Tommy and Donny Dement have turned a passion for classic Chevrolet Corvettes into a profitable business. And they have done it mostly through the Internet rather than their Memorial Boulevard showroom. “We are just Corvette crazy,” Donny, said recently from the Vintage Vettes dealership he and his brother own and operate. “We love what we do.” Tommy, agreed. The brothers developed a love for these sleek, high-performance cars they call works of art as teenagers growing up in Murfreesboro in the 1960s. Tommy bought his first Corvette — a 1960 model — in 1969. Even back then these two-seat beauties were rare. Donny won 11 national shows and a Grand National in 1985 for a 1960 Inca silver Corvette. The brothers have owned more than 400 Corvettes. Vintage Vettes specializes in Corvettes from 1953 to 1962 — the most rare and hard to find of the sports cars. About 90 percent of their approximately 50 sales a year come through the Vintage Vettes Web site at www.vintagevettes.net. The brothers also receive hundreds of calls each week from across the world. Many buyers purchase the cars without seeing them in person. “The people we meet, they are just like us,” Tommy said. “They have a passion for these cars.” Vintage Vettes arranges the shipping for a lot of these vehicles; other buyers fly into Nashville and drive the cars home. They have shipped Corvettes to such locales as Russia, Sweden, England, France, Switzerland, Italy, Norway, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Canada, Australia and Hawaii. The Dement brothers find most of the vehicles they sell through connections they have made in the car show circuit. Vintage Vettes can arrange financing on the vehicles they sell. “They are a very good investment, they are very collectable,” Donny said. Classic Corvettes continue to increase in value because of their rarity. Production of the all-American sports car began in 1953. Only 300 of the first year model were assembled because they were all hand built; most of these 1953 model vehicles now sell for between $300,000 and $500,000. The first V-8 Corvette was released in 1955. Hundreds of framed photographs of the Corvettes they have sold over the years decorate the walls of the Vintage Vettes showroom.

Vintage Vettes is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. “We always love for people to come look at the cars,” Tommy said.