Written by Barbara Toombs
Meticulously cared for by one owner since new, this Nassau Blue 1966 Chevrolet Corvette 427/390 will be selling with No Reserve as Lot #1016 at the 2021 Scottsdale Auction.
Mickey and Kay were your typical couple just starting their life together in 1966. Money was tight; Mickey was going through medical school and Kay was a nurse, working to help her new husband achieve his goal. But, as Kay puts it, Mickey “always had a good eye for a lovely car.” In 1966, the car catching everyone’s eyes was the brand-new Corvette Sting Ray.
“We talked about getting married,” recalled Kay. “I wanted to get married; he wanted the Corvette. As he told the story, ‘My wife compromised and said she would help me buy that car.’ And so I did. I always jokingly told him I thought the Corvette was his first love.”
The couple got married in January 1966, and Mickey soon was headed to the dealership to trade in his red and white 1965 Pontiac GTO convertible for a beautiful new Nassau Blue Sting Ray, which set him back just under $5,000.
Because the couple’s only other car was Kay’s old Ford Falcon (“Which may or may not start,” she said), the Corvette became their main transportation in those early years. For Kay, the most memorable trip they took was their delayed honeymoon in August 1966 to Las Vegas.
“That was a big mistake,” Kay laughed, remembering, “because the ’Vette didn’t have air conditioning. We got so hot, but Mickey had us roll up the windows so that people would think we had air conditioning!”
It was only recently that Kay discovered a log Mickey had kept of the trip. “It started in Omaha, and it went all the way, every stop we made, to Las Vegas, and then we went on to California to meet friends. And then back through to Nebraska, where my family lived. I never knew he had done that.”
The Corvette became Mickey’s pride and joy, and a cherished member of the family. Kay remembers how her husband loved to wash and wax the car in their driveway – for the benefit of curious neighbors, of course. “He would spend a lot of hours washing and waxing that car. He really took meticulous care of it,” she recalled.
After Mickey became a doctor and the couple went on to own other vehicles, the Corvette was used just for special occasions; Kay recalls letting her daughter Melanie’s date drive her to the high school prom in it. Melanie remembers learning to drive a stick shift in the ’Vette and sitting in the car for hours in the garage, listening to music on the 8-track.
Sadly, Mickey passed away in June 2020. Kay and her three daughters discussed keeping his treasured Corvette but knew they couldn’t give the car the care and storage it needed. The family turned to Barrett-Jackson, where the Nassau Blue beauty will be selling with No Reserve as Lot #1016 at the 2021 Scottsdale Auction. The fastidious care Mickey gave the Sting Ray shows. With less than 60,000 miles on the odometer, the original car with a bright blue interior has an 8-track player and AM/FM radio, and is powered by its original Turbojet 427/390hp big-block V8 engine backed by a 4-speed manual transmission. It also comes with its original Bill of Sale and owner’s guide.
Kay, her daughter Julie and grandsons with their beloved Corvette.
“Mickey just loved this car so much,” said Kay. “We knew we needed to find someone who will love the car as much as he did. It’s been such a part of our family for so many years – grandkids, children. I think we have more pictures of the Corvette than we do our whole family! It’s kind of bittersweet, selling the car, because it has been our legacy.”
See this very special vehicle March 20-27 at the Scottsdale Auction, where a new chapter in the 1966 Corvette’s history will begin, and Mickey’s legacy will live on.
For up-to-date information on this vehicle, click HERE. For a look at all the vehicles headed to the 2021 Scottsdale Auction, click HERE.