Photo courtesy John Ruffner
John Ruffner's '72 Vette an anniversary gift he'll always treasure
By Claudio D'Andrea
Almost 30 years ago, John Ruffner found the classic car he was looking for on sale -- a 1972 Corvette with an Elkhart Green finish and 454 LS5 big block engine -- and tried to make a deal.
His offer fell through and he walked away, thinking that was the last he would see of the car.
What he didn't count on was his wife Maria.
The Saugerties, N.Y. resident recalls it was in 1997 and he had a good job and a company car. He wouldn't need new wheels for a while so he told his wife he wanted a nice classic car.
A "GM guy," Ruffner first looked at a Buick, a LeMans and an Oldsmobile 442 to fit his 6-ft. 4-inch, 300 lb. frame. Then he saw the Corvette sitting on a street in Kingston, N.Y. where he was living at the time. It fit him like a glove. It had four speed transmission and air conditioning, teli-tilt steering wheel, power steering and power brakes.
"It looked really interesting to me so I had a mechanic friend of mine come with me to take a look at it. When we inspected the car and got underneath it he said, 'You better get in under here and look at this with me. You're going to like this," Ruffner recalls.
"He said, 'I can still read the paper tags that are on the springs meaning that this car probably never saw snow let alone rain.'"
The numbers also matched the car with its original engine and transmission.
The Saturday after his offer fell through, Ruffner said his wife asked him to go shopping for food. "She never sends me alone because I end up buying a few things I really like and I shouldn't eat," he says.
When Ruffner got back home, he saw the car in his driveway. "I said, 'What did you do?' She said, 'I guess I'm just a better negotiator than you and happy anniversary.'"
At the time, the Ruffners had celebrated the 10th anniversary of their November 21, 1987 wedding. They had been high school sweethearts since the 11th grade.
"When I got the car it had 73,000 miles on it and now [it] has a little over 84,000," Ruffner said in early April.
Ruffner didn't save the tags because they were stuck on the springs and both the front and rear springs ended up being replaced at Jim Glass Corvette shop in Kingston.
Living in upstate New York, he said he could not wait "till the road grit and salt is gone" -- along with the potholes -- at the end of April so he could take his car for another spin.
Ruffner retired a little more than two years ago and joined the First Capital Corvette Club of Kingston, N.Y. He went to his first official club meeting of the year recently.
"I hope I can see the day that the odometer turns back over to zeros," he said.
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