A dad who once reluctantly swapped his beloved red Corvette for a family-sized car in the ‘70s was recently surprised when his car-loving son presented him with the model he’d sacrificed so many decades ago. The moment sparked huge nostalgia, and was caught on video.
Dad Ron Farrell’s love of classic cars had rubbed off on his son Brent Farrell, 55, who was raised alongside siblings Chad and Kara in Omaha, Nebraska, before they moved to Houston, Texas.
“Ever since then, I’ve kind of always wanted to do the same thing for him.”
The object of his father’s affections had been a 1965 Corvette which he had bought fresh out of college while climbing the corporate ladder at Northern Natural Gas.
“He just bought that thing brand-new, right off the showroom floor. Red, with a black interior and black top,” Brent said.
That Corvette didn’t last, though. As it kept overheating, Ron’s own dad helped negotiate a swap, and the car was replaced with the same, only with a red interior and white top. He was no worse off for the deal, afterward.
This was the red Corvette of Ron’s memories.
“My dad had that car originally, as a single man, and then met my mom. Then they had my brother in April of 1967,” Brent said. “Soon after, I was born.
“He had to sell [the Corvette] to get a family car.”
The two-seater Corvette didn’t make sense with two infant boys, Brent said. So Ron reluctantly sold it and bought a 1962 four-door Mercury Comet.
After welcoming a daughter, Ron, now 84 and a dad of three, rose to executive at the gas company and settled into family life in a close-knit neighborhood.
“We'd just open the back door and go outside, just roam the land, and play,” Brent said. “We lived in Omaha until 1977, then moved to Houston [when] my dad got transferred.
The family would own a 1975 Convertible Oldsmobile Delta 88 and Jeep CJ5—a fun vehicle, said Brent—but they never got another sports car.
Over the years, Ron teased his second-born that he was why he'd sold his pride and joy. It became a family joke.
And from this, a notion germinated. Throughout the ‘80s, the idea of buying his dad the same model stewed in Brent’s imagination. As owner of a construction company, he had the resources; patiently, he kept an eye out for sale listings. Until, a 1967 Corvette popped up at an auction—the exact same model as his dad’s old ’65—and he knew the time had come.
“I was like, ‘This thing is spectacular,’” Brent said. “A lot of the other ones that I looked at had a pretty paint job and stuff, but hadn’t been totally redone, and I didn’t want to put them in something that would be unsafe or break down.”
This Corvette had been completely redone—every nut, bolt, and piece of the body and frame. “It’s all redone,” he said. “Original motor, original transmission, original carburetor, original rear end—which in the car collector world is a big deal.”
Brent was the final bidder at the auction in July 2022. From spotting the Corvette, to getting the classic car into the son’s driveway, it took a mere 10 days. Next, Brent contacted a trusted Corvette specialist to give the car a thorough overhaul. Then, with his siblings, he orchestrated a surprise reveal.
It would have to be sometime when everyone was together. Their mom, Alice, had her 80th birthday coming up. It was the perfect occasion.
In November, Brent invited his parents, siblings, and their families to his house for pre-dinner cocktails. Everyone arrived all at once. The Corvette, parked in a neighbor’s driveway, bore a “for sale” sign in ruse. The story was the neighbor was interested in buying it.
“Everyone just flipped over it,” Brent said. “My dad was just reminiscing, ‘Holy cow, this is just like mine!’”
They managed to coax the dad and mom to sit inside. They told stories of how Alice hadn’t been able to drive it. Then, Brent fetched out a sheet from the glove box and said, “Oh wow, look at this! Here’s a write-up on the car.”
Asking Alice to read out loud the bullet points, she did, and got to the last one.
There were the names of the owners.
Needless to say, they were their names.
Ron and Alice were stunned. Then came the joy.
“Hallelujah, I’m in Heaven!” Ron is heard exclaiming in footage taken of the momentous reveal. He threw his hands in the air.
After watching the video, they said it was “just unbelievable,” and “we’re so blessed.”
“We’ve done some driving around a couple times over the last couple of months,” Brent said. “He even took my mom out for a spin!”
