The Freewheelin' David Nelson

Saga of a Stinger-nosed Split-window Corvette.

- John Gilbert

How many Corvettes does a man have to own before you call him … uh, maybe paraphrasing Bob Dylan’s lyrics from his 1963 album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan isn’t the best way to start this feature on David Nelson’s split-window 1963 Corvette, but we had to start somewhere. The idea was to illustrate that when a person goes to buy their first Corvette they have a specific year and model in mind, but when it comes to looking for their second Corvette the requirements might not be as strict.

Such was the case for David Nelson, a Texas orthodontist that pilots his private plane all over the Southwest. David explained that he already owned a 1962 Corvette so when he began his search for old Corvettes stored in the hangars of municipal airports, a place he cites to be a proverbial gold mine, the question was always “do you know of any old Corvettes around here?”

“Yeah, there’s one that’s been under a tarp for the last 22 years you could probably take a look at.” David found its owner, and when the tarp was pulled back there sat a split-window Daytona Blue 1963 Corvette with a dark blue interior, and under its hood a 300-horsepower 327 with a Muncie four-speed transmission. David didn’t lowball his offer like the owner expected him to, so after personally bringing the dormant Sting Ray back to life David had bought himself another Corvette.