Star-Journbal Editor
When Wayne Ollenburger slides the soft cotton cover off of this original American beauty, everybody whistles.
What they see is a red 1980 Chevy Corvette Sport Coupe in factory-fresh condition.
Just how fresh?
The odometer reads 1,876.4.
That's one thousand eight hundred seventy-six and four-tenths total miles on a car that's 26 years old.
"The Corvette Curator" unveiled his "Motor City Masterpiece" in a storage garage somewhere in the city of Hillsboro.
He keeps the location a secret for obvious reasons.
He keeps the car covered to protect it from anything that could alter its obviously immaculate condition.
"Everything on this car but the battery is the same as it was the day it rolled off the assembly line," Ollenburger said. "The hoses, the tires, the fan belts — absolutely everything is original."
And now, it's certified.
After being ogled and scrutinized by a team of the toughest Corvette judges in the nation, his car has been certified Bloomington Gold.
It all took place June 16-18 at the America's Original Corvette Show in St. Charles, Ill.
Towing his car in a closed-in trailer, Ollenberger made the trip with son Gerald of Hillsboro, brother-in-law Darold Klein of Fort Collins, Colo., and longtime friend and Corvette collector Jim Hefley, also of Hillsboro.
A few days ago Ollenberger got the results in the mail, along with a Bloomington Gold certificate.
He made a photocopy of the certificate and framed the copy. He locked the original in a safe.
"A Bloomington Gold certification on a Corvette can add thousands and thousands of dollars to the value of the car," said an organization spokesman at national headquarters in Normal, Ill., who, because she was involved with the tabulation of the results, asked not to be identified.
"People can go to jail for falsely advertising that a car is Bloomington Gold when it isn't. The testing process is unbelievably hard, so it's a big deal to get a Bloomington Gold certification.
"I do remember Mr. Ollenberger's car from our tabulations," she said. "It's a very impressive car."
Back in 1980, President Jimmy Carter embargoed grain to the Russians and boycotted the Olympics. He also said the oil crisis was "the moral equivalent of war."
Thank goodness he didn't ration the manufacture of "America's Sports Car."
According to records, Chevrolet made 40,614 Corvette Sport Coupes in 1980. How many of them are still on the road is anybody's guess. But it's safe to say only a handful are as well preserved as Ollenberger's.
After you're done whistling you might feel like singing the old commercial, "Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet!"
Ollenberger doesn't sing, but he does chuckle a lot, like a guy who won the lottery. That's because the odds of getting a Gold are just about the same.
To get one, your Corvette must be 95 percent just the same as it was on the day it rolled off the assembly line. No better, no worse, no different. And that means no restoration whatsoever.
The judges at the show were serious wrench-heads, tops in the Corvette world, who critiqued Ollenberger's car in five categories: originality, damage, deterioration or missing pieces, technical operation, cleanliness, and serial number accuracy.
When the results were tallied, Ollenberger's car scored 96.4 percent.
"I was quite satisfied with the judges' results," he said, chuckling. "I had a few of the judges tell me to never get rid of it. One said, 'that car is as original as original can be; don't you touch it.'"
But it was under sobering circumstances in which Ollenberger acquired the car back in 1996. A relative who'd purchased it new never got around to driving it because he was diagnosed with cancer.
Ollenberger kept it in his own house garage for a few years, then moved over its more-secure, present location, less than a mile away.
Ironically, even though he works part-time changing oil and doing minor repair work at a local automobile dealership, he's never done anything mechanical to his Corvette, except change the battery.
He just keeps it clean and covered, and constantly on his mind.
"I do worry about it when it storms," Ollenberger said.
His wife, Carol, says she understands about the other love in his life. She's not concerned about competition. After all, their marriage has met the test of time. They'll be married 50 years next month.
"I'm glad he enjoys it," Carol said. "But it's an expensive hobby compared to woodworking, or playing ball.
"We had this car for a long time. I said, 'Wayne, you're not getting any younger, and you better show that car'."
There are times when he's sitting behind his regular pickup or his passenger car when he thinks, "I could be driving my Corvette," he said.
With the keys to a red sports car in his pocket, thank goodness he's a few mileposts past the mid-life crisis age.
"I'll tell you what: It's hard not to climb in it and drive it," he said. "I mean, it really is."
As a member of Hillsboro's Route '56 Classic Car Club, Ollenberger has pulled his car to several shows, and towed home lots of trophies.
But besides driving his car to McPherson a couple of times and to Marion, it has never been driven on an interstate or a dirt road, and it's never seen a parking lot.
It almost got caught in the rain once on the way home from a nearby car show.
"But we went into a car wash bay and waited it out," Ollenberger said.
Most of the time, he pulls the car to shows in a closed-in trailer, as he did to the Bloomington Gold show.
His next show is next month in Dodge City, and you can bet your cowboy boots that other contestants will scurry when he sets down the ramp and rolls the car down.
He doesn't keep it up on blocks, but he does keep about five pounds more air pressure than called for to keep the tires from sagging under the weight of the car.
And he could drive it anyplace if he wanted, because it's properly tagged and insured. Just imagine that phone call:
Wayne: I'd like to insure my car, please.
Agent: What make and model?
Wayne: Chevy Corvette, 1980.
Agent: How many miles?
Wayne: Eighteen seventy-eight, point four.
Agent: Eighteen thousand?
Wayne: Eighteen hundred.
Agent: And how many miles a year do plan to drive the car?
Wayne: A few tenths.
Agent: Excuse me?
Wayne: Less than a mile, ma'am.
Agent: (Click).
"It wasn't quite like that," Ollenberger said. "But they did have to come out and take pictures and read the odometer for themselves.
"I got a discount because I don't drive it much. It's insured as a classic, for $30,000."
Under insured, apparently.
A 1980 Corvette sold for $13,140 brand new. A 2007 Corvette lists at $45,000.
Asked whether he would trade his in for a new model, you guessed it. He chuckled again.
"Let's just say it's not for sale and leave it at that."
