My 1978 Corvette Coupe

"Corvette Summer, Burt Reynolds, Smokey and the Bandit and those muscle car movies of the '70s inspired me when I was a teenager," says Robert Maxworthy, now 44, of Murrumba Downs. But it was another quarter of a century before he realised his teen dream.

This Corvette Coupe is one of a limited edition of 6500 made to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the sporty Chevrolet. "Every year Indy 500 invites a different car manufacturer to contribute the pace car for the event," explains Maxworthy. "It was the 25th anniversary of Corvette in 1978, so they invited them. "This is the only colour you can get and it had the L-82 longer-stroke 350 Chevy V8 engine in it."

Maxworthy has updated the suspension and fixed some of the very-70s silver upholstery but has yet to restore the original paintwork and signwriting. "With the Australian 30-year rule you can keep it left-hand drive so my search started with 30-year-old models," says Maxworthy who bought it from a New York owner over the web.

"I like a bit of a story and I fell in love with it because it is a little bit different."But I wouldn't recommend it (buying a car over the web) to anyone. "You hear horror stories and you do get some surprises. "I was pretty fortunate. He was a good guy who sent us pix of his family and helped with transport."

Maxworthy paid $US18,000 this time last year when the Aussie dollar was worth 92 cents. It took a week to get to LA on the back of a truck and six weeks on a boat to Australia. "Then there was the task filling out all the import approval papers and red tape," he says. "I got Geezers — these Gold Coast car importers — to help me with the paperwork and transport.

"After paying them, the final figure to get it here was about $22,000." The fibreglass-bodied Corvette sits on 15-inch wheels with wide 255mm rubber and a high 60 per cent profile which fills out the flared guards.

Maxworthy fires up the big Corvette in his garage where it kicks into life with a boom followed by a truck-like V8 exhaust note. He reckons it gets about 12 litres per 100km but he's not sure as he hasn't driven it enough. "I just use it for club events and weekends. "It's reliable and fast but I can't tell you how fast as the speedo isn't working."

It's not only hot to look at, but also to drive. "They get really hot in the cabin. They tend to suck the heat in through the firewall," he explains. The limited edition pace car is not the first Corvette Maxworthy has owned.

In 2006, he paid $30,000 for a right-hand-driver 1984 C4 which he still has. "I got into the Corvettes Down Under Car Club which was a great resource about the brand and I met people I could ask detailed questions," he says.

At the age of 17, Maxwell had a ride in his girlfriend's father's Corvette and fell in love — with the car. However, his first car was a little less sporty. "It was 1969 XR Falcon family station wagon hand-me-down from dad with the big bus steering wheel. "In went the curtains and out came the back seat straight away."

He then bought a HQ Kingswood four-door that was "tricked up to look like a Monaro". "After that I went off cars and my wife Tammy and I had 4WDs for years and got into fishing and 4WDing."

"When I took over the family business in 2004 we got the opportunity to do a few things that we wanted to do and then the toys started to come."