Seems to be a dedicated following of mostly Britts from the Corvette books I've been reading. If you're from Europe, tell us where you're from, and what it's like to be a Corvette owner. What are people's reaction when you drive your car (do they even know what it is)? Clubs, shows, parts?

There are quite a few american cars in Sweeden and I rand across a guy that had a Cadillac junkyard in the middle of nowhere (blew me away). Any vette clubs there? Thanks for your input.

Mark G

 

I'm from France (20-30 miles from Paris).

When I bought the car (an '82), I drove it to the office once.
some of my collegues loved the car, some hated it, some though I had way too much money.

here, many people don't understand why you can buy a 2-seat sport car, with a big engine and such a bad mileage (when compared to our local diesel mini-cars).

I don't drive it now as I'm doing a frame off restoration, but I remember some guys telling to their children "look at this car, it's a Ferrari" ;-)
it's a red car, so it should be a ferrari


/Vince

 

I'm from the Netherlands, haven't driven the thing in ages, buy all my parts in the US, am not a member of any corvette club anymore, don't go to corvette only shows anymore (jsut general us car shows)..reactions..hmm, what's that thing w/ the paint falling off..that's about it (when it still drove) and other corvette owners putting it down because of the terrible paint (at vette shows) where mine was clean & pristine underneath no rust..perfect technical..and theirs was a clsoe resemblance of the titanic under teh hood (one reason most hoods stay closed) or a colletion of cheap chinese chrome and fake braided wires.

Most cars here are basically stock or close to stock, there are very few DIY guys here...I'm all alone here..was born in the wrong country

 

I agree with Twin Turbo. I lived in Germany for 11 years, traveled everywhere. Most Europeans are not DIY guys, they would rather lease and trade up. Most are not taught the "art" of getting dirty under the hood. The ones that are taught are very good at what they do.
SGT Kirk

 

I think I might have to disagree here. I'm an American living in Belgium and spending a lot of time in Germany. There are plenty of 'Vettes around. But not really Corvette specific car shows. Mostly US car shows, but a lot of 'Vettes tend to show up.
As for bad paint: try not even having actual paint on the car. I've been sanding it and still people are very interested, taking pictures, asking questions, etc. This was the Corvette Euro Meet of the Swiss Corvette Club:http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...et&forum_id=26

 

I'm from the states, but work brings me (and my 1979) to southern Germany. So far I've been here almost 3 years and I've only seen a handfull of Corvettes, definately less than 10. I keep seeing the same three C5s and one C4 at least once a week. Other than that, my '79 is the oldest Corvette I've seen since I've been here. I once saw an '80 in Nuremberg, but that is it.

My '79 has a decent paint job still and a partially restored interior so it doesn't look too bad. Right now I have the engine and transmission completely ripped apart and am in the middle of a rebuild so I haven't driven in a month. I've been buying parts mail order from the states, but since I'm military, I can use the US postal service to mail stuff to me for the same price as if I was mailing stuff within the United States.

For me, driving this car in Europe is probably the closest I'm ever going to be to being a rock star. I'll park it at the local grocery stores, go in to do my shopping, and I'll come out to a small group of people standing around the car marvelling at it and taking pictures. Most people that I talk to seem to know what it is.

There are hardly an classic cars let alone classic American Muscle cars. Most people, if they have a classic, own a beatle of a Fiat or an old MG or Triumph or something like that. It gets lonely at times in that respect, but its still a lot of fun.

 

Hi I am from Edinburgh in Scotland and as you can see from my sig I have a 70 thats just completing a rebuild. I am a hands on guy but my job keeps me away a lot, I'm in Russia at the moment, so rather than see the poor beast decline any more I had the work done for me. You are now looking at a very poor man! Actually its not that bad, its been what I would call a SKI job, Spending the Kids Inheretance!! But now it is their inheretance, they would shoot me if I sold it! And thats the way it should be.

 

Seriously, I don't know where you guys are hanging out There are plenty of Corvettes and American muscle, you just need to go to the right places (I regularly see Vettes at Hockenheim) Victor, where in Germany are you? my dad lives near Heidelberg.
http://www.c-u-f.de/
Sorry it's in German. Just go to events and take a look.
www.allamericanweekend.be
This is going to be my 4th year there. Lots of cars and people from all over Europe.

 

And dont forget Le Mans, over 50 vette's in the GM car park this year, supporting THE Team!

 

Yep, I was there, but with the wrong car My pictures are in OT somewhere...

 

50 vettes? That's nothing, the major corvette club here in the netherlands has meetings where there are hundreds of them.

 

Yeah we get that number at the UK nationals, but we are not really talkiing numbers just how prolific they really are.

 

?? the post is about the # of vettes in europe, well there are quite a few in germany, belgium, england, the scandinavian countries and the netherlands. Not sure about france & spain, there seem to be a lot less there. If I had to make a guesstimate I'd say there were a good 2000 of them here..probably more (and that's in a country about 150sq. miles in size)

 

Yeah ok TT, I just didnt want to get into the "mine's bigger than yours" scenario.

 

???? It's not about that...as I said, I'm not even a member of any of these clubs so why would I have to boast about it? Just putting down some guesstimate numbers of how many cars there really are, and if there are that many here there are certainly more in germany. The scene over there is a lot bigger (and cars are cheaper also, about 1/3rds cheaper so you see more C5s & 6s there)...geezzz...I guess I really got a rush out of boasting we had the most vettes now didn't I...

 

Hi my name is Anders and im a vettecoholic.

No seriusly i would guess theres about 200-250 corvettes in Denmark, they are starting to become really popular here because of our tax rules and the fact that they are old enough to registre as "classics" with half tax.

Im a member of "Corvette Club Denmark" but mostly because of some really good discounts. I buy everything i need in the states.

As far as attention goes, it pulls a crowd most every time i park. Most people knows what it is, but ask about year and engine size etc. I never heard a bad word about it

 

I lived in England for 8 years and drove a 78 Silver Anniversary vette for several of them. Even when the car was ugly folks loved it. By far the most popular question was "Is it a stingray?" I went to lots of shows both corvette only and everything. At each event there were the snobby mine is better that yours kind. Most of the people just wanted to look at the cars and loved them no matter what condition they were in. At almost every show I was that Yank and spent more time talking about the US than my car.

Bill

 

Hello everyone!
Im from the northern part of sweden living i a town of 130000 people
i think its approx 15-20 C3´s around here...
It starts to get cold here now so soon its winter storage for the vette
But i have maybe a month left driving
Only sad part is the gas prices here in Europe,starts to get alittle high!
Enjoy driving the vette because everyone is looking at it and there is always someone that wants to talk about it

 

Hi

I'm from the heart of Europe, Luxembourg. A healthy little country between France, Belgium and Germany.
We count about 500.000 People and the amount of Vettes is amazing.
We have a club and even a web page http://corvette-owners.lu
There are enough only Vette meetings around, and even more US car meetings to keep us busy every W/E during summer season.
And luckily, we have winters too to be able to fix and upgrade our cars.
Emotions from people about my 68 BB side exhausted loud car are very different. I'd say ,most love the car , but none would buy one.
C5 and now C6 are very popular and seen often enough on the road.
C1 are hardly seen, C2 and C3 you see during W/E if the sun is shining.
Fuel prices are killing now even that Luxembourg seems to be the cheapest in Europe. Super 98 Octane is now 1.20 Euros / Liter.
So, this being about 4.5 Euros / Gal = 5.4 US$ / Gal
So, do you guys in the USA still think your fuel is expensive ?

And I nearly forgot. Germany even has a sister Forum , http://corvetteforum.de with lots of members and postings.
Very interesting ( if you speak the language ) and even if using English, replies will be given.

Günther

 

Guess I'll be filling up in Luxembourg. Here it's at least 1,40