Not long ago, Jerry Ellison pulled up to the red light in Bruce in his shiny, red 1976 Corvette and a young guy eased up as close as he could in a Camaro.
“Mr. Jerry, you want to race that Corvette?”
Ellison said, “No, son. I’ve done got to old for that anymore, but if I was 30 years younger I’d blow the doors off that Camaro.”
Ellison has blown the doors off a few cars in his days, most always in a Corvette.
“The fascination hit me in high school,” Ellison said of his deep passion for the ‘Vette. “I grew up in the muscle car era – Camaros, Chargers, Challengers – and I just always loved Corvettes. Of course in high school, I couldn’t even think about getting one.”
Ellison, 62, has owned a Corvette most of his life after purchasing his first from a friend when he was 26.
Ellison has owned three – a 1972, 1975 and 1976. He said he’s always preferred the C-3 chassis – the Corvettes from the 1970s.
“I like the long, hood look,” he said. “They’re a lot of fun to drive. The best stress buster. You can have a bad day and you get in that Corvette and ride and the stress just leaves you.”
Ellison has a collection of all kinds of models, posters and articles in his home. Every car in his display represents one he recalls one of his friends driving in high school.
He pointed to a tall glass case filled with colorful muscle cars. “That green Duster was Phillip Pettit’s and the blue Roadrunner was Ricky Russell’s. Lots of great memories.”
“That was our entertainment on the weekends,” Ellison said of their road racing. “We tried to be safe the way we did it. We’d get out at odd hours and block off areas. I don’t guess it could ever really be safe. We just loved cars.”
The love continues today where Ellison visits car shows all over.
“Where a lot of people hunt and fish, I’d rather go to the car show. It’s a lot of fun for me,” he said. “I don’t enjoy showing mine as much as I love looking at everyone else’s. Most all you see have a great story behind them.”
He routinely attends the Blue Suede Cruise in Tupelo, has been to Cruisin’ the Coast numerous times and others he can find.
He also hosts the annual car show at the Bruce Sawmill Festival. This year’s show is Saturday, July 9 and will be located just off the northeast corner of the square.
“William Ruth, Larry Stacy and Richard and Wanda Watkins have done a lot over the years to help us build up the car show,” Ellison said. “We usually have a lot of local cars but they come from all over, too. We’ve had cars from Grenada, Pontotoc, Oxford, Tupelo, Aberdeen, Winona, Coffeeville, Greenwood, Amory, Houlka, Sturgis, Blue Springs, Eupora, Water Valley and more.”
This year’s show will include a People’s Choice winner and the Mayor’s Trophy, which Mayor Rudy Pope will award to his favorite entry.
“We’re excited about it,” Ellison said. “We hope everyone will come up and cast a vote for their favorite.”
The car Ellison would most like to enter would be the American Motors Scrambler he owned in 1970.
“That was the best car I ever owned,” he said. “I had one when I was in the Air Force for about two years and it would absolutely fly. They were made to compete with the Corvette. They were red, white and blue. They only made 1,500 of them.”
“I saw one not long ago at a car show in Gatlinburg. It’s ironic at one point there were two of those here in Bruce. Myself and David Green both had one. He carried his to the races in Memphis. One time his was on the cover of Hot Rod magazine.”
“I wish I had that one back today. It was about the time that gas first skyrocketed and I went from that to a Toyota Corolla, because I couldn’t afford it.”
Ellison is quite happy, however, cruising the “paved,” curvy, scenic country roads in his Corvette.
“I go from here to Water Valley or around this area most anywhere and I like to go early in the mornings when there’s not a lot of traffic,” he said. “I still have the original windshield in that car and I’d love to keep it. You get out with those big gravel trucks and stuff and you just draw up when you meet one.”
Although he’s not a racer anymore, Ellison acknowledges he likes to open it up from time to time.
“It handles so good. There’s just nothing else like it,” he said. “It’s the true American sports car.”
Editor’s Note: for more information on the July 9 car show at the Bruce Sawmill Festival, call Jerry Ellison at 414-1848 or William Ruth at 412-2170.