CASPER — Inside Larry Kloster's Corvette-themed garage are classic cars of all shapes, sizes and colors, strategically displayed by members of the Central Wyoming Corvette Club.
There wasn’t any reason to worry about leaking oil on the floor and, in some cases, a whole lineup of vintage iron was carried in with one hand.
Driver’s licenses and tags aren't needed for any of these mini Corvettes, Chevys, and other classic rides.
“They're small and easy to clean,” Corvette owner Ray Parnell said. “I just park them on a table.”
That’s because these collectors and restorers who are passionate about preserving and showing their vintage big-boy toys also love playing with and showing their pocket-sized duplicates.
To beat the March doldrums, a time of year when they usually cannot drive or show their Corvettes, members of the club in Casper put on a special car show.
Instead of featuring their full-sized Corvettes and other collectible cars, the members show off their fun-sized collections and miniature replicas of their own rides.
Since this has been a warmer-than-usual winter and spring, some members also brought their full-sized cars to display alongside their tiny twins, several sporting matching customized paint jobs and vanity plates.
Some members have thousands of Hot Wheels toy cars in their personal collections while others are just now discovering the joy of collecting miniatures and creating dioramas.
“The mini-car show was just something to do in the wintertime for our club to get together,” Parnell said. “I have collected them since I was a kid and have about 5,000 Hot Wheels on my shop walls.”
Parnell also has a replica of the real Corvette he drives, a 2015 Daytona Sunrise Orange Metallic C7. It was displayed on a mirrored pedestal that turns to catch the light.
And while these diminutive duplicates come at a fraction of the price of the originals, they’re not cheap, either. Many are rare collectibles that only keep going up in value, then can cost hundreds of dollars to restore, match and paint.
Jim and Celene Kirkendall recently joined the Central Wyoming Corvette Club and were new to the concept of collecting tiny replicas of their ride. They said it was a treasure hunt searching for the same model Hot Wheels as their real car. (Jackie Dorothy, Cowboy State Daily) 
Jim and Celene Kirkendall recently joined the Central Wyoming Corvette Club and were new to the concept of collecting tiny replicas of their ride. They said it was a treasure hunt searching for the same model Hot Wheels as their real car. (Jackie Dorothy, Cowboy State Daily)
Big Bucks
While most of the Corvette-lovers in the club have limited their mini collections to spending a few hundred dollars, Steve Adams, 47, has taken his own collection to the next level.
“It's an expensive hobby, and this is just one part of my collection,” Adams told Cowboy State Daily. “I spent up to $1,200 on a (replica) dragster once.”
His display of miniatures at the car show was a timeline of Corvettes through the years and has been a challenge to collect.
Beginning with the C1, originally produced from 1953 through 1962, Adams was able to find each generation of the Corvette for his display.
“It's just looking back through history,” he said.
Like the other club members, Adams also has a miniature replica of his own Corvette, a new red C8.
“The model cars I collect are not something that you just can go out and buy,” he said. They are rare editions and, in some cases, one of a kind.
Adams also has replicas of the Corvettes owned by his dad and brother. Each has a unique story such as his green 1964 Plymouth GTX.
“I have a good friend who has a 1970 GTX Plymouth that was his first car,” Adams said. “So I got that one in memory of him. And my dad loved yellow Corvettes so, as you can see, there's a lot of yellow Corvettes in my collection.”
Parnell said that while he doesn’t spend as much on his collection as Adams, he still has some exclusive miniature cars.
His rarest toy car was a lucky find at a seller’s market.
It is a 1963 Matchbox car that was turned backward in the box.
Like so many of the Corvette owners, Parnell has been collecting the model cars since he was a kid when owning the real deal was just a dream.
“When the (Hot Wheels) cars first came out in '68, I had one of the first Camaros,” Parnell said. “I'd buy two cars, one to play with, one to keep.”
The inspiring collector placed his pristine cars in a box beneath his home as a kid, but when he moved away, his mom gave them to his nephews.
They opened them up and had a blast.
Parnell said that at least they had fun and he turned his efforts to building his collection back up again.
The cherry red 1950 Chevy pickup and its tiny replica in Larry Kloster’s collection are dedicated to the memory of his father, who had the same model while Kloster was growing up. Each vehicle in his collection and their tiny replicas have a special story attached to them. (Jackie Dorothy, Cowboy State Daily) 
The cherry red 1950 Chevy pickup and its tiny replica in Larry Kloster’s collection are dedicated to the memory of his father, who had the same model while Kloster was growing up. Each vehicle in his collection and their tiny replicas have a special story attached to them. (Jackie Dorothy, Cowboy State Daily)
A Small Idea
The idea for the miniature car show was the brainchild of Ed Downes, 75, of Douglas.
Downes has been collecting them since he was 12 and is always on the hunt for ones that resemble his real collection of cars.
Downes is also a member of the Knight Kruisers Car Club of Douglas, which has been showing off small cars for the past 18 years.
He introduced the idea to the Casper club, which just held its sixth event.
“I bought some cheap little trophies from Oriental Trading, and there were 24 in a box,” Downes said. “I made a category for each one of the trophies and it was just something to do in the middle of winter.”
Some of the categories that Downes made were based on the scale of the model, and other trophies were handed out for the replica that most resembled the real-sized car or truck the owners drove.
Kloster donated the use of his Corvette-themed garage for the show and the club members each entered their cars and displays, hoping to win a small trophy for their big efforts.
Finger foods and fellowship make the gathering even more fun.
Ed Downes of Douglas is the brainchild behind the miniature car show and has replicas of all his life-sized cars, including his favorite gold 1969 Corvette Stingray. (Jackie Dorothy, Cowboy State Daily) 
Ed Downes was inspired to create a miniature exotic car display after going to the real thing with his grandson. The only difference is that he added the Aston Martin DV5, a James Bond car, to his display. (Jackie Dorothy, Cowboy State Daily) 
Ed Downes was inspired to create a miniature exotic car display after going to the real thing with his grandson. The only difference is that he added the Aston Martin DV5, a James Bond car, to his display. (Jackie Dorothy, Cowboy State Daily) 
Ed Downes of Douglas is the brainchild behind the miniature car show and has replicas of all his life-sized cars, including his favorite gold 1969 Corvette Stingray. (Jackie Dorothy, Cowboy State Daily)
Fun-Sized
Even before they started their mini show, many of the members of the Casper Corvette club already had replicas of their own cars that they would put on display at regular car shows.
“The first thing kids see is the small car going around on the rotary table, and that's what draws them in,” Kloster said. “It's not the big car, the kids are looking at the models.”
Parnell and Elaine Walters don’t just buy toy cars for their private collections, they also give away about 100 Hot Wheels at each show they attend together.
They say it is getting harder to find cars that are not based on cartoons but on the real deal. They don’t want to give away imaginary replicas.
“We just have fun with the kids,” Parnell said. “I let them sit in the Corvette and rev it up. Car culture is a great sport to be in.”
Cindy Chopping, another member of the Corvette club in Casper, has a replica of her 2014 Arctic white Stingray.
“I had to have the matching gray blade stripes put on it by a pin striper in Colorado,” Chopping said. “He actually pinstriped my car for me, and he pinstriped my die-cast car.”
She was even able to make a replica of her customized plates, Y2Slow.
Jim Kirkendall, who joined the club a few months ago, searched online to find a die-cast car that matched his yellow Corvette.
He is new to collecting model cars and was surprised at what a challenge it can be to match real cars exactly. He describes it as a treasure hunt.
Downes also has replicas of all his cars, including his favorite gold 1969 Stingray and the red 1957 Chevy he bought in honor of his grandparents.
Ed Downes of the Knight Kruisers Car Club of Douglas has both the real deal and replica of a red 1957 Chevy he bought in honor of his grandparents. He started a model car show in Douglas 18 years ago and enjoys creating dioramas to display. (Jackie Dorothy, Cowboy State Daily) 
Ed Downes of the Knight Kruisers Car Club of Douglas has both the real deal and replica of a red 1957 Chevy he bought in honor of his grandparents. He started a model car show in Douglas 18 years ago and enjoys creating dioramas to display. (Courtesy Ed Downes)
Stories Told In Miniature
Kloster displayed his look-alike models and explained that each has a special story attached to it.
He had graduated from Powell High School in 1970 and his '70 Chevelle is painted orange and black in his school colors.
The cherry red 1950 Chevy pickup in his collection is in memory of his father, who had the same model while Kloster was growing up.
Kloster and his wife drove the 2008 Indy Pace Car to Alaska and also drove it on the track at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“The die-cast model of our 2018 Grand Sport was custom made for us by a gentleman in Arizona, and it took us over a year to get it,” Kloster said. “It has all the different pinstriping to match the real deal.”
Kloster painted his own pinstripes on his model Corvette to match his 2025 Sea Wolf Gray, National Corvette Museum-delivered Corvette.
Club members Jim and Nancy Keeran have bought and sold Corvettes over the years, but have always kept their replicas.
“We have a 2000 silver Corvette that looks like the one we sold,” Jim Keeran said. “I have a '77 Plymouth Interceptor police car and a 1956 Chevy police car since I was on the police department for years."
“We also have countless Matchbox cars," Nancy said.
This year, the couple displayed a red Corvette to honor the man who once owned it before he died in 2024.
“We weren't really looking for a car,” Jim said. “But Cindy’s brother-in-law had passed away and they were selling the car."
Jim and the previous owner, Dan Chopping and his twin brother Sam, all shared the same birthday.
To honor this coincidence, the couple had the birth date put on the side of the car so that the date, 12/23/55, is now embedded in the pinstriping.
“It honors the man who passed away and then our friend Sam and Jim,” Nancy said. “It's kind of like the car is still in his family.”
Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.
