The National Corvette Museum has recently acquired a 1979 Chevrolet Corvette dubbed ‘Big Red’ by its late owner Bob Doerr. This C3 was just one of fifteen Corvettes in Bob’s collection, which is currently owned by his sister, Claudia Stodghill of Tallahassee, FL. Bob, a Vietnam veteran, had since passed away from brain cancer.
Claudia had decided that ol’ Big Red was a gem worth sharing, and after looking up to her brother for guidance, an idea came to her.
I was walking one of our four German Shepherds, and I just looked up and said ‘Bob, I need help with this. I’m not coming to a satisfactory conclusion.’ Then instantly an idea came to mind. I thought that it belonged in a car museum. So I got online and started looking, finding the National Corvette Museum. I had heard of it and thought – ‘oh my gosh it’s perfect.’ I knew after seeing it online that Big Red would be taken care of. I could see by the way the cars were roped off that people can get close to see the cars, but not too close to be all up on them. I said ‘Hot dog, Big Red, you’re going to have a whole new chapter to your life in beautiful Bowling Green, Kentucky.’
Bob was a car enthusiast through and through. As a mailman he would make his deliveries out of his 1965 Nassau Blue Convertible, his first Corvette. He was in the hobby of buying old used cars, and fixing them up to presentable shape. Not for profit, but as his sister Claudia says, “he did it for the love of the car.”
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