Who wants to open the door to a Midyear Coupe and feel comfortable ? Open that door, scramble in to that awful seating position, open it up and feel like you're doing 160 mph while you're actually doing somewhere near 60mph. And then go buy a used Toyota Corolla to feel confident and safe.

Ray

 

 

Pretty much....add insurance to that worry. Classic car insurance is cheap if you don't daily drive the covered vehicle

 

Hi Jay,

See this post

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ly-driver.html

I sold my Automatic '65 to this member (above average stock driver) who sold it for a c6 in less than 6 months. He was new to Corvettes/C2 and wanted a daily driver.

You should send him a PM on why he changed his mind

I say go for it

Phil

 

Jay,


I bought my 65 roadster as a driver and like you have a Porsche 930. I used to drive the Porsche pretty regularly until the value skyrocketed. In so far as performance goes, my Sting Ray has no AC (I live in Florida), power brakes, or power steering. Yes it has heavy steering while parking, but I knew that when I bought the car. I wanted something with no frills and easy to maintain. If you're mechanically adept I see no reason not to buy one of these cars as a driver. I'm pretty conservative where I park so as to not get the "door" chips as such. I have a stated value insurance policy on my car in the event is stolen or destroyed. These cars certainly won't perform like a new car and I knew that prior to purchase. However that is part of their charm. Anyone who has owned a vintage Porsche Turbo already knows that, criminy the AC in any pre water cooled Porsche is used to that. I'd say go for it, nothing beats driving a vintage Sting Ray.

 

If you take it out and park it and leave it I would sure have some sort or disabling device or tracker on it. I learned to hot wire a car with a piece of wire and screwdriver when I was a dumb 17 years old. It's so easy to do I'm sure even these techno crazed, Facebook addicted kids of today can figure it out to.

 

If I drove my 1959 as daily driver I would go broke filling it up everyday with premium fuel diving to the Chiropractor.

 

Many are not aware of this issue, but because of the high mounted fuel tank, if you are hit in the rear, especially by a truck or SUV that have high bumpers, they will override the C2 bumpers, hit and break open the fuel tank and the thin fiberglass bulkhead between the tank and cockpit. The resultant fuel that floods the cockpit will likely catch fire.

Many of these accidents have occurred over the years. The last I am aware of happened in the Phoenix a few years ago. The C2 was hit by a F150. The driver and pass. survived, but were badly burned and will likely be severely disabled for the rest of their lives.

GM finally addressed the issue by installing a two piece fiberglass tank that was bonded together with an internal rubber bladder, circa 1977.

It's not a good idea to drive these cars everyday. Given all the high bumper trucks/SUVs and distracted, drunk, and drugged drivers, you are really increasing your chances of being severely burned or dying if you get rear-ended.

Keep the C2 for weekend pleasure driving and get a modern car for the daily junk miles.

Duke

 

There might be a way around the "points distributors" issue. I'm not sure, but the topic may have been discussed once or twice in this Forum.

 

when your dead on the side of the road with your new widget t
he guy with points will still be going

 

When I saw the price I thought that is a pretty good price and then I saw the flares. You will not have to worry about thief with this car. The C2 coupe is the best looking design body of all corvettes and someone tries to improved that design with flares.

 

It's got some 80's style flares....but not the end of the world. There were a lot of folks who did the headlight mod too. Still need to check for normal frame/birdcage rust but otherwise if you like it OK go for it. If you're intentions are to put it back stock..it will get expensive. Mechanical stuff is easier to do than body work for most folks.

I think a C-2 coupe with A/C would be fun for a daily driver. I know a few guys with LS motors, 6 speeds, A/C etc and they really are nice cars. Still old school. But if done right you won't lose money on it no matter how many miles you put on it.

Plus you get to have fun!

JIM

 

It's not that hard to take a statement out of context to make the author look like a poorly informed novice. But I seldom do it.

 

That was not my intention, but I can see now how what I wrote could come across that way. I apologize.
I know that you certainly are neither poorly informed nor a novice, nor did I seek to cast you in that light. Nor, for that matter, would I mock someone who DID seem poorly informed, a novice, or both. I was merely jesting about how hotly contested the subject of points vs. electronic points replacement is in this Forum.

Again, I apologize.

 

I accept and have nothing but the highest regard for people like you who have both the judgment and courage to admit their mistakes. I wish all my verbal miscues were as small as this one.

 

I think nearly everyone got that this was a joke...

Driving the split window much is a bit hairy....every dweeb in some large vehicle wants a cell phone picture of the rear while driving 5' off my bumper at 60 mph. Never thinking their distracted BS could burn me alive if the worst happened just so they could show everyone what a cool life they lead on Facebook.

I've done the front end bumper car game once and the C2s are more solid than people think on the front; the gas tank area not so much.. Put LEDs in the rear and I always pump my brakes when stopped and some moron is careening up behind me....

Its something to think about...

As to leaving the car out of your direct eyesight, no matter what protections it has, can be captured in one word; ballsy. Even if some clown doesn't steal it there are jealous dillweeds that will key the paint or steal a small part off it. IMO, don't do it...

Some jerk just yesterday got so close behind me on a hill excitedly pointing the car out to his wife/gf that I had to slide the snot out of the clutch to pull away without drifting back into him... I would have had to do the parking brake trick if the hill were any steeper.

Sadly, I do drive my car less since my accident...

Finally, if your car does get tagged in a traffic mishap - this is where the restomod guy have it all over us original folks. Hood gets nailed, order one from Corvette Image and trim it up and install it. A heckuva lot easier than spending 2-1/2 months finding an original, paying for it (big $$$) and then shipping it across the continent. (Been there, done that)

NONE of which should prevent you from driving and enjoying your car; just some real-world insights from somebody that's done it a bunch...

 

 

I spend almost 2 hrs/day of monotonous commuting in a rolling, AC’d, living room. Doing that daily in my ‘66 would very quickly kill the romance of my wife and my special vette jaunts. Marrying a gorgeous swimsuit model with severe personality problems may have powerful emotional appeal, but will eventually wear down the best of us.

Every time I park our 66 out side a restaurant I hide the cigarette lighter from “collectors”. And that’s just one of my defensive tactics. Odds are very long for a long term happy relationship as a DD. Best wishes

 

Sure.

And when you’re on the side of the road with a file and a set of points from your glove box, I’ll wave as I drive by with my HEI set up...

OP - life is short, enjoy it.

 

That is until your module goes bad and your dead in the water. No mater what you have it will fail.