Eddy explained how he purchased it at a low price and fixed a few things on it but could let it go for however much money he had spent on it.
The Navigator turned to me and said, “Give him the money.”
We went outside to look at it and to take it for a drive. Eddy pointed at a crack on the hood and explained how the previous owner had parked it under a coconut tree and a coconut fell on it. Eddy had already gotten estimates and found an auto body shop that would repair the hood. It was scheduled to be repaired later in the week. It had 33,000 original miles on the odometer which was very low for a 22-year-old car.
I had never seen the Navigator so excited about a car. After we bought it, she would go into the garage in the evenings to wipe off any dust that had settled on it. She often commented how beautiful it was and we took many drives in it. She especially liked the rides to Coconut Grove, Cape Florida, and the Redlands. It was during one of those rides we discovered the hesitation problem.
A review of the car’s receipts found the previous owner had replaced the fuel injectors, fuel regulator, fuel filter, spark plugs and ignition wires. This was indicative of some kind of ongoing fuel problem. I consulted a very good mechanic who found the fuel tank sending unit strainer had disintegrated and the pump was sucking up the fragments. It runs perfectly now.
Starship Coconut is our little getaway vehicle. We drove Starship Coconut to the National Corvette Museum and the GM Assembly Plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky, where it was built. We also took it on impromptu trips throughout Florida. Once we drove it to Gainesville to visit Nicolas while he was working on his MBA. During that visit, Nicolas failed to provide us the appropriate parking credentials and the Starship got towed.
On that trip we discovered the Navigator’s unique talent for navigation. She insisted Orlando was located north of Gainesville and indignantly showed me her inverted map on her phone as evidence. We explored the Salvador Dali Museum in Tampa, enjoyed a canoe ride in Kelly Springs, and spent the night in a quaint old hotel by a lake in Mount Dora. These are moments we will always cherish and Starship Coconut just made them more special.
We care for our elderly mothers so it is impossible to be away from home for very long. Our children, Nicolas, Daniel, and Valerie graciously looked after the abuelas during our brief adventures. They coordinated amongst themselves to work from home on those days to look after the abuelas.
We attended the Corvettes at Carlisle event in Carlisle, Pennsylvania a couple of weeks ago. It was billed as the world’s largest Corvette show. It was made extra special because Eddy and Estela drove their beautiful 2003 black Corvette convertible to the show. We met at a hotel in Fayetteville, North Carolina, had dinner, then drove to Carlisle the following day.
The show was amazing. There were over 5,000 Corvettes which set a record for Carlisle. We parked our Corvettes at the “Fun Field” and spent the next three days wandering around the sprawling fairgrounds. There were vendors for every Corvette need. There was a place that sold huge Piña Colada smoothies laced with whatever high octane alcoholic enhancer you desired. I chose coconut rum. The Navigator even found a place to get a massage.
The Navigator looked at a lot of C4 Corvettes similar to Starship Coconut. She was surprised at how much people were asking for them. She realized Eddy had given us a very good deal and showed her appreciation with a hug.
Our hotel was located in Mechanicsburg, a town approximately 11 miles from the fairgrounds. The mornings were cool so we drove topless to the event. Rush hour was laughably small. There was very little traffic and it was fun to see other Corvettes heading to the show. In the Corvette community, it is customary to wave to other Corvette drivers and many waves were exchanged.
It was a great show and the following is just a small sample of what we saw.
After Carlisle, the Navigator and I drove to North Carolina to do the “Tail of the Dragon”, an 11-mile stretch of US 129 with 318 curves. The Navigator dreaded the thought of doing the Dragon. She sternly admonished me for days to drive carefully and not try to set a new speed record. She threatened to get out of the car if I drove recklessly. I told her how great Corvettes handled and how they could easily whip around curves at more than triple the posted speed limit. The Navigator was not amused.
We had lunch at the Deal’s Gap Motorcycle Resort located at the beginning of the Tail of the Dragon. The Navigator ate a couple of anxiety pills along with her hot dog and then pulled out her vape device. The device was supposed to vaporize her legally acquired medical marijuana oil, however, it malfunctioned. Too bad so sad.
A couple of guys were standing next to Starship Coconut and noticed the Navigator’s apprehension. I told them she was worried about flying off the side of the mountain and they went with the flow. One described a recent accident and how the road did not have a shoulder for emergencies. The other told her to look down to see the wreckage of vehicles who pushed the envelope too far. Rather than describe our experience on the Tail of the Dragon you can see it for yourself.
This trip checked off a couple of items on our bucket list. We took our time getting home and stayed overnight in McDonough, Georgia. The rest of the trip was excellent except I became a bit tired north of Orlando so the Navigator took the helm. I thought I could get a couple of hours sleep but the Navigator does not believe in cruise control. She has a bit of a heavy foot and it was hard to sleep when the engine roared then slowed down then roared again, etc.
Anyway, we took a circuitous route to avoid the South Florida rush hour traffic but inadvertently drove through a brush fire near Lake Okeechobee. Have you ever smelled fried coconut? We eventually hit US 27 and drove the rest of the way home as the sun set. It was a beautiful vacation and one we will never forget.
FANTASTIC! Now I would like a corvette please!