you must not know alot of C5 owners at least any that drive their cars

my C5 has 114K on it and while it is dependable I know in the back of my mind today could be the day that something goes bad I have kept up on it and it looks damn good for its age and miles but there is always that "something" you don't plan for, but you can't worry about it. When sh** happens you fix it and drive on

 

I live in both camps, having a 69 bbc vert & a 08 Z06.

Nothing beats the 69 for roaring around town and putting that sh-t eating grin on your face!

When it comes time to head to Carsile, or any road trip, you can't beat the 08 for performance, comfort, or forgive me, mile per gallon!

I love wrenching on the 69, with no "puters", or electronics unless I add them to worry about.

No smog police, reasonable prices on parts, lots of choices for mods, truly a DIY playground.

I do wonder how I'll service the 08 in twenty years from now, with all the electronics and such, we've all seen how hard it is to keep a C4 on the road these days.

With the C5 being a performance bargin these days, I think they're the new C3 as far as getting into the Corvette Hobby, reasonable pricing, good aftermarket support and solid knowledge base out there.

 

Maybe the Charger is weighed in kilograms (metric)! If so, it would weigh 2400 pounds.

 

Well said!!

I spent many hours, maintaining my wife's former C-3, so she could use it as a 'limited' daily driver, whereas I've spent many hours 'driving' my C-5, with a little 'upgrade wrenching' on the side...

 

Maybe in 20 years there will be an app for your hand-held communications device that can tune your car. But maybe by then, modifications will be reported to the bureau of conformity and oneness...

 

I am not a fan of the C5 or the C6, but tend to feel there is room for everybody.

Several years back, the C1 and C2 owners were probably grousing that us C3 folks had ruined the hobby.

 

Funny... many in the NCRS would say that those of use that resto-mod our old vettes are killing the hobby. And to say that a new vette killed the hobby... how do you get old vettes unless you build new vettes that get old.

All I know is that last fall I took a cruise with some CF forum members. We had some C3s, a C4 and some C6 vettes. I was proud to be apart of this group and could not have given a rats a$$ what year the vette was made. We were all having fun!

 

When the C4 came out it was targeting imported sports cars as well as Mustang owners in GM's marketing. It was a new bread alright. They didn't wave and didn't get "it". Those guys have either moved on or moved in. So it will be with every new gen. Corvette.

I do agree that it will be harder to keep later model cars "stock" as the electronics crap out. Tear all that stuff out however, and you'll have a heck of a track car

When GM was filing Chapter 11 in '08 these boards were buzzing about the fate of the Corvette. THEY'RE GOING TO KILL THE CORVETTE is all I kept hearing. I posted "They discontinued MY Corvette in 1982."

 

While my heart has always been with the older cars, the introduction of the modern cars has opened up the hobby to a very enthusiastic group of Corvette owners. The C5/C6 owners travel alot more to large shows and are really carrying the torch as far as keeping many of these events going strong. The National Corvette Museum has benefited tremendously from the involvement of the newer car owners.

Many of us own both older and newer cars. Plenty of room in the hobby for everyone

 

I like to put it like this. There are Corvette Owners and there are Corvette Enthusiasts.

C5 owners aren't ruining the hobby they are just injecting more Corvette Owners into it.

 

I own a c3, c4, c5. I don't think the C5/6 ruined the hobby at all. As stated above it takes all kinds. I remember hearing "were there any corvettes built after 1967" years ago. I think it's all about people who are into the history of corvette (hobbiests) and those who just drive the cars or use them as a status symbol.

 

I think a lot of it is just owning a newer car and not really caring about the history. With all of my collector cars, I try to know as much as I can about the history. As a chevy lover since youth I have tried to get as much knowledge as I can on the lineage and workings of the various models I have owned. A guy that buys a newer corvette may not care about it's history and place corvettes hold in the collector car world. Those of us that have followed the corvette most of our lives can recognize each year, options, quirks, etc. of that model. I have had a couple of new C5,C6 owners ask what kind of car my car is (66 BB convertible). My late models (69 and 72) always get the thumbs up. I've owned a C4 and a C5. They are great cars to drive. Some owners of new corvettes are interested in their model only. That's OK by me. Some of the C5,C6 owners have owned corvettes all their lives and know the history behind our model. Those guys that don't know the history are missing out on 1/2 the fun of owning a corvette.

 

I agree with the posters who differentiate between enthusiasts and owners.

I'm just glad to own a piece of Chevrolet sports car history and being more analog than digital, wrenching on it is the way they were designed to be maintained.

Thankfully, I'm still healthy enough to do the work. The benefit of following manufacturing instruction allows the freedom to enjoy the drive without any more worry than a newer vehicle.

That's what insurance and AAA is for.

I'll twist wrenches until it ain't fun anymore.

 

Actually, that applies to ANY new car, as they're ALL equipped with several computers.

For a long time, I used to drive some old 'hoopty' for a winter car, and didn't think much of it. New plugs, wires, points and distributor cap, and it would start...no matter what. However, in the north east, eventually all of those 'non-complicated hooptys' rusted out beyond repair, and I/we were forced to drive newer 'hooptys', ones with High Energy ignitions...more crap to crap out on a -3 degree day.

Somehow, we survived, but the next generation of 'hooptys', with 2-3 computers and 10-12 necessary ground points....

 

with the escalating prices and the boomers going through a late in life crisis, a very different type of customer is buying the newer vettes. admittedly not everyone fits that generalization, but it is tough for a gearhead to come up the 60K+ for a vette when there are alternatives a better prices. check out who is driving the C6s the next time you go to a vette show or on the road. rarely if ever do you see a 40 something in one. talk to members of a corvette only club and they will most likely tell you then can't even get the C6 guys to do much. they joined the club so they could show off their purchase. they don't work on them and are more interested in telling people how much they paid for them. at least that is the way it is in south florida to a great extent. (BTW i own a C3 and an 04 CE c5 convert)

 

So how does a 400+ factory hp car ruin the hobby? Did he think the new 400 hp Mustang is a POS because it doesn't have a carb?

I don't get it, do you have to run thirty to fourty year old tech to be "in the clulb"? It was that thinking that started Goodguys years ago when the Andy's Picknics became elitest with their 32 Fords.

I have my 69 and used to own a 4-door family sedan. That family sedan had AC, PW, a Nav system and a built in phone. Oh yeah it had a six-speed and 400 hp in that Caddy CTS-V. Guess which car I took to the local road courses? The Caddy. That thing outdrove, performed and kind of supprised a few others, worst part was getting outperformed by kids in Suburus and Mits.

Fast forward a few years with a bad economy, failed business and I still have the 69 (with EFI) but if I had the dough, I would trade that thing in on a new CTS-V Monster today! Yes my 69 will (probably) go up in value while the Caddy would just drop (escpecially after beating on it at the tracks!) but remember in 1969 my car was "state of the art" for Detroit at least.

Eric.

 

I put no shortage of blame on C2 and C3 owners. At track days and autocrosses I consistently have the oldest car there (my '69). I drive the '69 because I love the looks of it and it's a blast to drive. I've made boatloads of upgrades, but no bandaid mods (ABS, ASR, paddle shifter, active handing, blah, blah, blah). It's a pure driving machine. Everytime I hear some C2/C3 owner say his car is "too nice" to drive hard I just shake my head. That's the crowd that's ruining it in my opinion.

Flame on.

 

Going to have to wait 20-30 years to get an accurate answer to the question. 30 yrs from now, I'll work on one!

I wonder how many initial C3 buyers were wrench turners? Willing to bet that was a small percentage!



Personally, with the exception of the C4... , they all get my blood flowin'.

 

Aboslute codswallop, C5-6's havent ruined the hobby, in fact I would maintain that they barely even effect the hooby. Unless the definition of "hobby" is something completely different to the way I define it.

The existance of c5-6's has no appreciable effect on the availability of C3's or C3 parts, they have no effect on the enjoyment you/I/we have working on our cars.

They certainly may have some effect on the makeup of various car clubs, lets be honest, c5 & 6's are plentiful, much more plentiful than c3's, so its no small wonder that they might also be plentiful in corvette clubs. However clubs and shows are only a very small portion of the hobby, many shows limit participation by year of vehicle, even to the point where my 78 is too "new" to be shown.

If seeing new vettes in shows bothers you then dont frequent shows that permit them.

 

I agree that there is a difference between a lot of the C5/C6 crowd, and the 53-82 owners, but not with all of them.

I think the big difference is between the people that have always been Corvette owners, and the ones who became owners of C5's or C6's, in recent years.

People who have or have had older Vettes, can and do appreciate what it takes to maintain, repair and restore an older Vette. The ones that have always wanted one, and now because the kids are gone or they've retired, have the money to buy one, often look at early Corvettes like they're just another old car.

These are the ones that join a Corvette club and want to have golf outings and covered bridge tours. They're the people that look at you like your a nuisance when you show up for a caravan in a 68-82 (or worse yet a mid-year or solid axle). They can't understand why you don't want to run the intersate at a sustained 85 mph, with your 3:70 (or lower) gears, if they even know what 3:70's are. I think many of them are annoyed when they go somewhere as a group, and the guy who just finished restoring his 70 LT-1, or 63 Split Window, or 57 Fuelie; gets all the attention from the general public, instead of the brand new Corvette they just spent 70 grand for.

I think a lot of it has to do with the performance and quaility of the newer Corvettes, too. For many years the owners and fans of fine European performance "automobiles", looked down on the Corvette, as just another American "car". Many of them now own and admire the new Corvettes, but still have little or no respect for the early ones.