Great car steve. From the beginning it was an awsum project. Whoever bought this got the deal of a lifetime. robert

 

I have to agree 100%
I would have bought it for that price.
If I had that kind of money
knowing me, I would thrash the hell out
of it, and end up on a pole or tree
SERIOUS HEAD TURNER

Whats next steve?

 

Actually I think Leno's cars may bring what he has in them or more because of the "celebrity premium". Remember last year's B-J auction when the Don Johnson 'Cuda brought outrageous bucks because of who owned it not because of what was in it Someone paid a hemi price for a 340 sb. And I don't mean to imply that Leno is dumping big bucks into his cars because he figures he can get it back. He just enjoys doing it.

 

Did I hear, either on the auction show or somewhere on the forum, that Merlin has only 80 miles on the odometer?

 

looks like we belong to different fan clubs.

you bow down to who you want and i'll bow to who i want.


okie dokie?

 

this merlin corvette you guys are talking bout I wouldn't have gave 68k for that ugly modded thing what is so special about it?

 

Sure thing hero.

 

whats the big deal with this MERLIN c3? I wouldn't have gave 68k for it I thought it was ugly and it was modded big time.

 

If you think a C3 is worth less money because it has mods, you are on the wrong forum. Pretty much the whole C3 forum is all about mods.

 

 

Freud would have a field day with this thread.

 

??????? who gives a ****. Been here a couple of weeks and you think anybody cares what you thought about merlin? same old

 

My last thoughts & then I really want to let this go for good.

I really appreciate all the kind comments & the fact that you would go out of your way to support me. Not sure why we're all fighting over this - I always looked at the C3 Forum as a family of underdogs, so to speak. I really built that car to do something wild & crazy. Something different - and most of all, to prove that just because our cars are older, they can actually be better. We are grandfathered on a bunch of the stupid emissions & licensing laws which allows us to have stronger, louder & faster cars than you could ever go to a dealer & buy! I could have gone out & bought an F40 – and outperformed just about every C3 on this forum – including some of the highly modified ones built by the best mechanics here. I didn’t do that. I was really trying to promote our cars, not **** people off & make enemies. It’s very bizarre to me how it all got twisted around. We’re a bit like a dysfunctional family here at times.

It is truly ironic that I get more love from the newer Vette guys over in the Off Topic section than in my own "family" over here sometimes! The very people I was trying to prove wrong seem to like what I did & the very people I was trying to support think I’m a pompous *** that couldn’t build a Lincoln log house if his life depended on it! Quite bizarre how it all worked out.

There was a quote in this post (link below) that really summed it all up for me. THawkbh said "I was at a party when I first started school last semester. I was talkin to some kid who really is into classic cadillac's and when I mentioned I'm a vette guy he says to me "Have you ever seen the Merlin 'vette?" I thought that was so cool." http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...1&page=6&pp=20

I still get get email about this car 2 years after selling it. I can't tell you how many times I've been talking to people & they actually know about the car. It has taken on a life of its own & become more famous than I ever will be. What I like the most is that so many young people who are in dream mode like I used to be approach me & ask me questions. Rather than assault them like some of the people on this board have done to me, I do try my best to give them pointers & help them. Maybe Norval & Big32 are incredible car builders - and I can respect that for sure but I simply don't have those kinds of skills. This was my very first project. Chris, the engine builder I selected to build the car runs 7 seconds in his Pro-Street car almost every weekend. Feel free to have a look: http://www.honestperformance.com/hp_Htdocs/default.asp - he's the one that selected the smaller cam so that the car would be more drivable. The valve train in the car is pretty bulletproof. I incurred a lot of extra expense to use T&D components & such. Sure, maybe the cam might have ended up being too small. SO WHAT?? Do you know how easy it is to swap a cam out? Like I said in my last post, the car never got finished. We never had the chance to dial it in & make the adjustments. I can give you all every assurance the performance claims can & would have been realized. The handling claims would have been a bit tougher but I did have plans to upgrade to an all aluminum block as well as dumping a Tom’s rear end & 4L80E tranny in there. I even had plans to have Art Morrison (who lives about 45 minutes from here) build me a custom chassis to handle the power & handling better. Chris is the one who talked me out of doing what I REALLY wanted to do - which was to use a 700+ cubic inch block AND nitrous.

The point of this is, I was just out to do something wild & crazy. Something that hadn't been done before. This was an ongoing project. Anyone who knows me realizes that I will do whatever it takes to succeed. The first version of Merlin may not have met all the criteria but I can assure you, had 9/11 not happened & had the stock market & economy not tanked, the car would be far better now than it is had it stayed with me. It simply lost its appeal. When times are tough, the prudent thing is to go back to the basics & take care of business. The fun times were over & the car had to go. I will do another one again at some point but not until I have enough put away that I can relax a bit & enjoy the project more. If you think Merlin 1 was sick then you’d better hold on to your hats because the next one I build is going to be ridiculous! Even if I never drive it, once in my life I want to see a 2,000HP engine in a street car. I still in my heart believe it can be done AND be drivable. Computers can do some amazing things. I foresee a time when we can build cars that have true variable power. That is what I was trying to do with Merlin. Have a car that cranked out about 700 HP for just cruising & then when you were out at the salt flats, you could flip a switch & go ballistic. The project had failures more because I was unable to find the right personnel than anything. Hell, the new CL65 Mercedes is cranking out over 700 lbs of torque. What’s the problem??? We should be able to do better!!

At the time I was sick & tired of all the ricers talking about their 800 HP Skylines & Supras. I wanted to show what could happen if you used the same forced induction principals on our heavy metal old corvettes. I don't know how this ever turned into a pissing match but I will say this in closing. My car gets talked about as much or more than any corvette out there. The Corvette Summer car is probably the only one that is more infamous. I have never EVER heard mention of anything Norval or Big632 & certainly not this Turtle guy have done while out there in the world. Maybe I failed. I certainly learned a lot of lessons along the way. I NEVER claimed to be Duntov. I simply was trying to break out of the mold & do something radical. Something that C3 owners would be proud to call their own. I'm sad that I've managed to upset some of the people along the way - that was not my intent. I apologize for taking away some of your spotlight for a while. What I have learned in my travels is, there are just people in the world that are different & I will never understand them. I never did any harm to any of these people who seem to hate me, yet they can not let a single one of my threads pass without saying something derogatory. Not a single one of them have ever contacted me offline & tried to understand me or give me the chance to at least defend myself. I don't understand them much the same way I will never understand people wanting to fly airplanes into buildings & kill innocent bystanders. Yes, I wish I could wave my magic wand & make all these people I don't understand just get a clue or go away, but that's not going to happen. They weren't wired quite right & a simple reboot isn't going to do the trick. Therefore, it's an annoyance we just have to live with as human beings.

The more high profile your project is, the more you will find these people coming out of the woodwork - but don't let that stop you! Do what YOU want to do. Build what YOU want to build. You have one shot at life. Once you're dead & buried, the game is up. It's your money, it's your time - build what YOU want. Don't let these small minds prevent you from living your dreams & whatever you do, don't for a second believe that just because you had to hire people to help you do it right that you have failed. I have started to try & do things around the house more myself - because these people like Norval & Big32 have really bothered me & it has made me force myself to try & do things myself - even at great cost to my business but the fact remains, I will still call an electrician for the dangerous work. I don't ever want to read about a forum member who got killed because they tried to do something they weren't skilled enough to do. It would make me sick to think someone bit off more than they could chew just to kowtow to people who put pressure on them that they were pond scum because they hired a shop to do the work. I never claimed to be an expert fabricator but at least I tried to do my own thing. I could have walked into any dealership in the world & paid cash for a cool car. It would have saved me untold amounts of grief, lost wages & lost investment. I didn't do that for a reason - I was trying to relive some of the best moments of my life. Moments when my dad brought that 79 Corvette home. I was trying to honor my dad by building this car & to have people assault me for it like they have has really been a tough pill to swallow. I have a lot of pride & I'm competitive as they come. This causes me to make waves sometimes & go a bit overboard. I've apologized profusely for this & really done my best to tone things down yet I still get assaulted in an unprovoked manner for the sole reason that I created my dream car!

I say this to all the detractors - LET IT GO, MOVE ON WITH YOUR LIFE & FIND A WAY TO STOP HATING. That’s what counseling is for. I say this to all the supporters. You guys are the best - each & every one of you. You represent the best that this country has to offer - not because you liked my car, but because you had the guts to stand up for somebody when it may not have been that popular a decision to do so. I've had plenty of people who didn't agree with me - some of them ended up being my best friends. They didn't tear me down because I made a mistake or a claim that was unfounded; they took the time to nicely SHOW me that I was wrong & usually I came around & agreed with them. I hope some of the haters will read this & really think about it. It's not WHAT you are saying that turns people off; it's HOW you say it. Respect isn't forced, it's earned. Just my 2 cents…

 

Think everyone had their say and expressed their feelings...time to lay this thread to rest.