Hi everyone,

I dunno if it's just me and my vette or you have simmilar experiences.

I'm a dad, a family man, working 9-17. My job got me a company car. Nothing special and for this part of the world kinda normal, 1.5 diesel Peugeot 308. I got it brand new 6 months ago. It has 8 speed automatic gearbox, android auto, apple car play, super soft seats, tri zone climate control etc. Goes 0-60 in 8 sec and Vmax is about 130mph.

And it's boooring AF. You can steer it with one finger, goes straight, it's quiet and you can surf, listen to podcast or even fiddle with youtube music videos while driving.

My vette'... I redid everything back to factory. Steering, suspension front and back, engine, carb, interior... you name it. It bump steers, diff is making noise, windows rattle while half way down, gas fumes are entering the cockpit during traffic stops, some parts squeak, other rattle and it's loud, very loud.

My Peugeot can drive circles around my Vette. Doing 40 in Peugeot, you can watch a carb rebuild video on YT. Vette doing 40 feels like 90 and I'm all engaged.

And I wouldn't trade it in a million years. Bob Segar, T-Tops down and a long stretch of back road makes me feel like home, in the 70's USA, country and time I was supposed to live in and been born in, but never visited, only day dreamed about.

My question is are your cars like that? Rattled old, tiresome pieces of shitty driving experiences that you fight and love more than any other thrill life has to offer? Besides DD cups OFC...

 

You can get rid of the rattles, bump steer, poor ride, etc. and still have all the benefits of Bob Seeger (or ZZ-Top) tunes while living it up on a long deserted highway. How you decide to deal with "creature comforts" is up to you.
BTW, when new, these cars didn't rattle, handled pretty well, and rode decently...unless you had performance handling package. Good quality gas-charged shock absorbers (Bilsteins are my rec), good under-carpet sound deadener (original build used strategically placed, tar-soaked cardboard pieces which everyone throws away when they install new carpet), and finding/fixing the rattles will get you back to "original" running condition, too.

 

I regularly refer to my 80 as a shitbox. I even converted to manual steering to match the manual transmission. T-Tops never see the car, no heat, no AC, raw, loud, and obnoxious.

My other car is a performance EV.

I like the EV, but I love the Corvette. It helps that it is a million times more fun to drive, and completely engaging. I listen to podcasts in the EV.

Oh, and to @7T1vette's point, you can do a lot better than back to factory. Getting rid of the steel rear spring, and replacing all of the suspension bushings, made a huge improvement.

 

All bushings are changed front and back, went with rubber ones, all the ball joints upper and lower, tie rod ends inner and outer, pitman arm, idler arm, rear struts, all new. I have mono spring in the back, new trailing arm bushings are on, diff snuber is new, new shocks front and back (KYB), new tires, I did the alignment in a shop, she is straight as an arrow. It drives light years better than when I got it. It's just not as easy as a new car, that's my point.

I think my biggest beef is with the steering, factory original power assist is still too hard and weird feeling like. Maybe I should do the Borgeson upgrade (or any other that you guys can recommend) to bring it closer to not as engaging as it feels now.

Still I always pick her rather than any other vehicle as soon as the sun is out.

 

Yes, you can do a lot better than original factory condition B/K. My comment was related to the noise and creature comfort issues and that original C3's weren't "noisy junk heaps". But, thanks for thinking of me....

 

Similar for me. I've since sold my C3 to finance my 80 Camaro RS project with a LS3/4L60E swap. Everything under the car is new. Its a original 28,000 mile no hit car. Zero rust. Drives great.
But it doesn't hold a candle to our 20 Mustang 5.0 vert.

 

It's nice to drive new Mercs, for example, but—where's the fun in that?

It's a ~50-year-old piece of junk—what did you expect? Why did you buy it? Why did I get my red C3? Because I've wanted one since I was a kid. I just love cars, and this one is just cool

EDIT: Sure, you can restomod a C3—upgrade the steering, suspension, engine... whatever. But where does that get you? No matter what you do, it's never going to be a modern car. At some point, you lose the soul of it. The character, the rawness—that’s what makes it special.

 

I love my 1979 L-82 4 speed C3. When you come right down to it, it's a 46 year old used car. But when I can get all the bits to work together in harmony, it's such a fun car to drive.

 

Do you have the specs that the alignment shop set them to? The amount of caster can greatly affect the steering and how the car feels at highway speeds.

 

Well said John A F

 

this what my C3 is like...not Bob Seger but I can get him to make an appearance next summer

 

LOL Mr Croatia - my '59 drives straight but doesn't stop that well , bump steers, hard to park - hard steering, I don't listen to the radio , lots of wind noise but is pure therapy when driving.
I'm sure your Vette was a better / nicer "drive" when new, but as long as your Vette is safe to drive enjoy it for what it is : a nice looking body on an old truck chassis LOL
I have numerous Croatian friends and have briefly been in your lovely country while on a cruise - didn't know you had that much straight road ? LOL
And YES next best thing to B or C's LOL

 

It’s just cool😎😎😎

 

No, no...maybe you missunderstood me. I love my vette. I would never have her be anything else than what she already is. Maybe I was harsh in my description, the last part. I just wanted to ask is it a normal driving experience with these cars if they are not restomoded? After all, it is my first old timer (or youngtimer if you will).

 

[QUOTE=CubeBrick;1608531853]Hi everyone,

I dunno if it's just me and my vette or you have simmilar experiences.

I'm a dad, a family man, working 9-17. My job got me a company car. Nothing special and for this part of the world kinda normal, 1.5 diesel Peugeot 308. I got it brand new 6 months ago. It has 8 speed automatic gearbox, android auto, apple car play, super soft seats, tri zone climate control etc. Goes 0-60 in 8 sec and Vmax is about 130mph.

And it's boooring AF. You can steer it with one finger, goes straight, it's quiet and you can surf, listen to podcast or even fiddle with youtube music videos while driving.

My vette'... I redid everything back to factory. Steering, suspension front and back, engine, carb, interior... you name it. It bump steers, diff is making noise, windows rattle while half way down, gas fumes are entering the cockpit during traffic stops, some parts squeak, other rattle and it's loud, very loud.

My Peugeot can drive circles around my Vette. Doing 40 in Peugeot, you can watch a carb rebuild video on YT. Vette doing 40 feels like 90 and I'm all engaged.

And I wouldn't trade it in a million years. Bob Segar, T-Tops down and a long stretch of back road makes me feel like home, in the 70's USA, country and time I was supposed to live in and been born in, but never visited, only day dreamed about.

My question is are your cars like that? Rattled old, tiresome pieces of shitty driving experiences that you fight and love more than any other thrill life has to offer? Besides DD cups OFC...[/QUOTE the corvette by far is the worse riding car of any GM muscle car of the 60’s and 70’s because of the poor design build . Jump into any other muscle car of that era and I guarantee it will be a more pleasurable experience. When I am cruising in my 67 Camaro RS/SS it is a totally different experience . Smooth ride no rattling no heat poring into the cabin and my teeth are all still in my mouth ..

 

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...2&pp=25&page=3

Here is another thread about C3 driving experiences.

 

I reckon driving my 68 Convertible is like driving a 4 wheel motorcycle. Stiff ride, lots of body flex. It has to be driven at all times to keep it going straight. I had the suspension aligned by Dick Guildstrand's Motorsports and maybe he gave it a track alignment. The camber adjustment is such that I have to continually hold my hands on the steering wheel to keep it going in a straight line. Otherwise it tends to wander. It's noisy with the factory '69 sidepipes. Kinda fun. Gets a lot of attention these days. ZZ4, Tremac 5 speed.

 

It seems to me like you have more work to do.

I am not trying to be sarcastic. Some of what you describe means the car still has issues to be address.

 

My 1975 coupe is an original 42K mile car. Oddly enough, many of the suspension bushings look original and pretty tired but the car steers straight, has no bump steer, very few rattles if any (maybe the t-tops), and is pretty comfortable to drive for 50 year old car. Biggest concern are leaks from the tranny (TH400) and PS system. I run the tires at 27 psi and truly enjoy driving the car.

 

..and that is why they are fun. You are engaged in the drive, not just along for the ride like you would be in a Tesla or most any of the hundreds of faster new cars. Mine was like that too. handled great, but you had to pay attention while driving.