RatDog

Since there are so many in the “over 65” category, it would be interesting to see brackets for 65-70, 70-75, and over 75. I turned 73 this week and I know there are quite a few members here who are older than me. Some of us are still able to function mentally and physically <LOL>.

Steve

R66

I think when the black balloons float into the air at the 50th birthday and realization that the grim reaper is hiding around the corner, so does the restraint on the billfold (if the 50 year olds still carry one). Generally, the children are grown and have their families and are self supporting as well as having their own life. The 4 seater is no longer needed for the family. The C1 and C2 are now within the range of disposable income for some and you only need room for your best friend in the passenger's seat. Also, you have to have something to pamper and spend your time on as the romantic demands from the spouse are no longer highest priority.


A MSN poll put the 68 Camaro at the top for classic cars in Illinois. Probably because you can still buy one for about 1/2 of the price of a C1 or C2 in the same condition for a driver and they perform well in a straight line. You can bolt on wider wheels and tires without suspension or body modification to make it your own. Guess I fit in to that group with the first Gen 1 Camaro (a 67) I bought in 1973 to use as a family car and two (68's) more along the way. Even the Gen 1's value seems to be starting to give way to the 80s fox body mustangs, 4 cylinder "TUNER" cars, and other plentiful muscle cars and cheap starter HOT RODS. We put less than 250 miles on the 68RS last year, but it seems to draw more attention than R66.


Love for the HOT ROD may give way to leisure sports (golf), social media (face book), etc. and slowly die out for most people. How many Bloomington Gold events do you see for 25 year old 1994 Chevys, Fords, Chryslers?


Just $.02

TexVette66

My Dad told me that the good die young,so I would live for ever!

AkrHack

I second this...

GTOguy

Your $.02 matches my $.02 perfectly. Couldn't have explained it better myself. I have two nice first gen GTO's that I bought about 40 years ago as a kid. I couldn't afford a '63-'67 Corvette, but I could afford the GTO's, so that's what I got. Plus, they were far more practical, with passenger and luggage space. And they were CHEAP. Move forward several decades and I'm 54, financially secure, no debts, have lost a lot of friends and family due to old age and disease, and am looking at the other side. So I bought a '61 Corvette. It was then or never. Looking at a C2 currently as well. I can't take it with me. I'll be 58 this month, and intend to enjoy the time I have left to the max. The days of Top Ramen for lunch and shopping for the cheapest cuts of meat are over. It's time for us old folks to get cracking!!

Mr Fufu

I turned 60 this year, so I guess I'm smack dab in the middle of this survey's demographic.

I had 'hot pants' for a Corvette when I was in my early 20's. My mom gave me her ‘75 Camaro when she moved to Hawaii when I was 19 years old back in ‘79. That car started life baby-blue, with vinyl roof and houndstooth interior. Yecch! But, it had a 2-barrel 350 engine which I later found had a 4-bolt main block. So, of course I hopped this car up: painted it turquoise, ditched the vinyl roof, swapped in a black interior, fitted turbine alloy wheels w/ T/A radials, headers and dual exhaust, 4-barrel and alum manifold, etc, etc. Trouble was, this car was a turd from the factory! It was heavy, and suffered from premature rust. Could never cure the squeaking from the base of the windshield. In my hunger for more power I finally put a nitrous oxide kit on it, which led to the demise of the engine. Oh, but I did scare away quite a few Mustangs and Camaros before I blew up the motor!

One day in 1981 I got a ride in a silver '63 coupe 340hp car. I was gripped with Corvette Fever from that day! That car would MOVE! It sounded great! And it was a real car, with metal ***** on the dash, a world apart from the warping and ill-fitting plastic inside my Camaro. So, that same year when I was 23 years old I sold the Camaro for $5,000. I then conned the bank into lending me the remaining $8,000 I needed to buy a '65 couple - at 19% interest rate! A rolling dream - Rally Red, 365hp, sidepipes, teak wheel, black leather, and 42,000 original miles - HEAVEN! I had the naive notion of this being my daily driver…

But, after 3 months of walking crooked from the heavy clutch pedal, suffering large gas bills, getting pulled over by cops because of the loud sidepipes, and worrying about it being stolen or keyed, I realized the Vette wasn't going to be the ideal commuter car. So I bought a '72 Nova 4 door, which I dubbed "The Quadraportte", for daily driving. That Nova was crap too, but it was a cheap and expedient, and not so expensive to run. I quickly learned to hate that car; it had two-doors-too-many, and a weak 307 that wouldn't pull a hobo off your sister. And worse yet, nobody would as much as look at me behind the wheel, unless I was about to run them over! So, I set out to find a car more worthy of my interest and affection, one that could double as a daily driver.

Well, not sure what I was thinking exactly, but a few months later I came across a rather nice '65 Riviera Gran Sport for sale. I was captivated by the semi-custom look and those Pac-Man clamshell headlight covers… The owner was in the Navy and was being posted to the Philippines and wanted it gone, so I got it for only $2,000. That became my daily driver for 10 years. Oh, I didn't save anything on gas driving the Riv, thanks to my lead foot and it’s dual quad Carter AFB’s. But that was a REAL car, with exceptional get up and go, and also extremely reliable. This meant my '65 Vette could stay safe in a rented garage to come out in good weather.

Fast forward about 9 years and I got married. You guessed it - the Corvette had to go to raise a down payment on a house. I paid $13,000 for the Corvette in ’81 and sold it for $40,000 in ‘90. The house sure went up way more than the Corvette ever would have, making that one of my more fortuitous financial decisions.

So what, you’ll say. Well, my Corvette fever was dimmed, but not extinguished. So 4 years ago I found myself in a financial place to consider getting another vintage Corvette. At first I focused on a C3 because they are less expensive. I drove a few and quickly determined that my first and only real love was for another C2. One day I saw an ad for a Marina blue ’67 coupe, and she had to be mine:



My take? Corvettes appeal to a wide range of ages. I was too young to appreciate the C2’s when they were new. When I came of age to drive it was C4’s and C5’s that were new. Perhaps I got imprinted with ‘60’s cars because those were what was new when I was a kid. When I was 7 and 8 my dad used to tear out the pages with car ads from magazines to give to me. He later admitted that most had come from Playboy magazine! With the ads I created a large collage on my bedroom wall with images of Pontiac Wide-Tracks, Mustang 2+2’s, Barracuda’s, and of course CORVETTES!

I hope you've enjoyed my story…

gjhinc

Over 75 are smart enough to not waste their time on the internet. So, my guess would be 0.

ghostrider20

Less then 1% under 35? That’s great news. In 10 yrs, the market will be so soft for 60’s vintage muscle cars I can own all my dream cars! And I’ll only be 52!

Muttley

I first attended the Florida NCRS meet in 2004 (Old Town). Registered attendees got a goodie bag, and one of the items in the goodie bag was a pill organizer. No, I'm not making that up.

gjhinc

I'm just spitballing here. Maybe there are other major factors why old fogies own old expensive used cars. OOPS! I mean classic cars. One of those causation vs correlation things.




Put another way, if I were a cop, I'd go down the means and motive line of reasoning. I'm very new to the Corvette world (<1 year). Not so new to the wow-that's-a-nice-car world (>30 years). I'm not seeing any correlation between wows and age. Motive, guys like fast good-looking cars [full stop]. Means, now there's the rub as I see.

corvetteed

"A pill organizer" Holy cow!

But, wait a minute......... maybe that's a good idea! Yeah, I'd take one of those (just kidding!!). (No, I'm not kidding). (Wait a minute, of course I'm kidding. Can't you tell?!)

Factoid

That huge disparity between average and median wealth says volumes. That 5 to 8 times difference says a few people have a whole lot, but most people don’t have enough. If you don’t have enough, you probably aren’t seriously considering an old Corvette and if you have a whole lot an old Corvette is probably not on your radar. Fortunately, most of us on this forum are wonderful exceptions to this reality.

gjhinc

Well... yes and no. I haven't seen the data. But, if it includes all Americans and you take out "The 1%" the disparity would be cut dramatically. Which means a whole hell of a lot of Americans are "upper middle class". They may not own a Gulstream V, but, they may be able to own a $50k-$100k (or 2). Witness the auto auction prices.

Shift_Happens

The original question was how old are you as a C2 owner but this survey appears to be about new corvette owners for that year.....maybe a different demographic....maybe not.