It was June 1993. Joel Perez had just graduated from high school in his hometown of College Station, Texas, and had been accepted to attend Texas A&M University. Joel's parents were justifiably proud of his accomplishments and had already been dropping hints that a new car might be an apropos reward for both the good job he'd done, as well as what they were confident he'd achieve as an "Aggie." In turn, young Perez started dropping hints about a Nissan 300ZX, but not for long.
See, the senior Perez is a Chevy man, through and through; a man whose attitude is expressed by his comment, "I'd rather push a Chevy than drive a Ford." His dream car had always been a yellow Corvette-any Corvette, as long as it was yellow. So you know that a non-Chevrolet product-especially an import-was out of the question! A Vette, however, was a possibility.
And so the father and son ended up one weekend at Corvettes of Houston. Joel only had one request (Hey, Dad's gonna buy you a Corvette-take whatever he offers and be grateful!), a late LT1, which meant a '92 or '93. There she (Joel calls his Vette "she") sat, a Competition Yellow '92 coupe, six-speed, both tops (glass and painted), black leather, and RPO Z07, the Adjustable Suspension Package which included FX3, heavy duty suspension, and heavy-duty brakes. The odometer indicated just 2,054 miles. In Joel's words, "She was perfect."
While Joel drooled over the yellow coupe, his father and the sales manager disappeared into an office. After 15 minutes of suspense, the elder Perez came over to where his son was still staring rapturously at the '92 and told him that he'd made an offer that the sales manager would, "think about."
A week or so went by before Joel's father told him that he'd heard from the dealer, and that they had another offer on the yellow coupe. The kid's mood swung from excited about the possibilities to distress in a flash.
Fast-forward another week, and a second trip to the Corvette dealer in Houston. On the way, father informed son that he'd talked to the dealer and that the yellow '92 had been sold. When they arrived, Joel saw the car of his-and his father's-dreams sitting outside, detailed and freshly waxed, with a "SOLD" sign on the windshield. "I was crushed," Joel remembers. "Dad told me to go inside and see if there was anything else that caught my eye," but nothing else could compare. His father headed to the manager's office to, "get the keys to a green Corvette that was there, so I could test drive it. I didn't really care. I was still pretty upset about our dream car being sold."
A few minutes passed, then Joel's dad and the sales manager came out of the office and the senior Perez tossed a set of keys to his son-the wrong keys. The tag didn't identify them as belonging to a green C4; it read, "1992 Corvette, Yellow, Z07."
"I couldn't believe it! Dad had pulled one over on me. He'd bought the car a week before, was just waiting for the paperwork to go through, and fooled me into believing that someone else had bought it. And it worked! I really took to this car, not just because it was a Corvette, but because it was the car my father had always wanted for himself. He and my mother had bought his dream car for me! My parents are the most important people in my life and I'm very thankful for them."
It's a great story, kinda heartwarming, almost enough to give you the "warm-fuzzies." But, the subtitle says, "...the quickest street Corvette in Texas," not "generous and loving parents give appreciative and accomplished son a Vette." Obviously, there's more to this saga.