[The Champ]

Need to thank CammerJeff for picking me up at the Detroit airport and working with me on a special surprise 50th birthday present for our daughter.

Our daughter has been going to car shows with me and Mrs. Champ for well over 30 years. At first it was just looking at other people's cars, but in 1992 I purchased a 1964 GTO convertible (for $600) and in 1995 showed it for the first time. She was there to help detail the car, even though she was 4 months pregnant.

About 5 years ago, we decided we wanted to surprise her on her 50th birthday with a collectible car of her own that she doesn't have to wait for us to pass on (our cars go to her in our will).

Back in 1995, at the Iola Old Car show, our daughter mentioned that a '65 Corvair convertible would be cool for "her" to have. That's what we were originally looking for, but we couldn't find anything decent with a manual transmission that was in our budget.

This past Iola, I found a real nice clean '65 in the for sale area, but once again it was about $8-10,000 overpriced.

Then I remembered Jeff had his '09 Solstice for sale. It's a Brazen Orange Coupe, with both the hardtop and the soft top. I PM'd him and it was still available.

Last Thursday I went and picked it up.

The first pick is of Jeff and the car. The next 4 are taken at the DoubleTree Inn in Grand Rapids, MI.