Most of Terry McCollum's cars are black, "the color of oil," he says.

JARED GUYNES/Special Contributor

Terry McCollum's Z06 is one of only 500 that will be sold.

But Mr. McCollum, who owns an oil-field service company, made an exception for the special "427 Stinger" Z06 Corvette he recently bought.

The car is a gorgeous shade of red with a black stripe down the center of the hood that's reminiscent of the '67 427 Corvette, which was intentional, of course.

Only 500 of the Z06s will be sold worldwide at $80,000 or so a pop.

Mr. McCollum, 55, who lives halfway between Denton and Decatur, thinks his car is the first 505-horsepower 427 in the area.

"There was one that arrived before mine, but it got wrecked after they took it off the truck," he said.

The 'Vette will be in good company in Mr. McCollum's oversize garage. He also owns an '07 Corvette Pace Car, an '07 Z06, a '96 Corvette Grand Sport, a '91 ZR-1 Corvette, an '06 Ford GT, an '05 Dodge Viper, an '06 Dodge Ram SRT-10, and a historic Sox and Martin '69 Hemi 'Cuda drag car. And he's ordered an '09 Corvette ZR-1.

"I drive them all," he said.

He got the car through Corvettes of Dallas, which sells more than 300 used Corvettes a year from its location off Interstate 35E (www.corvettes ofdallas.com).

Owner Todd Fitzerman declined to say exactly how Corvettes of Dallas got the Z06 but said that an affiliated company, Corvettes of Houston, has a new-car franchise license.

"We have a vast network of contacts between the two stores," Mr. Fitzerman said. "Let's just say we used those contacts to get it."

Terry Box