To me the C3 Daily Driver question boild down to 2 questions:

1) can you handle the MPG? my 79 got about 10 mpg, and my 73 454 seemed to get about 2 mpg!

2) can you handle driving old cars in general? A 1973 corvette will be about as reliable (and comfortable) as a 73 Monte Carlo, a 73 Camaro, or a 73 cadillac, you get the idea. My daughter drove a 68 Cutlass as her DD until just last year. Sure the heater & A/c Didnt work, sure the car needed a jump start every once in a while, but she didnt care, she is NOT PICKY, its more about looking good to her. If you're not a picky person, any old car can be made into a DD. If you have to have everything perfect all the time, then dont do it. Get the newer car.

 

and anyone who does not is seriously kidding themselves. Get a '68-'72 convertible and you won't be disappointed. Since you don't care about numbers, as things break you make them better. I've installed a 6 speed, LS6 with supercharger, Corbeau seats (c5 or C6 seats are a pretty simple conversion if you can't live with stock seats), new stereo, Autometer guages, Wilwood brakes, and updated suspension. I can tell you that, aside from my insanely loud open sidepipes, I could easily use my car as a daily driver. Comfortable, insanely fast, fuel efficient, reliable, and still retains that raw feeling that older cars have.

 

You have hit the nail on the head, Just got my first vette 69 daytona yellow 350/350 4 speed 3 months ago cant stay out of it. Its a DD had 67359 original miles so the speedo says looks and drives exceptional, nuthing gone wrong yet if it does ill fix it and keep on going, loving every mile i put on it. Every day heads turn and people point even kids that you think dont get it they even oooohhh and aaaahhhhh its a blast. Its so good its better than ---. People look at my car more than thay do my beautyfull sexy wife ha ha ha!. GOOD LOOK AND HAVE LOTS OF MILES OF FUN.

 

I had a company car, left work for a while, used my C3 as a DD for a few weeks, let me tell you, it's fun for a day trip and going out for the night but it is not fun as a DD, in the rain she handled fine, but having to deal with a 36 yr old defroster, roll up windows, etc...JMO...

Kevin

 

I'll chime in here with a little bit of knowledge since I have an '01 Z06 and an '81 4 spd. I agree that the Z06 is my speedy car that handles just awesome and the '81 is my cruiser. However, neither gets driven in the rain because they are not DD's.
Bought the C3 about a year ago thinking it would be a DD but ended up buying a much better car then I had planned and now don't want to ruin the car with DD service. I do drive it at least one day a week and it has not yet left me stranded. The waterpump started to leak one day and was replaced but I wasn't stranded. My work commute is 52 miles round trip and I will drive one of the Corvettes at least once during the week (weather permitting). They are night and day in most every way.
If I go anywhere that may require coming home with more than I leave with, then the C3 is typically out of the question since there is so little room in the back especially on those nice days that I take the tops out on (which is very often in SoCal.). Gas doesn't really suck in the C3 all that bad but then I only get 17mpg in the Z06 combined mileage due to my driving style.
The C3 has most all the same creature comforts (AC, PS, PB, PW, PL, PM) as the C5 but lacks the modern performace additions (FI, ABS, TC/AH, 6spd) so at least the differences are lessened a little bit.

I enjoy my time in either car because when I drive the '02 Sentra SE-R as the real DD I don't enjoy the time on the road much at all.