Robert Hedges recognized early that there are several large investments in a person life. The automobile, the dwelling, the family, and [a later realization], the education of an individual are the major investments any person will make. Employment in the early years was directed toward access to tools required to fix automobiles and practical knowledge about the auto, as large investment numero-uno.

Robert has had considerable experience in applied buying and selling, and the application of mechanics to a practical goal.

Robert had collected several Chevy IIs between 1967 and 1970. Robert had purchased a 1964 Chevy II Nova SS in 1967, and modified and improved it with a new 1970 LT1 370 HP 350, modified 400 Turbo, heavy duty 12 bolt 4:88 rear, headers, slicks, etc. This racing effort was later abandoned, with rare classic 1957 Corvettes replacing the nifty Novas before 1971. The need to compete in a sport while still physically immature was fulfilled with the sport of drag-racing, and the need was reduced when he reached physical maturity. He owned, in addition to the cranberry 1964 Nova SS, a green 1963 Nova hardtop [with blue front end], and a 1962 gray & orange primer gutted body. He also later bought a cranberry 1963 Nova SS while the red Camaro was wrecked in 1973.

Robert bought a red Camaro for $1600. in 1970. He was paying for it when drafted in 1971. He wrecked it in very early 1972. Robert bought a burned blue Camaro to get a doghouse for the Red 1968 Camaro. He gave the rest of the blue Camaro to the fellow whose garage he used for the repair. He purchased a white 1968 Camaro with a black vinyl top in 1973, which he combined with the Red 1968 Camaro after its second collision left it beyond repair. The white Camaro was a work auto while working for the Insurance Company in 1973. The total Camaro cost over four years, including major repairs, two paint jobs, and tires was less than $500. per annum. He sold the white 1968 Camaro in 1975 for $700. This is his type of investment.

Robert Hedges had invested in the hobby of racing since 1968, and he had acquired a street tunnel ram with two Holleys, a Crane roller cam and roller rockers, ported heads, Lakewood blowproof flywheel-shield, Muncie four speed with Hurst shifter, and many other goodies to supplement the basically great LT1-350 which had four bolt mains, windage tray, trap-door oil pan with huge oil pump, etc.. The successful motor project led to the search for the perfect body for such a great powerplant.

He had fallen in love with the style of the 1956/57 Corvette in the late 1950s, while standing in the back seat of Houston's auto, looking out the back window. There was a black 1957 Corvette convertible scooting across the railroad tracks in Buechel, and that memory stuck in his mind for years after. When he decided that a 1957 Corvette would be the right long-term project for his race motor and drive-train from the 1964 Chevy II, he called all the salvage yards in Louisville, and was told that no 1957 Corvettes were available. He was looking in Grade Lane Auto for an Oldsmobile power steering hose in 1970 and found his first junked 1957 Corvette. It lacked a trunk and rear panel; the interior was rat infested; the windshield was broken; the front end was sawed off; and the hood was drastically trimmed. The front frame horns were damaged badly and repaired poorly also. The differential had been cut from under it. The rear fiberglass was slightly broken, and the exterior chrome had been removed. The doors were on it however, and although the power windows units were later lost, these doors were later identified as factory power window doors. There was a date tag behind the door panel which said March 1956. This hulk yielded a number of useful trim and dash items. The price was right however, despite the visible shortcomings, and he had it hauled to a garage.

Soon after his first find he traded his green 1963 Chevy II for a 1962 wrecked Corvette. Robert had been looking over a red 1957 on 3rd St. Road, and he purchased it after the owner wrecked it. This car had exterior chrome, a hardtop, and had a running 327 with 4 speed. He purchased two gutted race Corvettes, one red and one white with a tube axle frame.

There are lessons to be learned from how he carried this project out. The efforts to have the very best required sacrifice of the interim pleasure which could have been derived from settling for less than the best. This 1962 Corvette was possibly a restorable car. It had a satisfactory interior, and the frame was not too badly bent to have been repaired. However, Robert was not able to reduce his goals to an interim plan of putting a motor in the 1962. This would have gotten a streetable Corvette going much sooner than a complete rebuild of a 1957. He sold the 1962 clip, the convertible top, and the posi-traction differential very quickly. The frame was stripped and set aside for later sale. The doors were also later sold. The windshield was used temporarily. The Red wreck was repaired with a front end from the white gutted race 1957. This combo was completely painted with white Imron, and put on the tube axle-modified frame. It was rolling on huge tires and classic style Cragars wheels, and it looked awesome. This body was sold to Doug Yates of Elizabethtown. Along the way Robert designed and had machined an adapter which put late model Corvette disc brakes on a wide camaro 12-bolt rear end. Thus, his Corvette was to have four-wheel discs like the racing 1969 Z-28 Camaro. This may be his first invention, at least the first commercially viable design he created.

Robert Hedges purchased a frame from another 1962 Corvette, and had it sandblasted. This frame had 1962 quick-ratio steering, better brakes, posi-traction rear with factory traction bars, and he painted it with gray Imron, and accented with chromed, and zinc plated bolts and brackets. It was used under the red gutted 1957 race body, with the hardtop, doors, and trunklid from the Red wreck. This combination was the final 1957 Corvette which was completely stripped, repaired and reworked, then painted with white Imron, using black Imron underneath. He stored this body at the farm during 1972, and restored this 1957 Corvette down to the last glass beaded bolt between 1973 and 1975.

Robert drove his white 1968 Camaro after its assembly during the year 1973 and during school year 1974. He traded some cash and the tube axle Corvette frame for a VW squareback, which he drove to school and the farm for a year or so in 1975. He also bought a DT3 Yamaha trail bike for use on the farm in 1974, and this allowed him to learn the land quite well and quite quickly.

He had to pay the costs of commuting and vehicular costs to get to the farm. This commuting had no purpose except to benefit the farm. He had liquidated his race car parts, his spare Camaro, and was using the VW Squareback to save gas, but that car only lasted a year. He invested in the repair of the Chevy C30 truck, whose only purpose was farm related, in 1975. Robert was driving the old Oldsmobile for a time in 1976, and then purchased a Red 1972 Camaro which lasted until 1980. This car was worn out commuting to the farm, church and school and, and finally it began to knock. It had cost $2000. when purchased, and was sold in pieces for about $600. The farm insurance was paid with the bulk of its sale price.

The lifetime Corvette was sold in 1985 due to the dire monetary circumstances resulting from lack of employment. The 4 door 1983 Chevette was received in trade, and that car was suitable to chauffeur the old folks around in their last years.