Michael Brook can't wait to drop the top of his 1971 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray and cruise through the Adelaide Hills for Bay to Birdwood 2023.
To be held on October 22, it'll be the second time he'll join the procession from West Beach, through the city and into the hills for a day of music, food and festivities, all centred around a display of spectacular vehicles.
More than 1500 will participate - some cleaned and polished, and other as they were found in a barn.
Michael's third generation model (C3) has a 350 cubic inch (5.7L) Small-Block, V8 engine, a three-speed automatic transmission and left hand drive.
To Michael's best knowledge, the car - which has 70,000 miles on the clock - was repainted and given new tyres before it was imported to Australia in 1990 and sat in a shed for 30 years. He heard about this model through a workmate, who knew a local importer.
"I was looking around and this one fell in my lap," he said.
"He'd sold it to his brother, but he didn't have his driver's licence and couldn't drive it." Hence it sat in storage for so long.
Michael's only changes to the car were a new set of tyres, a radiator and a brakes. To get it through Regency, he needed to add a passenger side mirror and replace the lap-only belts to lap/sash ones. Other than that, the car is all original - it's an all-matching numbers car, even down to the headlights and taillights.
The car is in Bridgehampton blue - paint code 979 - with a complementing blue interior. A total of 1407 were made with that colour combination.
"It's a very basic car, but it is good to drive, it behaves very well," he said.
"It's not a daily driver; one of the design flaws of a Corvette Stingray, especially a C3, is that they're very hard to get in and out of."
Driving in Bay to Birdwood, Michael said it's fantastic going through the Adelaide Hills. While he understands that older cars in the procession may overheat and hold everyone up, his car doesn't.
"The problem with old Corvettes is they do like to run; they don't like idling or running around in town going slow; they like to be on the open road and cruising," he said.
"But as far as going up and down hills, it's fantastic.
"Up Port Germein Gorge (in the Flinders Ranges), there's a lot of windy bends and up and down and high cliffs either side. It's fantastic to have the top down and hear the exhaust note."
More information about Bay to Birdwood can be found here or by phone (08) 8568 4000
