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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.....😁😎😁... Bless her heart...
Wow! I'd be thrilled just to make it to 100. Be even better if I know who I am at that age. Imagine the things that she has seen in being 100. Congrats
Wow, very nice of the community and the Corvette club to do all that for her!
Those gold wheels are extremely similar to what my employer has on his Memphis red McLaren 720s.
It’s amazing to think that she was 30 +/- when the ‘53 Corvette was introduced…I wonder if she had a c8 in mind for the ride when she made the wish, or would have preferred an earlier c1, c2, etc.
I’m also curious what her generation’s perspective is on an all-electric Corvette.
Of all the crap going on in the world, this really shows there are some GOOD HEARTED people still left!
SPECIALl gal with some SPECIAL friends!
And... if you drive a Corvette find a local chapter of the nationally sanctioned NCCC.
They do great work for charities and are 501c3 non profit . I belong to two clubs. Each club does three things each month, 1 meeting, 1 social gathering (restaurant), 1 outing ( fun drive as a group). It is all about the cars, but the people are great. Save The Wave!
We were asked to do Vets in a Vette day, all the local veterans got a ride in a corvette in the veterans day parade. A great chance ro meet and talk to our local heros.
I would worry about the woman surviving the G force. She looks fragile.
when i get a girl in the passenger seat, and floor it, they always giggle.
and the way things are going with the Z06, I will be 100 before I get one.