Mike DiCola
Mike DiCola bought the Corvette in 1997 from Kassabian Motors in Dublin, California. Mike enlisted Steve Cram at Automotive Appraisal Service to complete a comprehensive appraisal of the car before taking it home to Massachusetts (an original copy of this appraisal is part of the Red Rocket's thick folder of documentation).
Mike did some cosmetic work on the car (rechroming the ignition shields and air cleaner for example) and quite a bit of mechanical maintenance. Mike, his wife and son really enjoyed the car — showing it quite often, picking up some trophies in local shows and entering the car in rallies.
The Red Rocket is one of four Corvettes Mike has owned (the most recent being a 2004 C5 purchased in 2021), and he is well known in historic racing circles for his work preparing vintage Allards for racing — an interesting connection given Zora-Arkus Duntov's work with Allard before he worked at Chevrolet.
Bill Gould was able to contact Mike, and I was amazed to find that he still had a folder of documentation for the car. The Steve Cram appraisal mentions a folder of restoration photos, but this folder has been missing for almost 30 years. Mike was happy to send me the folder which contains photos and receipts as well as the meticulous maintenance diary kept by Galen Dae.
“Glad to hear that she is being taken care of. I've had 3 vettes so far, a 61 fuelie, a 76 with the gymkhana suspension and the 65. By far, the 65 was the best all around one of the 3.”
