When given this prompt about collections, my thoughts turned to my uncle in Wisconsin. When asking what it is that he collects, I already knew the answer would be corvette memorabilia. I never appreciated the collection, (though I have seen it many times) until the phone interview where I could tell that there was something enchanting, almost magical about his various responses. So in chronological fashion I preceded to quiz him on the subject. Despite being a few hundred miles away from me, it was like a heart to heart conversation over some hot tea.
When asking about how long he has been keeping his collection, he paused and answered 20 years, which shocked me completely because that was longer than I have been alive. Then the question I was most interested in was asked. How did you start to collect them? He responded that he was fascinated by them on the road as well as their unique history. There was not as clear an answer for the question that followed which was how much of this he had accumulated over twenty years, but he did answer with all the different types of collectibles. They varied from hats, clothes, matchbox, diecast, motorsed cars, calendars, stickers, books, and car models from the factory in Kentucky, the sole factory that produces all corvettes, and a collection of all 50 corvettes made.
Because my uncle is 37, I knew that the answer to what type of car is his favorite I would get more than a word or two word responses and more than just what is popular now. I was shocked and my pencil could barely move fast enough as he described his favorite car. “A 1963 convertible model made in electric blue and also contained the biggest muscle car engine” he rattled off as it was in common conversation. Other people have mixed reviews. Some people say a 37 year old man should not be playing with let alone collecting toys. Others however are amazed by all of the different cars and adore it. As for whether he was done collecting them he said “my collection will never be complete”. Finally, the dream he has kept in the back of his mind as future plans for his collection is to make a display for all of the memorabilia and get a few real corvettes to bring it to another level. It sounds good to me and I hope he continues he dream or obsession depending how you look at it for many years to come.