The time was late September, 1990. I was an indoor vendor at one of the country’s largest collector car flea markets, located in Carlisle, PA. I had been vending at that event since 1975. One of the owners of the event, known for his passion of all things Corvette, dropped by my spaces to say hi, and to let me know I was welcome to join him and a motley crew of other vendors for dinner.
A few weeks prior to this, a fairly rare car I had bought a few months earlier, finally arrived at my restoration shop. Knowing of his Corvette passion, I decided to play a little joke on him. I let it be known in our conversation that I had indeed finally bought a “split window!” Not only was the car a true split window, I mentioned it was factory equipped with 4-wheel disc brakes as well.
Knowing of my interest in unusual and rare European cars, he countered with “What? An old Volkswagen split window?” To which I replied, “Nah, it’s got the basic small block V8, but with factory dual carbs and 4-speed transmission.” Now I had his interest!
“Sounds like an interesting car, but I have to tell you no split window ever came from the factory with 4-wheel disc brakes!” I dug in a little deeper by proclaiming I have all the original factory info on the car, showing the 4-wheel disc brake system was an option for that year. “I’ll bet you a steak dinner at the Town Grill [the local bar & restaurant where the dinner was to be held] that I have a split window with the small block V8, 4-speed, dual carbs, and factory disc brakes!”
His reply was simple; “You’re on!” I asked him if he wanted to see photos of the car, and he replied “Of course!” So I pulled out my photos and handed him the stack. He flipped quickly thru the photos before saying “This isn’t a Corvette!”, to which I replied “Who ever said it was a Corvette?”
The car was my Tatra T2-603, with copies of the Girling 4-wheel disc brakes, as found on the Jaguar E-type cars. They were exact copies made by Ate in Czechoslovakia for Tatra. So exact that they use Girling rebuild kits and Lockheed-Girling brake pads.
That was one of the best tasting steak dinners I’d had in years!
Related reading:
CC Tatra 603: This Could Have Been The First New Oldsmobile, Cadillac or Studebaker PN
Haha, an excellent job of a little misdirection and a listener’s preconceptions.
I will display my Tatra ignorance – was there ever a Tatra big block V8 (thus giving a reason to call the other one a “small block”)?
Tatra had a 12.7 liter V8 for trucks so the 3.5 liter V8 was their small block.
Well played, Sir! I salute you!! 🙂
This reminds me of an old 8-ball pool hustle. After the break and it’s your shot, if the 8-ball is near a pocket, you tell the other player, “I’ll bet you five dollars that you don’t get another shot”.
The other player looks the table over and agrees, at which point you immediately sink the 8-ball. The game is over and he didn’t get another shot, so you win.
Makes it a shame there was never a “Grand Corvair” with one of Bill Mitchell’s more expressive fastback designs and two extra cylinders. Ir’d be the perfect halfway point between Tatra and Corvette.
Love it! Great ruse! Have a (black) Corvette Split Window and dream of having a Tatra one day!!
Btw, that Tatra air cooled V8 is one of the greatest sounding motors – really does sound more like a big block than a small block…please give us a video of it running!
I just saw on youtube a couple of days ago that Jay Leno had a painting made of the top photo with himself getting out of the car. The painter didn’t need to add much more chin.
If the painter added anything to it at all, then I think what you mean is that there is now a painting of some legs and Jay Leno’s chin emerging from a Tatra
My senior high history teacher drove a 1963 split window Corvette, in black, every day to school. Didn’t matter what the weather was. 327, four-speed. He was asking about 20,000 for it around the time I graduated. Don’t know if he sold it or not.
Love it!
An injury-free variation of the “but-that’s-not-my-dog” joke.
I didn’t see that coming! Nice ruse!
Of course, I had driven Tatra 603 when I lived in Texas. I completely forgot about that car being one of few cars from the 1960s era with V8 engine, four-wheel disc brakes, four-speed manual gearbox, etc..
Good laughs. My friend had bought a split window new. Automatic, radio, heater, base V8, tinted glass. Then he wed a woman not meant for him. In order to finish the divorce he had to sell his beloved Corvette six or seven years later.