Thank you, Cali.

 

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1002794

you first.

 

LOL 1:0

....now what would rank lower...having an opinion and venting it or posting a topic to rattle someone's cage

Some people here are holier than the pope.

 

Okay you got me there but that was for humor's sake. The postings on the Merlin thread are down right "hey Steve your a POS as well as your car" attitude whether it be jealousy or whatever. There is no humerous value to your posts is downright just disrespectful and if you can't see that well........................

 

My take on it is the people at this auction will pay big money for original cars. This car is a modified "75 ? ( sorry I forget now ) We all know how much money was spent on it and I for one really liked the car, would have one something different with the motor though. Generally speaking in my opinion a modified car will sell for the base price of the unmodified version
( 75 Vette ) plus 50 % of all the aftermarket parts bolted on to it and you don't add the labour ( which we all know probably doubled the original pricetag )

An example would be, you bought a half decent '80 Vette for 10 grand, you put a ZZ4 motor into it for lets say 4 grand and you weren't able to do it yourself and you had to pay 1 grand to get it installed, now you put a Kiesler 5 speed into it for another $4000 now you have 19 grand into the Vette. Do you think you can sell it for $19,000 now ?

Unfortunatly that is what the market has determined the value of the car to be, and it was a little low in my opnion but still in the ballpark, if I had that kind of money I would have been real interested in it.

 

 

 

I know the TV commentators have to say something, and they don't have a whole lotta time to actually THINK and analyze the car... but I really winced when Yates said the builder could have gotten that money for the car if he left it in original condition... Yeah, original 74s go for $68k!!! maybe at BJ they do. I thought Adam deCatemaranet said some nice complimentary things about the workmanship. You know, spending $250k and realizing $70k market value is not all that unusual or hard to do in the car world. I think Hot Rod magazine had a cover story not too long ago about a very ordinary looking car that the owner had $160k into... I think the title of the article was, "Where did the money go?"

You really have to put the whole BJ auction thing in it's proper context. People with lots of money, enjoying the TV coverage, egged on by the fluffers, $100k or $200k isn't really a large expenditure for them, plus they don't even consider it an expense, they think they are "investing". So if they bid a car up to $150k that they could have searched for, found and purchased for $90k....... they don't care!!

How bout that 1968 ( 1968!!!_) L89 coupe (Yes, COUPE, not vert) going for $95k!! That's pretty big bucks for a non-L88 1968 coupe! Even for a rare L89. A couple of years ago ProTeam picked up a bronze one for $65? and it sat on their website for months.

 

Which car was that?

 

I think it is a very nicely done car. It's not something that I would build or buy but I appreciate the effort that went into it.

 

Actuall as much as some people hate on the '68's the value of them are on the rise, almost to what the '69's bring. It still blows my mind how people say baulk at the '68's and say "stay away from them". Are those people that stupid to think that the few minor flaws havn't been changed by the owners in 30yrs+? The speak af if it's WORLDS different in build quality from '68 to ''69.

 

To borrow a quote from Field of Dreams

No one rags Leno for doing the same thing, his custom cars are not going to bring what he has in them except for the ones he gets free stuff for.

 

I have followed this project, commentary, etc from the start and cannot remember posting with respect to it, until now.

The car bought $68k. So??

The car was built for $250K. So?

Twin Turbo:

"There's a difference between a creator and a cheque writer...."

Not necessarily. Just because I don't have the skills, tools, time to build what I design doesn't make me less of a creator. It may make me less of a fabricator. I admire the creator as much as the fabricator, especially when I couldn't think of doing the same, or have tried and failed.

I admire Steve for his quest. Did he fail, who cares. I don't think he did. He set out to achieve so lofty goals and met most of them. THat is success to me as I don't know anyone that has met everyone of their goals the first time out.

THis venture was not about money. I don't know that I would do the same with the same cash on hand (I never saw the project as practical), but if I had the cash to burn, there are quite a few ventures I would try and if I failed, big deal. He didn't spend money needed elsewhere so the loss of $250k was no biggie. Get off his back.

Where his claims legit? I haven't a clue and will bow to the experts. Could they be? Sure. We may never know. To bash him regarding his making the claims without support is wrong. To question it is fine.

Don't like the car - If you have nothing nice to say, don't say it. I would hate to comment on the the number of cars on this Forum I don't care for, but the car is built in the owner's wants and that is what is important. Who am I to tell them I don't like it?

Steve, I admire you taking on such a project, whatever the outcome. The journey is sometimes more fun than the destination. You learned quite a bit from the project, and THAT my friend is what is important. Whatever dream comes next, don't be afraid to jump in headfirst. The worst you can do is fail - and failure breeds success.

 

Yea but I NEVER heard Leno telling us ALL (over and over) that HE was building the fastest best handling street driven Corvette EVER!!

...redvetracr

 

He was. Whether he did or not is a different story.

He would have been better off telling us that he was TRYING to. I think that was one of the lessons he learned.

 

Anybody with some money to burn can thumb through some catalogs and go to a shop and say put this stuff on. And thats ok. Everbody loves hi po custom cars.

Its just that we have much much more respect and admiration for guys like Norval and Twin Turbo that actually design their own one of a kind parts from scratch. And these unique designs work better than the original designs created by teams of engineers at the biggest automaker in the world with resources we can only dream of. Designs like Norval's rear axles and custom suspension, TT's suspension and custom engine pieces. These guys are mechanical genious and rightly deserve the respect and admiration that they get here. With all their accomplishments they don't post and say "look at how great i am" and thats the difference.

P.S. There are many other very bright people here, i just used Norval and TT as a couple of the more prominent examples.

 

DITTO, DITTO, DITTO!!

 

I agree. There are levels of "building" a car:

1) open check book, tell someone else to build this or that.
2) design car, open check book, tell someone else to build my car based on the designs.
3) design car and custom components, open check book and tell some else to build it.
4) design car and custom components and then build it yourself.

I certainly have th emost admiration for the TT's and Norvals that can accomplish #4, but I still admire those who have the mental ability to carry off 2 or 3, but not the resources or the expertise for #4. I simply don't agree with the blanket statement that opening a checkbook does not make one a designer. Sometimes it applies, sometimes it doesn't.

I also did like Steve's posturing, self "pat's on the back", but I took all of that with the proverbial "grain of salt". Some people are like that. It may be cause for not liking the guy, but it shouldn'tdoesn't diminish the the project or call for bashing.

Again, the "ego building" issue is a lesson I think (hope) Steve learned.

 

I think you are in a little over your head here, dude. Recently, I commented in a post about being in the "fan club". That was totally in jest aimed more at the people bowing down to certain other individuals on here. I think almost everyone took it as me doing the same, when in fact, it was a goof to everyone that acts like some people on here invented the Corvette. Instead of clarifying at the time, I just left well enough alone. Not to take anything away from anyone's skills on here, but you can READ in BOOKS about alot of the things these guys do. Why is everyone so hell bent on trashing a CORVETTE that belonged to and was financed by a CORVETTEFORUM MEMBER? The guy admits his mistakes and shortcomings. He's been very humble since his return. Instead of welcoming his knowledge and attempts, some of you would rather go on and on and on. Are you that jealous? He did something right-there are SEVERAL threads about Merlin all over this board. Whether you like it or not, the car is somewhat of a cultural icon on here. I like there car- there are several things I would have done different, but geesh, the car is a monster-an insane example of what you can do with one of these cars. This is getting way old. Cut the guy a break. This is probably why I don't post much about my own car- way too many holier than thou, you can't do that to your car attitude.

 

I like Steve's car. I think Steve is a nice guy. I do not understand why people need to bash him. What he did was great I wish I could do to my car what I want. Some day when I get the money I will.