{"id":31082,"date":"2016-10-06T10:37:33","date_gmt":"2016-10-06T17:37:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=31082"},"modified":"2016-10-06T10:38:23","modified_gmt":"2016-10-06T17:38:23","slug":"mike-itels-autumn-leaves-survivor-show-corvette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/mike-itels-autumn-leaves-survivor-show-corvette\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Itel\u2019s \u201cAutumn Leaves\u201d Survivor Show Corvette"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"jetpack-slideshow-noscript robots-nocontent\">This slideshow requires JavaScript.<\/p><div id=\"gallery-31082-1-slideshow\" class=\"jetpack-slideshow-window jetpack-slideshow jetpack-slideshow-black\" data-trans=\"fade\" data-autostart=\"1\" data-gallery=\"[{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/10\\\/Lead-2.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;31097&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Mike Itel\\u2019s \\u201cAutumn Leaves\\u201d Survivor Show Corvette&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Mike Itel\\u2019s \\u201cAutumn Leaves\\u201d Survivor Show Corvette&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;The 1970s were a transitional period in automotive styling and paint work. New, wild techniques for creating custom paint jobs were being discovered and displayed on show cars. Let\\u2019s not forget that the Vannin movement was in its heyday, and vans made the perfect canvas for some of the wildest paint schemes ever created.\\n\\nWhen I spotted Mike Itel\\u2019s incredible \\u201cAutumn Leaves\\u201d 1971 Corvette at the 2016 Portland Roadster show I thought to myself, \\u201dWow, what an amazing throwback paint job to the early 70s.\\u201d The reason I thought it was a throwback paint job was because the paint was clearly fresh. It wasn\\u2019t until I started reading the Corvette\\u2019s history on a display board that I realized it was actually painted in 1972! I got weak in the knees\\u2026 I live to photograph survivor cars, and I have never seen a paint job as perfect as this that was applied nearly 50 years ago. I had to know more.\\n\\nMike Itel explained to me that he had always wanted a Corvette, but he couldn\\u2019t acquire one due to insurance reasons until he turned 25 years old. So in 1972, when he hit the magical age, he went hunting and came across a lady willing to do a partial trade on his \\u0026#8217;69 Camaro toward her virtually new \\u0026#8217;71 \\u0026#8216;Vette. The moment Mike acquired the Corvette, he had one thing on his mind: a custom paint job. And there was only one man to do the job \\u0026#8211; The Beard.\\n\\nJack Ruckman, aka The Beard, was already a highly regarded painter whose handiwork could be seen on everything from local vans and motorcycles to professional level funny cars and dragsters. Mike handed the keys to the \\u0026#8216;Vette to Jack and let him have complete artistic control over the paint scheme. When Jack returned the freshly painted Corvette to Mike he summed up his reaction in one word: \\u0026#8220;Awestruck.\\u0026#8221; Jack used the \\u0026#8217;71 as a test palette for several new techniques he applied over the factory Ontario Orange paint, and hit them all out of the park. I\\u2019m personally blown away by the flame work. In certain lighting the flames are basically non-existent, but take one step forward and they are blinding\\u2026 and gorgeous.\\n\\nAs a Corvette owner, Mike wanted to join a Corvette club, so he checked out a local meeting, where he met Ken Kinnear. As fate would have it, Mike purchased a home near Ken, and the two men ended up becoming lifelong friends. It was Ken who aided Mike in turning the \\u0026#8217;71 into a true show car, though at the time Mike was using the \\u0026#8216;Vette as his daily driver.\\n\\nMike noted that most of the chrome work was performed early on, but every year the \\u0026#8216;Vette would see improvements, piece by piece, never being shown at the same event twice without alterations. The \\u0026#8217;71\\u2019s debut car show was the 1973 Portland World of Wheels, where it took \\u201cBest in Sports Class.\\u201d Soon after, in 1974, Mike purchased a Chevy Nova, allowing the Corvette to only be driven to car show events.  The Corvette\\u0026#8217;s first appearance at the Portland Roadster Show was also in 1974, where it won Best Paint, Best Undercarriage, Best Display and Best in Sports Class.  The Best Paint Trophy was presented to the Beard at the awards by Mike Itel for this outstanding paint work. From 1974 to approximately \\u0026#8217;79 the \\u0026#8216;Vette was shown heavily, and even competed in concourse level events.\\n\\nMike retired Autumn Leaves from driving duties in 1979, primarily due to his fear of damaging the paint work, and began to focus more and more on his new-born interest of autocross racing. Mike had begun playing around with racing in the mid \\u0026#8217;70s with a \\u0026#8217;65 Corvette, but really caught the bug in the 1980s. Mike\\u2019s autocross \\u0026#8216;Vette is known as \\u201cMike\\u2019s Rootbeer\\u201d and still exists in \\u201cas raced\\u201d condition\\u2026 perhaps I\\u2019ll be able to tell its tale down the line.\\n\\nWhen I spotted Autumn Leaves at the 2016 Portland Roadster show it was the \\u0026#8216;Vette\\u2019s 10th time appearing at the event. Recently the \\u0026#8217;71 was nominated for the show\\u2019s hall of fame, but missed out by 1 vote\\u2026 The Corvette seems destined to reach the hall of fame someday, which is a dream of Mikes, but one thing is for certain: while under Mike\\u2019s care, the Corvette will continue to be cherished and preserved. Both Ken and The Beard live on through Mike\\u2019s \\u201cAutumn Leaves\\u201d show-stopping corvette\\u2026 a surviving symbol of an era that it represents perfectly.&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/10\\\/IMG_9431-Copy.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;31089&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Mike Itel\\u2019s \\u201cAutumn Leaves\\u201d Survivor Show Corvette 1&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Mike Itel\\u2019s \\u201cAutumn Leaves\\u201d Survivor Show Corvette&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/10\\\/IMG_9352-Copy.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;31085&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Mike Itel\\u2019s \\u201cAutumn Leaves\\u201d Survivor Show Corvette 2&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Mike Itel\\u2019s \\u201cAutumn Leaves\\u201d Survivor Show 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Corvette&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/10\\\/IMG_9427-Copy.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;31088&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Mike Itel\\u2019s \\u201cAutumn Leaves\\u201d Survivor Show Corvette 5&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Mike Itel\\u2019s \\u201cAutumn Leaves\\u201d Survivor Show Corvette&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/10\\\/IMG_9446-Copy.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;31090&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Mike Itel\\u2019s \\u201cAutumn Leaves\\u201d Survivor Show Corvette 6&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Mike Itel\\u2019s \\u201cAutumn Leaves\\u201d Survivor Show Corvette&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/10\\\/IMG_9389-Copy.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;31087&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Mike Itel\\u2019s \\u201cAutumn Leaves\\u201d Survivor Show Corvette 7&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Mike Itel\\u2019s \\u201cAutumn Leaves\\u201d Survivor Show Corvette&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/10\\\/IMG_9490-Copy.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;31092&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Mike Itel\\u2019s \\u201cAutumn Leaves\\u201d Survivor Show Corvette 8&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Mike Itel\\u2019s \\u201cAutumn Leaves\\u201d Survivor Show Corvette&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/10\\\/IMG_9570-Copy.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;31096&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Mike Itel\\u2019s \\u201cAutumn Leaves\\u201d Survivor Show Corvette 9&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Mike Itel\\u2019s \\u201cAutumn Leaves\\u201d Survivor Show Corvette&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/10\\\/IMG_9465-Copy.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;31091&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Mike Itel\\u2019s \\u201cAutumn Leaves\\u201d Survivor Show Corvette 10&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Mike Itel\\u2019s \\u201cAutumn Leaves\\u201d Survivor Show 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New, wild techniques for creating custom paint jobs were being discovered and displayed on show cars.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":31097,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3700,3697,3470,4879],"tags":[4706,39,413,4396,813,4921,41,4888],"class_list":["post-31082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-vehicles","category-galleries","category-news","category-slideshow","tag-chadly-johnson","tag-chevrolet","tag-chevrolet-corvette","tag-featured-cars","tag-gallery","tag-jack-ruckman","tag-news","tag-slideshow"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Lead-2.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-85k","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31082"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31098,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31082\/revisions\/31098"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}