why bother?

Delete and topic locks are rarely employed at Corvette Guru. Generally, to delete or lock a subject it would have to be extremely offensive, provocotive in nature, sexually explicit or spam related. Why bother? It is in the general interest of the group (snd owner) to maintian a web site that will not be blocked (work friendly). Thanks for your inquiry.

The other day I was after some info on my C5 so I googled it and found a thread on another Vette forum. So I went there and was suprised to see how some of their other posts attacked the poor guys question. To the point that the guy left the forum....the rest of the thread was people hammering each other back in forth and the guy who made the mean comments.......It was total bullshit.

I thought then how nice it is that the Guru is a place you can go and ask a dumb question and never get killed for it. I like that because when I started out with my 90 I asked a lot of dumb questions and always got great and encouraging answers.

Now we may disagree on such things like those stupid liberals and it can get heated but not disrespectful......(I am just kidding about the S L's......)

That's ok because we know going in that it's a hot topic and everyone has their own opinion and that mine is always the right one......

This is a great site with a huge data base of knowledge and some good folks on it that are just trying to make their way through this life. If it takes some policing to keep it that way so be it.....

That's what I hate about many other Corvette sites, they have jackarses who think they know everything, and put you down or demean you if you don't know or ask certain questions. Total BS.

It's interesting that my original topic was ignored by all who viewed it, but now that I've tried to delete my own post, nothing but incorect assumptions.

It's the holidays, Bob... nothing personal... I wasn't even around much yesterday... sorry...

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I apologize, I never saw the first topic.

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Me neither......repost it......

Sorry for the drama, just a little pre-Christmas depression.

My topic was a question.
What started it for you guys with Vettes? Even tho my 1st was a '68 roadster, for me it's a baddass mid-year roadster with a bigblock and a bunch of cam. I can remember being a kid in the late 60's/ early 70's and seeing guys build up any muscle they could afford, but it was the Vettes that got me. The look of the Mid-year cars along with a thumping bigblock was just what the Dr. ordered.
Who's next?

Back in the 60's as I remember the vettes were an extra special car to own. I always liked vettes but no way I could ever afford one. The 62 was always a big favorite of mine because of the front of the old and the back of the new, followed by the mid years. When I started my second dive into the car hobby the midyears remained out of budget. I found I could afford to buy a late C3 or early C4. My final choice was a 1990 coupe. Once again it was a change car with the tail and nose of the old but with the updated dash and interior of the new. Mid/late 50's, 60's and early 70's remain my favorite overall car years. Most of them remain unobtainable to me unless I win the lottery.

The TV show Route 66 with Todd and Buzz is where at the age of 10 or so I first loved the Corvette....I wanted to do what they were doing and I wanted to drive their car.

As I have documented before what really set the hook was the day I was walking home from football practice in the fall of 63 and saw a brand new Sebring Silver with red interior split window sitting on the local Chevy showroom floor. I had never seen anything so beautiful. In those days a Corvette was the fastest car around without question.

When I was in 10th grade a kid from California transfered into our small Kansas high school. He had a 63 Saddle Tan roadster. He walked like a god amoungst us peons....girls flocked to him for rides and nobody would race him because he had a Vette and nobody could beat a Vette.......I had to have me one of those......and a long time later I did.

Mid years are still my favorites but probably won't have another one. I have had C2's,3's,4's and a 5. Each was better then the other in some way......the 5 being one of the most fun cars I have ever owned......

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Yea, Bob, I didn't see this before either.

Anyway, I can't remember a time when I didn't want a Corvette. I built C1 models and like Marcus, saw a Splitwindow brandnew in a showroom (one of the reasons mine is staying stock).

I had to settle for 3 different cars in highschool, 60 Chev,348 tripower. 56 Chev., 60 Bontiville tripower but the minute I graduated, I was working and looking for a C2.

I wanted a C2 so bad that I worked a year to get one before going to college, didn't want to drive junk in college.

So, from that day on (with the exception of a Datsun 280Z that was too much of a bargan to pass up), the only car's I've owned are Corvettes (excluding racecars).

Cars have mesmerized me pretty much since I achieved consciousness, but Corvettes always caught my eye more than just about anything else. But the one that knocked me for a loop was the '63 split-window - a shape like no other, and the mid-year dash is still among the most attractive I've seen. I'll probably go to my grave still wanting one.

Thats a good topic, I don't know why you deleted it....


What started it for vettes with me... I was about 13 and driving up to Wisconsin with my Dad to visit relatives. There was this classic car dealer that has a '70 chevelle red with black stripes, (I remember the price on them 13K) next to a '69 corvette love the chrome bumpers very cool... at that time C4's were new, they also had one there without a price on it. So that kind of started it for me. My neighbor had a black C4 I think a 90 as well, always liked seeing that car.

Fast forward about 7 years later(when I was 20), I was working as a technician, we had a '96 torch red c4 come in. I was pulling it into the shop and said to my boss, I'm going to get one of these... he laughed about it... less then a year later I bought one, my first vette (still have it) the '95 admiral blue.

-=Rick

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Yep, me too.
I didn't get the split window, had to settle for a 63 Vert with 2 tops.

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First Vette that I bought my first year in College. Guy that owned it was shipping out for Nam.....I loved this car and it loved me. I only gave it up to buy my first Harley that I and a good friend, who was just back from Nam, took on our Easy Riders summer in search of America tour. Now that was a DNBFS tour........

An excellent question, Bob... sorry the busy of the holidays caused me to miss it.

For me, it was somewhat complex. I always liked Vettes... but wasn't something I thought I would ever own.

First and foremost, my Mom was always the overly pragmatic, fiscally conservative control freak. She would attempt to tell me what to do with my money for pretty much all my life, until I moved to Cali... it wasn't easy, to be honest. This constant nagging and henpecking. Oh, she did it to my brothers, too.

My first real Corvette experience was after my Dad died in 1977. It was spring 1978, and I was active in group called NYPUM - http://www.nypum.org/ - check them out. Good group. It was designed to help troubled kids learn how to interact and focus on something - anything, really. I qualified because of the loss of my father.

We were having a fund raising car wash, when this guy pulls up in his late model C3 for a quick wash. He ends up giving 2 of us kids a ride around the YMCA parking lot! I was one of those kids! Oh, that was cool. But I dismissed it...

I knew I was doomed to a lifetime of automotive hell. At that time (and to a degree today), I was very Euro centric in my car preferences. Porsche, Ferrari, Lambo. The car I wanted for my 16th birthday was a Porsche 914. It was dark green, tan interior. 1972, IIRC, 1.7 litre, no rust that I could see, for about $2600. It ran very well.

I left hints, comments, talked about this car a lot. It wasn't a secret this was what I wanted. I even touched on the reality that even though it said Porsche, it was really a VW, so it was truly cheap to maintain. That was the reason it was made, a Porsche with VW maintenance costs and economy.

Nothing.

Then came Christmas Morning... And I got a Pacer. A white 1976 AMC Pacer. What a piece of shit. I hated that car from about the 4th day out. It took a while for the shock and awe to wear off, but after that, it was pure hate. Insulting hate. Hate that was caused by the reality that neither my brother nor my Mother listened to what I was trying to say. That came to a head when I asked one day, "why didn't you all at least look at the Porsche I was talking about?" Her reply was, "What Porsche? You should have said something." I was floored. Three months of gentle conversation - I knew then that if I overloaded her on something, it would cause a deaf ear and she would shut me off - was for naught.

It really broke me. Emotionally... It was a total disregard for what I cared about. I would have believed my brother Roy if he had said, "I did check it out, but it had some oil leaks and there was bad rust in the front end." I would have taken that as gospel and moved on, but for neither of them to be aware of my dream and not even take an hour to check it out? Ugh.

That was Christmas 1981.

A quick trip back to Christmas 1980. Mom and I drove down to visit my senior brother, Paul. He surprised us with the reveal of his new toy - 1967 Corvette coupe! Big Block. L71, 4spd, 4.11 gears, heavy duty brakes and suspension.

But there was angst with that... Paul bought that over the summer. Used up a major chunk of their savings to buy it, but business was good and life was grand. He went for it! The problem? Two months later, the company needed a new press. The existing unit wasn't keeping up with the added flow, so he borrowed money from Mom to buy a new press. This entire transaction really irked her, and for me, catching the emotional after effects, meant that Pauls Vette was forever tainted. It also reinforced for me, the chances of owning one became farther and farther away.

I spent the 80s in a Toyota Celica. Not a bad car... Then a brace of Honda's... a couple of Accord coupes and then a pair of Honda Preludes. The first, a red Si, my niece wrapped around a tree. The 2nd, a black VTEC, I put 173k miles on.

During the Honda period, I wanted something more. I had the first Accord, and almost traded it twice. First on a 1987 Porsche 944, but simply couldn't make the deal stick. The 2nd was for a new Eagle Talon, but the maintenance record of those cars was beginning to creep into the equation.

I had the Preludes, that helped a ton, but still wasn't where I wanted to be.

When I had the VTEC, I looked at a couple of different F-body cars, but nothing ever caught my fancy.

Then came the accident. I was parked at a Burger King in Wilmington, DE. June 2000. Backed into a spot against the front of the store. A large 6 wheel delivery truck just had to turn right in front of my car, grabbing the left front fender and dragging my car into the empty spot next to it.

I didn't like the way Travelers fixed it and I decided it was time. I started looking at other cars... Turbo Japanese... Supra, RX7, 300ZX, 3000GT VR4... even thought about an Acura NSX or importing a Nissan Skyline. Thought about a Ferrari 308, too.

But in all my conversations, it came back to one car - CORVETTE. All my gear head friends were suggesting a Corvette.

So I started looking that way and found this very clean 1992 LT1/MN6, polo green/tan coupe. With just under 40k miles. Clean CARFAX report and a current owner who took good care.

With a bit of front money from my Mom (she started to soften), I was able to buy the Vette, prep and sell the Lude, paid her off and that was that.

When I bought the Vette in 2000, it was $16,800.00. What could someone buy, new, for that money in 2000? A Ford Focus? Honda Civic? Meh.

A Pacer........LOL! That's like my old man showing up in a pink 60 Rambler.....that the dealer about gave away to him to get rid of....Ohh the shame and abuse I took from my friends....I have to give my old man credit though he made up for it later on....He cosigned the note on my first Vette.......good guy, I miss him.....

Well, being the same age as Tommy and Brad, I fell in love with the Corvette at an early age. As long as I can remember, I wanted a Corvette. My older brother (4 years older) was hot into cars, so that made me interested. I used to oh and ah every time I saw a Corvette.

My first ride in one was when I was 9...a Riverside Red/Black 63 SWC. Driven by the sister of a guy who was sent to Viet Nam. The girl was working for my dad that summer and dad sent her on a errand, she asked of I'd like to ride along......DUH. I knew then I was going to own one someday.

I remember going to my grandmas house one spring and going through a small town at the stop light coming the other way were a pair of 66 coupes, both silver. When the light changed they were off like lightening.

When I turned 19 I was driving a 64 Dodge Polara 500 with a 383 magnum/Torqueflite getting about 9mpg and the Oil embargo hit. I was going to trade the Polara for a Vega GT. I was going to community college, at the college was a guy, Viet Nam vet, who had a 66 coupe 327/350 4 speed. I got to know him and asked what kind of mileage he got, he told me that he would get 18-20 if he took it easy. I figured I could buy a used Corvette that would get similar mileage as the Vega and have a Corvette. I found and bought a 64 coupe that had just been repainted and a newer 350/300 engine installed. Interior was almost non-existant, but it was only $1800. Put an interior in it ($300), drove it for nearly 3 years, then with a family starting I knew that the Corvette just wasn't going to be practical, so I sold it vowing to my wife the day the new owner drove it away "Someday I'm going to have another one."

Fast forward 29 years, I had always watched and oh and ahhed over all the ones we would see. Two of the three daughters married and the third one getting there, I started looking in earnest, figuring I deserved my toy again. My intention was to by a 66 roadster, but they were well out of my budget amount. So I expanded my search to include 68-72's, again they were climbing into the higher realms of my target amount. At that time I started looking into the newer generations and the C4 caught my eye, they were reasonably priced, newer technology, good performance, good mileage and readily available. I found my 94 and bought it three days after my youngest got married. Since then I've updated to the C5. I don't say upgraded because there are things about the 94 that I really liked, but the 01 is better in many respects.

I still love the Mid-years the best (Marcus I love the one in your picture), but for actual driving, it's hard to beat the C5. I would love have another Mid-year, but unless I hit the lottery, or one of you guys give me one (hint hint, Bill), I'll probably not have one.

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v281/toms94/64%20vette/64dodge.jpg[/IMG]

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[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v281/toms94/64%20vette/1964Corvetteinterior4.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v281/toms94/Corvette/DDjune06013.jpg[/IMG]

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@TB.....Dayuum those Polaras were hot.......Nice story and pics. I hadn't seen much of your 94....Nice!

On my 65 check out the hippie flowers covering the holes where the front bumpers bolted on......LOL....It had the Nassau blue interior and looked great with the top down. I had both tops for it. Bought it in spring of 69 for 2500 bucks it had 30K on the clock.

@Brad....I agree that the interior and dash set up on the midyears are by far the best looking in my book also....

I really liked the 94, Marcus. It was a beautiful car with the red interior.

I musta forgotten to mention to Bill, that now he is a moderator, I get his C2 upon death.

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But, But, what if I die by putting it into an oak tree at 125???

Considering that I've had Corvette Fever all my life and they're the only cars I've owned and driven (with one exception)since 1970, I'd put one race in competition ahead of all the miles I've driven in my Corvettes.

Oh the blasphemy.

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parts is parts...

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What are you gonna do, drive up the mountain and throw it over piece by piece?

When I was a kid I got a pack of automobile trading cards...one of them was this below - the mako shark. I thought it was the coolest car I had ever seen. Then in high school, the C5 came out. Wow was that car ever sweet. When I was 18 I saw one close up and decided I thought it was so awesome that I wanted one. Fast forward another 10 years or so and I bought my C4. That's my story

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