Ownership History | The Red Rocket – 65 Corvette Sting Ray

The Red Rocket has made a lot of people happy over the last 55 years, managing to travel the world in the process. After spending more than 30 years in California, she travelled north to Massachusetts before ending up down in Texas. Then it was on a boat to Australia, landing in Queensland before making the trip south to New South Wales and finally to Sydney, where she can now be spotted cruising most Sunday mornings (weather permitting of course).

Below are the details of all known owners, with thanks to Bill Gould at Auto Ancestry for his research.

1965 to 1980 – Lee A. Day

Lee A. Day, Sacramento, California, USA

Lee Day was the Red Rocket's first owner, taking delivery from Lew Williams Chevrolet in Sacramento on 10 March, 1965. Most of what is known about Lee came from the research done by Corvette historian Bill Gould at Auto Ancestry.

Lee Day worked as a mechanic at Lew Williams Chevrolet, and was already in his 50's when he bought the Corvette. Lee was still working at Lew Williams Chevrolet until at least 1975, and probably retired around 1978. We believe Lee Day died in February 1980, only a couple of years after retiring from Lew Williams. It's possible he still owned the Corvette when he passed.

1980 to 1990 – Whereabouts unknown

Whereabouts unknown, possibly New Mexico, USA

What happened to the Corvette after Lee Day died is unknown. The car may have spent some time in a car museum, possibly in New Mexico. Galen Dae (the third known owner) also thinks the car spent time in New Mexico, but neither Bill Gould nor I have been able to find any evidence to support this. I found red dirt in places that no-one has touched for a long time (like the inside of the heater ducts), and Galen talked about cleaning a ton of red dirt out of the chassis — was it New Mexico dust? I guess we'll never know.

1990 to 1991 – Glenn L. Folks

Glenn L. Folks, Livermore, California, USA

Glenn Folks was an employee of Wente Winery in Livermore CA when he purchased the Corvette from Larry Park's 'Park Performance' in Milpitas, California (visit the History page for more on Larry Park). According to Galen Dae (who purchased the car from Glenn), he was not a 'car guy', selling the car after owning it for only a year.

News story about Larry Parks Shooting

1991 to 1997 – Galen Dae

Galen Dae, Alameda, California, USA

Galen was 38 years old in 1991 when he bought the Corvette from Glenn Folks. I was able to contact Galen, and his recollection of his time with the car was amazing. We exchanged several emails, with Galen providing a lot of background on the Corvette. Galen did a body-on restoration. In his opinion, at that time the body had not been off the frame, and the engine had not been out of the car.

1997 to 2000 – Mike DiCola

Mike DiCola, Hadley, Massachusetts, USA

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.

Hemmings article on Mike

2000 to 2007 – Gary Batson

Gary Batson, Plano, Texas, USA

I have not been able to contact Gary Batson, and unfortunately there are no receipts from his time with the car in the documentation. He owned the car for a long time, but when it passed to Jesse Phinney it looked identical to when it left Mike DiCola, so I can only assume Gary drove it very little and did no major work on the car.

2007 to 2011 – Jesse Phinney

Jesse Phinney, Rockwall, Texas, USA

Receipts from Jesse Phinney's time with the car show that he upgraded the brakes (fitting the later model dual-circuit master cylinder and power booster). The most significant work done during his ownership was an engine and gearbox rebuild (at 68,837 miles) undertaken by Corvette Corner in Rowlett, Texas.

Jesse was the last owner in the USA before the car came to Australia.

2011 to 2017 – Paul Nelson

Paul Nelson, Biggera Waters, QLD, Australia

Paul Nelson was the Corvette's first owner in Australia. The car was shipped to Australia by Jim Lau of Gold Coast Muscle Cars using One World Auto Shippers of Wilmington, California.

2017 to 2018 – Rob Hackett

Rob Hackett, Bundanoon, NSW, Australia

Rob Hackett owned the Corvette for a little over a year, selling it to help fund the purchase of a Lamborghini Diablo (I later learnt that the Diablo purchase never eventuated). Rob was a real 'car guy', he raced historic Alfa Romeos and had owned many 'hot' cars over the years. Rob was a member of the Highland Cruisers car club, and the Corvette was shown at club events.

Rob did some suspension work on the Corvette, including a few new rubbers and bushings and fitting Koni shocks all round. He also fitted a new 600cfm Holley 4150 carb (same spec as standard).

2018 to Present – Chris McInnes

Chris McInnes, Sydney, NSW, Australia

I purchased the Corvette from Rob Hackett in January 2018. The car appeared to be in good shape mechanically, however it needed the rear brakes reconditioned as soon as I got it.

I've focussed on tidying up a lot of little things and generally trying to get the car as neat, clean and original as I can. I try to drive the Red Rocket every Sunday (but never in the rain!), it's such a great car to drive it would be a shame not to enjoy it. No matter where I go it always gets plenty of attention, there just aren't many cars like this out on the roads these days unfortunately.