A car club in Phoenix helped fulfill the long-held birthday wish of a local 100-year-old woman by giving her a ride in a bright red C8 Corvette Convertible.
As her 100th birthday approached, Audrey Matheson told her caregiver, Nicki Reyes, that she wanted to take a ride in a bright red Corvette Convertible before she passes. Reyes reached out to members of a local Corvette club to see if they could help fulfill Matheson’s birthday wish and they happily obliged, with former Navy man Jim Dunkelberger picking Audrey up from the nursing home in his head-turning Torch Red Stingray.
While many elderly Corvette fans would be happy to just go for a low-speed cruise in the sports car, Audrey wanted to experience the V8 performance that she knows the Corvette is capable of.
“She wanted to go fast,” Dunkelberger told ABC15 through a laugh.
The Phoenix community banded together to help Audrey celebrate her 100th. In addition to taking a ride in a bright red Vette, Matheson got a surprise visit from a wallaby thanks to the generosity of the Dylan Capshaw Wildlife Foundation, while the Scottsdale Fire Department also stopped by in their fire trucks to mark her centenary celebration. All of this was quite a lot to take in for Matheson, although she said she was hugely grateful for the community’s efforts.
“I’m a bit shaken up, it’s been quite a day,” Matheson told ABC15. “Thank you everyone so much. My heart is definitely full.”
Performance-wise, the C8 Corvette Stingray is a far cry from the Corvettes that likely influenced Matheson’s love of the nameplate. With a standard 6.2L LT2 V8 engine doling out 495 horsepower and 470 pound-feet of torque with the optional Performance Exhaust, the C8 Corvette Stingray can sprint from zero to 60 mph in about three seconds and can top out at a vision-blurring 184 mph.
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Good for her. God bless
That’s very cool. There are some really kind people in this world.
I’m 65 and first in line for a ZO6, wonder it I will get to ride in one before I pass.
Good story. Good to see community support. Good job Arizona residents.
Very cool!! I enjoy taking older people for a ride in my 16 Z-06. But I’m no young chicken either at 71 !!!!!
What the article didn’t tell you is Ms. Matheson wanted to go fast, so the man got her up to 100 mph in his Corvette to honor her 100th birthday, which is kinda cool. My own mom will be 98 this year, and we hope to do something that will make her smile this big.