Aaron Turpen: The Aragon Collection — Four Generations Of Corvettes And Other Beauties

When I first moved to Cheyenne from Pine Bluffs, I quickly learned that my across-the-street neighbor, Alex, loved General Motors vehicles. He and his wife had a handful of really great cars.

Since then, they’ve added to the collection at the Aragon house. Even though I don’t live across the street anymore, Alex will usually drop by our new house to show me his latest acquisition or upgrade.

I recently went to visit, and the couple pulled all of their cars out into the street like a mini car show, and I took some photos. Alex and I talked about the cars, which include four generations of Corvettes and a beautiful convertible SS.

The first-generation Corvette (C1) is a white hardtop beauty that Alex bought for his wife as a birthday present. She adores it. And for good reason. It has a restored interior in red, all of the showroom chrome details and wonderful whitewalls.

This is the latest addition (as of this writing) to the Aragon household. Given that Alex describes his wife as an “enabler” for their GM car addiction, it probably won’t be the last.

The longest-running car in their collection is a third-generation (C3) Corvette 454. Alex bought this car as a present to himself after graduating college. He later sold it and immediately regretted that.

Eventually, he found one like it and purchased it only to find out that it was, in fact, his first Corvette. He’s had it since. It’s a beautiful version of what I call the Hammel Generation of the ‘Vette.

The C3 was featured prominently in the movie “Corvette Summer” with Mark Hammel, who at the time was riding high on his newfound “Star Wars” fame. Alex’s car is a year newer than the Korky’s Kustom 1973s used in the film.

Breaking away from the Corvettes, Alex saw a chance to get a 1968 Camaro SS and took it.

It’s an original convertible (not a conversion topless) and a beautiful mostly original car. It’s a favorite at car shows.

Of all the classics in the Aragon collection, this one has the best pipe rumble to my ears. Alex describes it as a “smooth Sunday drive.” I guess that if your car collection includes some fast modern models, that’s probably an apt description by comparison.

Speaking of those, the Aragons also have two seventh-generation Corvettes and a new eight-generation. The C7s are both performance models, the Z01 and the ZR1.

For those not in the know, the standard model Corvettes (usually referred to as Stingrays) are pretty fast. The Z01 is a little faster, adding some sport components and more engine tuning. The ZR1 is basically a street legal race car with carbon fiber all over the place and a lot of tuning. Like, a lot lot.

When I lived across the street, I received a C8 as a test model. They’d just come out and were not yet in showrooms at that point and I had the car to drive for a week to evaluate and review it.

Alex, of course, was immediately interested. So, I took him for a couple of rides and we put some fast onramp runs on it to get a feel for its acceleration.

I could see that he was in love. He didn’t just like this car. He like liked it. His eyes had that gleeful enamor-filled glaze a fifth grader gets when he meets his first crush. A few weeks later, he had one in his driveway.

Over the next couple of years, Alex came by our new house with his new finds. The Z01 arrived as a beautiful example of what a C7 can be. Then the yellow ZR1 with its “good luck keeping your license” sound arrived.

If you’ve lived in Cheyenne very long or are a part of its car scene, you’ll know the Aragons.

Alex was a prominent fixture in Cheyenne business for a long time and the two of them are active in the Cruise Night and regional car show culture. They’re also avid Harley-Davidson riders and have many friends in that arena.

They’re nice people with a lot of very nice cars.