How Dedicated

Are Corvette Owners?

By Paul Pollock
Publisher, The Corvette Story

I came across an interesting article recently, having to do with both Psychology and our favorite hobby, Corvettes. It was in a recent issue of Psychology Today, a well regarded (although not peer reviewed) publication.

It was written by Hans-Ulrich Wittchen, one of Germany's top psychologists and an often cited researcher. Hans and his father are also dedicated car enthusiasts and co-own a very rare 1963 Porsche 901. Those who are familiar with the model know that the first 82 911s were actually badged as "901", but it turned out that Peugeot actually owned the legal rights to the 901 moniker and so Porsche was forced to retreat to the 911 designation.

Mr. Wittchen recently authored a study about car enthusiasts in the Psychology Today publication which outlined some interesting characteristics of the demographic. It seems as though, when compared to the normal population, (whatever that may be) car enthusiasts exhibit greater levels of patience. The report cited restoration efforts as examples and pointed out situations where far more money was spent to restore a given vehicle than what it could reasonably expect to recover should it be sold on the open marketplace. Other cases included minutia regarding detail facts about a given model such as the "correctness" regarding engines, wheels, paint colors and so on.

Corvette owners, Mr. Wittchen wrote, go even further when it comes to dedication regarding the details of their favorite mode of transportation. One case in point cited a restoration where the original workers at the St. Louis MO assembly plant, who had retired, were enlisted to replicate the various installation or inspection results using original style multi-colored grease pencils on the chassis of mid year Corvettes. Apparently anything less just would not do.

Mr. Wittchen observed that Corvette owners "have amazing endurance" and far exceed the normal population or even the typical automotive enthusiast regarding "tenacity, perseverance, and old fashioned stick-to-it-iveness, when it comes to their favorite marque". He also wrote "it really is phenomenal. It seems as though no matter how mundane, inconsequential or unimportant for example" a given Corvette article is, "they will read it to the bitter end" - which is exactly what you are doing now - April fool.