This 1961 Corvette was originally owned by Lt. Mike Van Ort who was a USN Blue Angel pilot from 1964 to 1966. Mike was based at Pensacola NAS, FL.  Mike died in an F-11A Tiger crash on December 8, 1965.(http://www.blueangels-usn.org/accident_history.html).

 His father, Earl, (passed 2009, at 94), took the 61 back to Willow Springs, IL after Mike’s death and kept it in a barn until 1981 when he contacted Ed Luedeking (USN), a friend of Mike’s, and asked him if he wanted to purchase the Corvette. Apparently Earl needed money to put Mike’s sister, Sissy, through college. He didn’t really want to sell the car but if he had to he was glad it went to Mike’s friends Ed. The Corvette had 51,000 miles on it at that time.

Ed Luedeking contacted Jimmy Bolski (as told to me by Ed Luedeking, Jimmy Bolski and Lane Buck) a mutual friend of his and Mike’s about getting Mike’s Corvette running and shipped to California where Ed was now based at Norton AFB with the USAF flying C-141’s (Ed transferred from the Navy to the Air Force when orders arrived for another Carrier Tour).  Jimmy contacted another friend, Lane Buck, to help work on the car. Mike, Ed, Jimmy, and Lane had been friends for many years. Ed, Jimmy and Lane are still friends.

From late 1981 to spring of 1982 Jimmy and Lane got the car ready to ship to California. Jimmy Bolski recalls:

1.       Pulling the engine and transmission and servicing both. Neither needed to be rebuilt.

2.       Rebuilding both carburetors.

3.       Replacing the exhaust with stainless steel exhaust.

4.       Replacing the seat covers.

5.       Installing a new convertible top.

6.       Installing new brakes and tires.

Jimmy recalls touching up some of the paint on the undercarriage. They did not paint the car but believe Earl may have touched up some spots on the body.

Jimmy and Lane trucked Mike’s Corvette out to California in spring of 1982. They pulled a trailer and since there was snow on the ground in Illinois they covered the car and built a splash shield on the front of the trailer to protect it from road damage. They drove 40 hours straight through to Norton AFB and arrived in the late evening. They couldn’t get a hold of Ed that night and were afraid the Corvette might get stolen so they slept in the truck until Ed found them in the morning.

Ed kept the car at my house in Redlands, CA (I was an Air Force Captain flying C-141’s at Norton) or my brother’s house in Costa Mesa until I purchased the Corvette from Ed in 1988. The Corvette has been stored at my house in Newport Beach or my Mom’s house in Laguna Woods since 1988. The Corvette currently has 62,000 miles on it. It has Mike Van Ort’s original Pensacola NAS sticker on the bumper as well as Blue Angel and Red Ripper stickers on the front window.