Yan and Carmella fall in love while attending weekly meetings of the Hudson Valley Corvette Club (HVCC). Our fictionalized club is one of the most prestigious and competitive in the United States. HVCC’s intense initiation includes the requirement that anyone who wants to become a full lifetime member must not only pass a written examination but also complete a full restoration of a Corvette. Despite the fact that they are still students at Pine Bush High School, both Carmella and Yan decide they want to try to pass the initiation test and become lifetime members of the HVCC.

During meetings, club officers show slides of Corvettes through the years, and point out details to help club members identify model years and special features. Club officers also highlight the history of the development of the Corvette, as well as the executives behind the Corvette’s success.

An Improbable Beginning

In January 1953 more than 30,000 people attended the GM Motorama at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. This was considered the golden age of automobiles and the show included ‘concept’ cars.  The public and the media responded so favorably to a small little white two-seater called the ‘Corvette,’ that General Motors decided to put it into production—even though it had not planned to do so.

But GM executives soon found out that the public didn’t take to the Corvette as the media and the attendees of the GM Motorama did. While GM produced 3, 640 Corvettes in 1954, more than 1/3 of them remained unsold. Why? It was perhaps because the original Corvette included a weak six-cylinder engine and an automatic transmission. Because of the abysmal sales, some executives wanted to discontinue the Corvette altogether. But others argued that the Corvette had potential, and argued that all it needed was some modifications. By 1956 the Corvette had new body styling and an 8-cylinder 265 inch cubic inch engine. The public started to fall in love with the Corvette, and by 1960, GM was producing 10,000 Corvettes annually.

The Hudson Valley Corvette Club story focuses on the restoration of C3 (third generation) ‘Shark’ Corvettes. The  ‘Sharks’ were the longest-lasting model, reigning from 1968-1982. During its triumphant 14-year run, GM produced 542,861 C3 Corvettes.

Today, the proud Corvette tradition continues. We are now in the C8 generation of Corvettes, which began in 2020.

…and local Corvette Clubs thrive across the United States and around the world.