Greg Nave poses next to his eighth generation 2022 Corvette Stingray in a popular rapid blue color . On left page , Paul Lampton prefers the racing yellow color of his seventh generation 2016 Corvette Stingray .
following Hurricane Katrina .
“ There ’ s an old saying about men that if they don ’ t get their toys as boys they will get them as a man ,” said Cannon , who is retired from the Coast Guard and as a high school guidance counselor .
In an online MotorTrend poll conducted earlier this year , voters chose the Corvette as the most iconic car of the past 75 years . Chevrolet ’ s halo car , the Corvette has been an aspirational vehicle for generations of Americans , including members of the Meridian Corvette Association .
“ I ’ ve been liking them ever since the first one in 1953 . That is the first true American sports car ,” said David Croft , who bought his first Corvette , a seventh generation black 2019 Stingray in his late 70s .
While he has owned numerous cars over the years , including muscle cars , he had always dreamed of owning the sporty
Corvette . But , he said , he had to wait until his children were all grown before he could afford to take the plunge .
“ All my life , I wanted one , but my family was growing and I couldn ’ t afford one . Now that I ’ ve gotten rid of all of my children , then I said I would buy one ,” said the retired basketball coach . “ I thought , ‘ why not go and do it now ?’”
Said Cannon , “ He can drive with the best of them at his age .”
Corvette club member Paul Lampton laughed that he , too , had to wait until his children were grown before purchasing a Corvette , a car that first attracted his attention on a TV show he watched as a child in the early 1960s .
“ I watched ‘ Route 66 ’ as a kid and they drove a ’ 61 and a ’ 62 Corvette , a red one , down Route 66 ,” he said .
Lampton , who was self employed before his retirement , currently owns two Corvettes , a fourth generation 1995 www . meridianstar . com
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