February Corvette Museum Ambassador Member Spotlight:
Perku Nathiswaya
Every Month we take a moment and give special thanks to our Ambassador level members who help promote the National Corvette Museum and the Corvette lifestyle across this great nation and around the world. This month, February 2009, we’d like to show our appreciation to international Corvette collector Perku Nathiswaya. Perku’s interest in Corvettes was peaked in one of his first visits to the states back in the late 1950’s while attending the DeVry Institute of Strip Mining in Angels Camp California. While learning environmentally questionable mining techniques, he was tooling around in his very first Corvette, an Aztec Copper 1956 with a three-speed transmission - one of only 402 cars painted in the copper color. He opted for the seat belt kit from the dealer, an auxiliary hardtop, whitewall tires, courtesy lights, and a parking brake alarm. When he returned to Sierra Leone to establish the Sierra Leone Mining Co-Operation (S.L.M.C.) Freetown he was forced to sell his copper Corvette.
He never forgot his Aztec Copper ‘56, and through his stints in Third World strip and diamond mining operations, and later as a government minister to the banking industry of Zimbabwe he began to collect many cars, including Corvettes. Because of his jet-set lifestyle, he spread his collection so he may visit his Corvettes near his many residences. After retiring from mining and banking, he started Perku Nathiswaya's Exotic Kar Konnexshun of Kenya, (PNEKK) an exotic car locating service specializing in international shipping that increased the Corvette population on the African continent by tenfold.
Nathiswaya’s collecting style is unique, one part of his collection can be classified as untouched. Perku appreciates un-maintained cars that are kept as he found them. Zimbabwean Corvette restorer Ngobe Ngayaka keeps several of Nathiswaya’s prized origninal Corvettes in the exact condition as found, down to the actual air in the tires.
Another interesting genre Perku has made his signature is the American Flag covered Corvette – he has one C2, several C3’s and C4 Corvettes all draped in stars and stripes. Appropriately enough, he contacted Wendell Strode of the National Corvette Museum about helping him recover some funds from an international bank transfer gone bad when a Somali pirate lost his paperwork. Mr Strode directed Perku to a local collector who helped with the transfer and in return has housed this patriotic gaggle of Corvettes until Nathiswaya’s further notice.
Numbers matching isn’t important to every collector, and Perku proves he’s not a card carrying member of the NCRS with a number of Corvettes he’s had built by famed auto-customizer Mr. Sessay Massaque of Ghana.
As a great ambassador of the Corvette hobby, Perku recently gave the National Corvette Museum the opportunity to purchase his entire collection. While the NCM would be honored to display this collection, current economic conditions do not allow for the museum to expand its inventory. At this time we are proud to announce we are partnering with Nathiswaya’s crude oil merchant, Mr. Jono O. Aboh in offering Perku’s extensive collection for sale. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the National Corvette Museum.