This Wild C1 Corvette Story Is Way Too Good To Be Fake

A scorned lover, a bitter ex-husband, and a few deputies in rural TN wind out this Corvette buying adventure.

“It’s the thrill of the chase.” We hear it all the time; the undeniable excitement that comes from chasing down something special and interesting. These are the kind of journeys that make the best stories. And boy, have we got a good one for you today. Last week, Geralds57 posted in the forum that he was sitting in a hotel room in Tennessee, waiting to grab a ’56 Corvette that had been used for drag-racing duty. But this wasn’t an easy process of handing over cash and leaving with a car.

It was anything but that.

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It’s three in the morning on a Sunday in Tennessee. Somewhere on the east side of the state, in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains. Geralds57 is awake in a hotel room, half excited and half-full of dread. The Corvette in question is embroiled in a divorce dispute. The ex-wife has legal ownership of the car, but the ex-husband has possession. The plan is to roll up unannounced with some of the county’s finest, a pile of court paperwork, and force the husband to relinquish the Corvette.

Of course, not everyone is a lawyer, and not everyone is privy to the multitude of laws that govern their region. Tennessee code 20-2-106 prohibits officers from serving legal issuance except in occasions where the person or property is at risk of being moved outside of jurisdiction. Basically, unless someone is trying to skip town, the police can’t serve papers on Sunday. After all, we don’t want people being served at church.

Then a bad situation gets worse. 

Cut to Sunday morning, and they arrive with papers in tow. No officers. A quick back and forth results in a call to police by the husband for trespassing. This results in a retaliatory call to police by the wife. Multiple officers arrive on the scene and try and sort out the situation. Then things get muddy again. While the wife has documentation stating the Corvette belongs to her, she needs a writ from the judge. Even if the officers could serve on Sunday, they can’t legally take the C1.

So we have a man traveling several hundred miles to see a 1956 Corvette. That Corvette is trapped in the middle of a squabbling divorced couple. When police are asked to intervene, their hands are legally tied on two different fronts. Now the ex-husband knows the wife is actively trying to take the car, and knows it can’t be taken by force without a warrant.

Did we mention that Geralds57 hasn’t seen this car aside from two poor cell-phone photos?

The entire thread documenting the adventure is a 13-page rollercoaster. There are cries of madness, concern over Gerald’s safety, and even a few cries of fake news. We won’t spoil how this story ends, but it’s worth the read. As for the man’s general safety, let’s put everyone at ease. We live in the general area where this debacle takes place, and while we’re all well-armed, we very rarely fire our weapons at unwanted guests.