Have You Seen This Car?

GILLETTE — Look hard at the picture to your right. Look closely. Does anything at all appear familiar?

Mike Mytro hopes you say yes. He needs your help if you know anything about his 1966 Corvette that was owned by a Chatham resident in the late 1970s. He's is in a wistful mood as he stands beside the vehicle, which, for the moment, is adorned with blue award ribbons as it sits in front of his home here in Gillette.

It's a beautiful car, really. A coat of dark green metallic paint adorns its exterior, and there's nary a scratch on the frame. It has a saddle interior. Mytro got the car in 1978 as a graduation gift from his parents, and it's his baby.

"It took me seven years to restore the car," he said.

It's in such good condition that he's won National Corvette Restorers Society awards for the antique at both the chapter and regional levels. The society, which holds judged events, awarded Mytro's car "top flight" ribbons—the highest prize one can attain.

But there's one problem. Mytro wants to take the car to national competitions, but he doesn't know enough about the car's history to be able to answer some of the questions he knows the judges will ask him.

"Before I take it to a national level, I don't want the judges to think I've pieced this car together," Mytro said. "If I have some type of history on the car, the judges won't think twice about me piecing it together."

All he knows, in fact, is that it was owned by someone from Chatham in 1977 and 1978. But he doesn't know where that person lived, or what the circumstances surrounding that ownership were.

What he does know is that the car was involved in a 1978 house fire that caused some of the paint to bubble. The car, which lost some of its value after the fire, changed hands, and Liberty Insurance took possession of the vehicle, which also has a special bicentennial license plate released in 1976.

"I'm assuming that the fellow didn't drive it in '77 and '78, and that's why I'm assuming they didn't want the car any more," he said. "They maybe lost interest in the vehicle, and when the paint blistered they told the insurance company."

Soon afterward, his parents bought the Corvette and gave him the present.

But he doesn't have much more information beyond that. He's been up and down the block in Chatham, trying to finding someone—anyone—who knows a little bit about the car's history. Maybe, just maybe, someone will recognize it, or know the previous owners.

"I'm just running out of options," he said. "I don't have that many more opportunities to try to find something."

He's talked to members of both historical societies in Chatham. He has contacted borough fire department members, and they have some great records—but they only go back to the 1950s. The township fire department had some of its records destroyed in a blaze.

Mytro was in touch with a retired state trooper captain in the 1980s who ran the vehicle identification number for him and found the car was originally purchased from Konner Chevrolet in Caldwell in 1966. That search also determined the second owner lived in Florham Park, and the third did, in fact, live in Chatham.

But there was no address associated with that information.

"It's just ironic that I just can't find anything on the car," Mytro said. "I thought it would be a lot easier."

So Mytro continues to talk to various people in town to see if they know anything about his car's history. He's gone around to different places, asking people if they know anything. The answer's always been the same, from the Chatham Post Office to Borough Hall.

That's why Mytro needs your help.

"Somebody has to remember something about the car," he said.

If you have any information about the car, call Mytro at 908-580-1631 or email him at michaelandkathryn@yahoo.com.