Vehicle Description
Chassis No. 194679S715720
In August 1968, 23-year-old Ronald Rubin walked into Rowe Chevrolet
of Lexington, Massachusetts to order the 1969 Corvette of his
dreams. Having just sold his 1965 Pontiac GTO he arrived with an
expansive list of requests. At the top of the list for his Daytona
Yellow Convertible was RPO L71, Corvette's most powerful 427 cu-in
engine for street-use, and one that was optioned in just seven
percent of Corvettes that year. It was conservatively rated at 435
horsepower and 460 lb-ft of torque and was the second most powerful
big block outside of the special "off-road application only" L88.
The "Turbo-Fire" L71 featured Chevrolet's famous "Tri-power" triple
two-barrel Holley carburetor and intake setup as well as 11.0:1
compression, high flow heads, forged crankshaft, mechanical
lifters, and a special performance camshaft. Smartly, Rubin opted
to pair the fire breathing L71 big block with four-speed
close-ratio M21 manual transmission and side-mounted exhaust
system. Additional performance options recorded on the window
sticker were special front and rear suspension, Positraction with
rare 4.11:1 ratio, power brakes, and full transistor ignition.
Rubin clearly wanted a comfortable car as well, ordering Soft-Ray
tinted glass, power windows, an auxiliary hardtop, power steering,
tilt/telescope steering wheel, white stripe Goodyear tires, front
fender louver trim, audio alarm system, and even a speed warning
indicator and push-button AM/FM stereo radio. Quite the order for
such a young man! In fact, Rubin had been so liberal with the
additional extras, the options formed just over 30 percent of the
total amount!
It would be expected that Ron Rubin would be champing at the bit to
receive the car that September as relayed by the dealer, yet he had
to wait an agonizing seven months due to a worker strike affecting
production and parts availability. The original Owner Protection
Plan with Protect-O-Plate records the eventual delivery date as 7
March 1969. Upon taking delivery of the car, Ruben promptly removed
the hardtop and placed it in his in-law's basement where it would
not emerge until 1994! In the meantime, Ruben notes that his big
block Convertible "was meant to be a toy." He had a daily driver,
as did his wife, and the Corvette was always garaged and never
driven in the winter. A letter from Ruben, drafted in 2011, states
that it has only been driven just over 34,100 miles at that point
(20,000 of which occurred by 1973) and that while the passenger's
door was touched up due to a parking lot ding just after his
wedding, the car had never been in an accident and wears its
original factory applied Daytona Yellow paint proudly. In 1994,
Rubin had the car judged in NCRS competition and came away with a
Top Flight award - judged not in the Survivor Class, but in regular
class!
After 41 years of original ownership, Rubin drafted a letter to
John Berry of Burlington, Kentucky. The letter recounts that he had
just read "Irreplaceable Icons," an article written in Hemmings
about Berry and his collection focused on the finest, highly
original third-generation Corvettes and thought that his
"collection could be the perfect home for it." Such finds are
exceedingly rare when acquired from the original owner, and the
Tri-power big block quickly joined Berry's growing Stingray
Survivor Collection. In 2018, Berry delivered the car to Eastern
Corvettes for maintenance. A seven page summary description of the
work performed at Berry's request details a coolant system flush,
expansion tank repair, oil change and chassis lube, clutch
adjustment, a new spare tire with a note to save the original, and
a safety check.
Top accolades were to follow. In 2019 the car was invited to the
Bloomington Gold 50th Anniversary Corvette display at the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway where 50 hand-picked 1969 Corvettes
were presented as some of the finest "as built" factory examples in
existence. On 20 April 2024 at the NCRS Indiana Chapter Big Block
Saturday, this impressively original Stingray brought home a second
Top Flight award (94.1/100 net score with judging sheets available
for review), further proof of its excellence and "as built"
preservation. The car's exceptional provenance is further enhanced
with a window sticker, its original Protect-O-Plate, undisturbed
tank sticker, an owner's manual, brochures, NCRS judging sheets
(1994 and 2024) and correspondence with the original owner. Apart
from maintenance, this piece of Corvette history has been lovingly
preserved and is offered with just 34,181 original miles, less than
100 since Berry's acquisition in 2013.
