SILVER & BLACK; Filmmaker Michael Brown enshrines special Corvettes.(Revs)

Byline: Phil Berg

In 1985, tv anchor Michael Brown and his wife, best-selling novelist Sandra, had the means to buy a Corvette for his 40th birthday. As Will Cooksey, longtime boss of the Bowling Green, Kentucky, Corvette plant, says, "With our potential customers, it's not will they buy a Corvette, it's when.''

So 1985 was when a Dallas-area garage and its contents began more than 20 years of defining Brown's obsession. A careful plan was hatched for Brown, now a filmmaker, to collect special models of each generation of Corvette, not so much because he wanted a group of fast cars but because he thought the people behind each car's creation were significant. "I loved the thought of doing a history of Corvettes, all six generations. There was some method to my madness.''

For example, he needed a split-window coupe because of legendary engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov and colorful Chevrolet boss Bill Mitchell. Brown imagines the bickering the two executives had about the split-window's styling.

Then Brown had to have a '62 because it was the last exposed-headlight car until the C6. That fact is of great consequence to Brown. Headlights are an important ...