Looking at JCloving's thread and only seeing two C3's and a bunch of newer Vettes and having "accidentally" stopped for dinner with the wife on the second tuesday of the month at a restrurant that the local Corvette club just happens to meet at, I am noticing that "clubs" tend to have newer Vettes and no C3's. I walked the lot and the oldest Vette in the parking lot was a C5. Am I missing something? I kinda expected the Vette Club to have more C3's and some C2's in it. Not a bunch of cars still under warranty (75% of the cars were C7's). Sorry, ranting.

 

C7's? Is this a club in the future or should we be looking out for an autobot?

 

needed coffee, sorry

 

Fat fingered, I meant C6

 

I know what you mean. I have been watching this trend build slowly for many years now. Compared to many C4s the C3 was always more popular at shows. I enjoyed the fact that car shows were mostly C3s driven by fat old guys like me. Made me feel like part of the group. Now though with C5s being so cheap to buy and C6s being so wonderfully well rounded that people can't help but own them. Add to that that most people cannot afford a new Corvette and an old Corvette. They just own the new one that doesn't need to be fixed every weekend. Then they join a Corvette club since they own a Corvette and they attend events and shows with their new Corvette. I like the trend of younger owners but they also are buying younger Corvettes. I have owned two C6s and I love them. I'm blessed being able to own multiple cars so I will show my favorites but I understand the frustration that the newer ones are saturating the places that we used to see a lot of our old favorites.

 

Mark, that really is my point. I remember going to places the clubs would meet as a kid to look at the old cars and going to "car shows" at A&W's or the Cider Mill to look at all the old restored cars. I went to one a few weeks back and they had two 2010 Mustangs in the show... I love Mustangs and own two of them but dont you think its a little early to be putting them in shows? I can see them on any car lot. When I bought my C3 I was excited about not just the car but about being able to join the Corvette Club and fitting in with the older cars that were in great shape but it looks like I will have the oldest car in the club and the only C3!

 

I feel your pain! I've tried a couple of Corvette clubs but they are'nt for me. They're more social club and lunch bunch with the goal being where will we eat! I hope they have Pie! My wife thinks this should be a boys time to hang out lie to each other and have a good time with the guys. One thing that really makes me laugh is Stuffed Animals under the hood! WTF? Same thing at Cars and Coffee Dallas...20 Purple Challengers all in a row, Why? I think the warrenty should be enough to have you park in the spectator lot!

 

We have a cruise night every Friday at a local ice cream shop and when the weather is awesome then all the cars come out. The majority of the cars are classics, resto's, mod's, etc. Every now and then a "kid" shows up with his brand new hopped up Stang or his modded Honda. Hey nice job sometimes to cool to look at, but they can't even hold a candle to the classics there. IMHO of course.

 

Oops forgot this. 2 weeks ago at our cruise night an 18 year old kid rolls in a 73 Nova. I say to my wife "that kid doesn't even know what he has." Wow, was I wrong! The kid parks, we walk over to check out the car. The kid is a few feet away and when he sees someone is checking out his ride, he comes right over and starts talking about it. I ask to see under the hood, and the kid was in heaven. He picked up the car for $2k has put $2K into it and he has done a great job. The part that caught me was when he said "when I graduate high school in May...."

Turns out he has been studying/training as a mechanic at one of the local technical HS.

Good for him, nice to see a young one that appreciates old muscle.

 

You know what? It doesn't bother me one bit. Any reason to get ANYONE out of the house and talking to other human beings is a good thing.

Interesting related story, though. My Brother has a highly modified 2006 Mustang:



that he takes to shows. Hidden under the hood is a Saleen supercharger, race cats, and a few other tweaks. The stripes are painted in, not stupid stickers. With the half-shaved handles (done after this picture was shot), touch-ups, the Cervini body kit, and other widgets, he has well over $20k in the body/paint alone. At one point, he had so much paint/clear on the car he had to strip some panels and start over.

Anyway, my story...he is at this car show and this guy pulls up next to him with a brand new 6.2L GTO. It had, like, 50 miles on it. The guy literally drove it over from the dealership and SHOWS it.

So who goes to a SHOW to look at a whole slew of IDENTICAL FACTORY cars? Not to downplay the Corvette...love them and always have...but it is just a car. To plunk down $55k, not do ANYTHING to it, and park it in a field somewhere for others to oogle at just seems odd. My wife's Volvo XC90 V8 cost that much...why don't I park that next to this guy's Corvette?

It's OK, though...I have a $7,000 bucket of bolts that will turn WAAAAAAAAYYYY more heads than their $55k, $65k, or $75k car. Heck...if you don't know what you're looking at, I bet more people will look at my pitiful little car than a $100k+ ZR-1...



It will take another 42 years for their cars to look bad enough to look good!!!

 

Maybe. Do you want to join the club and participate? If so, what difference does it make who drives which model year? It's a Corvette club and they're all Corvettes.

 

EM, I hear you on that but because they are all new it looks (looking at their club website) they like to drive LONG distances for shows. Thats not me, I am trying to not undo 37 yrs of storage and a 167 miles per year driving (I already put over 100 on her in the last 3 weeks just fixing the brakes, checking the tune, new tires and the body work) so I would prefer to do closer car shows. Not that I dont think my car could make the drive just dont want to put 400 miles on her in a day.

I understand that kids love for old cars, if it wasnt for auto shop and electronics I would have failed HS. I had a 71 Chevelle in HS, broke down and I was slow to fix her. Came home one day and it was gone, my mom sold it. She is still on my crap list and its been 25 years!

The Stang looks great but I just feel they are too new for shows. I guess I am nostalgic for the old shows where all the cars where old but looked new but I was too young to own one (IE no funds or too young to drive).

 

This is nothing new. I started going to cars shows in the late 60s and all they had then were those stupid new Corvettes. None of the old ones like I expected. What a waste of time. Some things don't change.

 

Mike I guess its all perspective and timing... cause all those "stupid new corvettes" are what I want to see now!

 

Different shows for different folks. I just shared the story to identify that if I wanted to look at a new car, I'd go to a showroom. If you're going to park your car at a show, at least...you know...DO something to it. Either that or let it "ripen" for 30+ years.

 

I hear what you are saying

With each passing year - I find that I have less in common with the new corvette guys. I now find myself hanging out more with the 55-to-57 chevy guys and the guys driving 60's era Chevelles, Nova's, GTO's and Roadrunners

Although, I can see myself owning a second 'vette in the next 10 years - perhaps a C6 or C7 - perhaps then it will be cool to hang with the new vette crowd

 

I would be drawn to a classic muscle car rather a new hopped up ride. I guess it's because of the time , that labor of love relationship that has gone into either keeping a now classic sweet or the time it has taken to do the resto. I agree driving a fully loaded ride right from the dealer to a cruise night or show, that car may look good but it doesn't carry the cool points of the classics there. Plus, I like talking with the old guys and their classics, I pick up tons of info that way and most of them are happy to talk to us younger guys to pass on the info.

 

Tie-dye, bellbottom Levis, peace symbols, Day-Glo.

 

That disco cr*p is more mid-70s time frame, sort of when your car was built Paul.

J/K!

From what I know of the early days of the NCRS, there were howls of protest from the members when it was suggested that the '63-'67s be allowed in for judging, and no longer banished to the back of the parking lot where they belong. Real Corvettes were built in '62 and prior. The NCRS will soon be judging early C5s which to me still seem like new cars. We all know that real Corvette production stopped in '82.

 

I've been trying to find a Corvette club with people who actually want to work on the cars but all I can find are social clubs. Dinner and a cruise - that's all they care about. I still get my hands dirty but sometimes it would be nice to work with someone else.