Central Colorado Corvette Club

The 4C Hardship Award was the brainchild of Les Rhoades and Dave Effler. It was designed and built Bob Kenworthy.

 

Q: How did this award start out and where did the first parts come from?

A: After talking with Dave Effler about my recent flat tire caused by a large spring that was collected in our right rear tire driving North on E-470 north of DIA, (Jack Tryon driving our car)  Dave mentioned to me about an idea based on Naval history, to create an award that our club members could pass from member to member when bad luck had struck a blow in their travel plans. 

Q: What about the vise grips you ask?

Kelly and I purchased our latest Corvette ( 2015 Z51 Coupe, Night Race Blue) in December 2015 at a dealership in Longview Texas (Peters, Chevrolet). When we showed up to make the purchase the car had yellow brake calipers on the car, not red as advertised. After lengthy discussions on how to correct this issue, the dealership management decided to pull a Black C7 off the sales lot that had red calipers on it and thus exchange them for the yellow ones. After lunch we returned to find our car dressed in red as advertised so the deal was completed and we drove back to Denver. It was a nail biting two day drive through heavy rain and snow on I-70 back to Colorado.

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On the return drive we encounter a nasty fuel leak that ultimately required a fuel pump replacement. It was when the transmission was removed for the fix that the Ed Bozarth mechanic noticed the right rear brake line was squeezed off by an old rusty pair of vise grips. Yes folks, we drove 800+ miles back from Texas in a nasty dangerous storm with only three brakes operable. 

So now you know the history of the award…flat tires and break downs. And for the record, I had a flat tire on our 2008 just days before driving to Texas, so a new tire was installed right before the drive down. It’s now time to pass on the award to Jim Cesario who is our newest member.

Jim Cesario takes first ownership of the award for his unfortunate break down in Pueblo on a club cruise held March 5, 2016. It now appears a faulty fuel pump left Jim in the parking lot. Lucky for Jim, Dave Cooper had an empty right seat so a ride back to Denver was secured..while the C4 took a ride on a tow truck back to the Corvette Center in Fountain Colorado.