Text by Larry & Linda Kloster, Images by Dave & Tammy Cross
I have always been interested in cars. My uncle was a car salesman, so my cousin and I spent a lot of time at the dealership browsing and dreaming about cars when we were young. My dad managed a grocery store in Montana and when I was 7 years old, his store gave away a 1959 Corvette gas-powered go-cart at the end of a promotion. I wanted that go-cart so badly, and now they are an expensive collector’s item when they can be found.
During high school, my family lived in Wyoming. When I got my driver’s license, I purchased my first car, a 1958 Chevrolet Biscayne for $350, money saved from my grocery store carry-out job. Since its body was less than pristine, I and several friends offered our cars to be “Velvatexed” by a local entrepreneur. He was experimenting with a technique spraying 1/8 -inch nylon fibers to anything accepting the positive and negative charges necessary for successful product application. People in my hometown had velvet refrigerators, walls, and cars! I proudly drove it to monthly Naval Reserve meetings and it caused many a head to turn. Often, people liked to touch the surface. My biggest mistake was washing it with soap, after which, no matter how often I rinsed it, suds would appear, even in a rain storm. When I went active duty in the Navy in 1971, I sold my cool car to my future brother-in-law.
After my naval discharge, I married my high school sweetheart, and we entered the “married with children” phase of life, buying practical family cars for the next 20 years. Becoming empty-nesters, I checked out a local Corvette Club meeting and joined before I even owned a Corvette! My dreams of owning a Corvette became reality when I found a used (and abused) 1975 Red Coupe. It proved not all that reliable and had the lowest horsepower of any year Corvette manufactured due to federal regulations at that time. We sold it after a year and started planning for the next Corvette. For our 28th wedding anniversary, we took delivery of our special-ordered, brand new, 2000 Torch Red Coupe at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. What an experience that was! On a guided tour, the last car featured was ours, complete with flashing lights and a sign congratulating us.
Our home, at the time, had a second, oversized two-stall garage in the alley entrance. We used that luxury to invest in a 1978 Corvette Pace Car that had only 340 original miles. It still had the dealer sticker in the window, plastic on the seats, and the new car feel. This “trailer queen” necessitated the purchase of a car hauler to take it to car shows.
I had always liked the look of the 1958 Corvettes – lots of chrome and the only year for the louvered hood and chrome spears on the trunk lid. In 2004 I found just what I wanted – a 1958 driver-quality Corvette, red with white coves at Greg Wyatt’s Vintage Corvettes, in Summerville, Georgia. At this same time in our lives, we started thinking about downsizing our home and found the perfect smaller home, but it only had a two-car garage. “So…let’s build a separate shop for the sports cars,” we agreed. And that is how the shop came to be.
We found two adjoining vacant lots within the city limits, zoned perfectly for the shop we wanted to build. We accomplished just what we set out to do – downsized our home, yard and maintenance responsibilities, and built a shop building – a perfect getaway man cave for me, a home for the sports cars and memorabilia we had begun collecting that my wife was eager to have decorating something other than our family room!
The shop, manufactured by Butler Manufacturing, was finished in 2008, the same year Corvette paced the Indy 500. Chevrolet designed that pace car to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the first Corvette Pace Car in 1978. Since we owned the 1978 Pace Car we thought it fitting to acquire a 2008 Corvette Pace car. Soon after, we bought a friend’s 1995 Corvette Pace Car and much of his coordinating memorabilia, lending the shop a momentary Corvette Pace Car theme.
Growing up, my dad’s everyday driver was an ugly, 1950 Chevy 5-window pickup. Back then, I was almost embarrassed to claim it with its multi-colored fenders, hood, and tailgate. One New Year’s Eve, it was totaled by a drunk driver who slammed into it while it was parked in front of my parents’ house. My dad was devastated!
As I reminisced about my dad and that old pickup, I started considering acquiring one to change up the collection. I mentioned it to a friend, who took our conversation to Fredericksburg, Texas, where he located a 1950 5-window Chevy truck, fully restored in my favorite color, red, at a shop called Street Dreams. I fell in love with the pickup and sold the 1978 Corvette to acquire it. We decided we enjoyed driving our vehicles to car shows more than trailering them, so the 1978 Pace Car went to a collector who was excited to have it judged at NCRS (National Corvette Restorers Society) and Bloomington Gold.
I wanted more reliability for highway driving the 1958 Corvette, and while attending “Burn the Point” Car Show in Billings, Montana, I found Rick Moore with RR Frames of Belfry, Montana. To justify the frame-off work, we sold our 2000 Corvette. Now we can confidently drive the ’58 to regional shows with the LS-1 engine and C4 suspension grafted onto the original frame. It’s not much more enjoyable to drive.
Another favorite car of mine has always been the 1970 Chevy Chevelle SS. A friend had a frame-off restoration example, and when he retired to Florida, I convinced him the orange and black ’70 Chevelle would have a great home here in our shop.
We thoroughly enjoy showing and sharing our cars with people, often allowing people to sit in them and take pictures at shows. At one show, a grandson was pushing his ailing grandfather in a wheelchair. This grandfather saw the flag on my 1958 Vette and had his grandson stop so he could savor the moment. I offered to help him in the driver’s seat to get a picture and he was overcome with emotion. We got him positioned, he beamed a huge smile, and waved while cameras and cellphones captured the moment. We learned later that he had been very despondent living out his last weeks in the Veteran’s Hospital and his grandson coaxed him to go to the car show on Main Street to lift his spirits. The grandson relayed to us through show sponsors that his grandfather’s moment in that car was a huge highlight for him and their whole family!
The car trips with friends to our favorite car shows all prove memorable with breakdowns, laughter and comradery! We have driven back to Bowling Green for commemorative Corvette Caravans, and in 2015 we drove with car enthusiasts on sections of Route 66 in New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas and got to tour John and Diane Hovis’ Hemi Hideout, which was featured in Garage Style Magazine. Great memories have been made with our cars and shared repeatedly at gatherings with other car enthusiasts.
We have had so much fun collecting memorabilia and decorating the shop. We purchase Corvette “Matchbox” die cast cars at stores and flea markets, and currently over 400 Matchbox cars adorn the walls of the shop. Some are limited editions and others are just cool. The garage also has a fully functioning 1995 Corvette Pinball Machine and a temperamental jukebox that plays its favorite 45 rpm records when it so chooses, not always when directed, so it’s kept unplugged. Dear friends have designed and constructed custom signs for our shop, including the “Kloster Chevrolet” and “Kloster Corvette Garage” neon signs and clocks. They have also given us restored local drive-in movie speakers that are connected to the entertainment system, and a functional parking meter. Recently, they restored an old Radio Flyer wagon into “Crew’s Cruizer” for our young grandson. Other friends have made unique quilts that are hung on the walls. We enjoy posters and artwork and have 4 original pieces by Bill Seitz from Texas. We also have original paintings, stained glass pieces, and drawings from our sons. We like pedal cars and have collected some over the years, one of which is a limited-edition manufactured in the likeness of a 1953 Corvette. It was only sold in Bowling Green, Kentucky and Nashville, Tennessee during the 50th Anniversary of Corvette Celebration.
The shop is a great place, fully functional with a lift and tools to work on vehicles, and it provides a respite and nostalgic atmosphere to unwind and relax. The 1950’s chrome dinette set, carhop mannequin, and music have set the stage for many a gathering of friends and family. Our shop has provided a welcome place for meetings, work nights, and just great fun. The invitation is extended – come see us sometime!
