Power steering was not available on Corvettes for the first 10 years of production. Equipped with skinny tires and small-blocks, the lack of power steering wasn’t a big deal for the first generation.

It was almost a year ago--as I write this story--that I paid for my '87 Vette and took off in my first drive down the street in what was then known as "The Phoenix." A year later, and a year wiser, I ...