Hot wheels drive township resident to Corvette Fever
Magazine features U.F. man and his restored 28-year-old automobile
BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer

Barry Caparotta, of Upper Freehold Township, gets ready to go for a cruise in his Corvette, which was recently featured on the cover of a magazine.

UPPER FREEHOLD - Nineteen seventy-eight was a watershed year for Barry Caparotta. He married his wife, Joanne, started a new career and bought himself a red Corvette.

Twenty-eight years later, Caparotta has the same wife, the same profession and the same car. In August, the care and restoration he gave to his automobile landed him on the cover of Corvette Fever magazine.

Caparotta said his original motivation for buying a Corvette was simple.

"I wanted one," he said, adding that his motto is that life is not a dress rehearsal.

For the past 28 years, he has enjoyed the car and has "driven it relentlessly." When the odometer read 365,000 miles in 2004, he decided it was time for a renovation, of both the interior and the exterior. While he did some of the work himself, most of it was done by Corvette professionals.

Corvette Paramedics, a company in Mount Holly owned by Ron Nowacki, did a great deal of the restoration, he said.

Amazed at the restored condition of the 26-year-old car, his wife, Barbara Nowacki, contacted a sales representative from Corvette Fever magazine. In turn, Corvette Fever editor Alan Coleman contacted Caparotta.

In August 2005, the magazine invited Caparotta to the annual Corvette show in Carlisle, Pa., where Caparotta met with Coleman and also participated in a photo shoot.

The magazine photographers took pictures of the car for an hour and a half. Then, the photographers asked for action shots, which meant that Caparotta actually had to drive the car out on Route 81 while a photographer drove alongside him taking pictures.

Being featured in the magazine - and especially on the cover - was "a real trip," Caparotta said.

Caparotta, who is an insurance specialist with the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., said the car has been a favorite with his customers, who often ask him how many miles it currently has. He said some of his customers have grown up with the car.

Caparotta said he doesn't drive the Corvette as much as he used to, and that the mileage is now up to 388,000. He has no plans to get rid of the vehicle, according to Caparotta, who said it's been a lot of fun. He also said he has no plans to buy a new Corvette anytime soon.

When asked about the differences between today's Corvettes and his own model, he said the new cars are more advanced, especially electronically. In his opinion, for the money, the Corvette is probably the best sports car in the world.