The DM model that cost me THOUSANDS!!!

In the Danbury Mint's hey day, I could expect a new or pre-production models for review almost weekly. In most cases, they asked me to "embargo" the photos and reviews until the production piece was ready for launch. We put a feature in place on the D4C that allowed me to upload the photos and written review, but to set a date for its actual live release. 

Such was the case of the 1969 one-of-two Corvette ZL-1's in Daytona Yellow. As a Corvette owner and follower, I knew this famous piece well. I was duly blown away when I unboxed the replica and I knew where the 1:1 was, and had been, for years.

I placed a call to speak with the owner of Roger's Corvette Center, Inc., Roger Judski. I interviewed him about the car and the 1/24th model. He loved DM's work on it and sent me, at my request, a ton of photos of the real car.

In one, very small, photo, I saw a car in front of it that reminded me of my very first new Corvette. It was a 1972 Stingray Convertible in Ontario Orange Firemist. The car at Roger's Corvette Center was a 1994 Copper Metallic Corvette. 

I called Roger back, a couple days later, and asked about it. It was a rare, one of 92 coupes made in that color. Even rarer with beige interior. I had to have it. We negotiated and he shipped the car from Florida to Tennessee. The only place the gigantic car carrier could deliver it, in this hilly Foothills of the Smokies town, was the Sears parking lot at The Foothills Mall on a Saturday night.

Oh no! That's the time they hold a weekly car show! Oh well, the van arrived, the driver pulled the Vette out of the top level of the truck and, as I feared, it caught the eye of every attending person there! Such memories only go around as rarely as the car itself.

The model:

The picture Roger sent with 'my' car in front of the real ZL-1: