As long as I can remember – that is, a long time – I have admired the Chevrolet Corvette and believed that one day I would own one. A few years ago, having secured permission from the family treasurer, I crafted a query on the Auto Trader web site, and, while I have not been sitting on the couch ever since thumbing the F5 button on my browser, I have invested many hours in reading the specifications of those that appeared in response to that query, hoping that someone, somewhere, would decide to part with the one I wanted.

A year ago, one appeared on the market in South Carolina that was a near match to the car I had built in my imagination. As time passed after I decided that example was just deficient enough that I was not going to pursue it, I lamented having let it slip from me, as it seemed apparent that nothing in the world in perfect alignment with my expectations was going to appear for sale. I was proven wrong. Yesterday I brought home a 2013 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible, equipped with a 427‐cubic‐inch V8 engine mated to a six‐speed manual transmission, one of 2,552 manufactured by Chevrolet. Had I factory‐ordered this car when it was new, it is precisely what I would have ordered.

It is an engineering marvel, stunning to behold, and it sounds like a bar fight. I love it.