You don't have to be rich to have two cars to drive.

 

Mine for sure will be/are in the same category. Actually, I'd rather not drive them everyday (even if they reach planned completion) because I wouldn't want them to experience that much road wear and tear.

For my 1969, with the piece part built L88 engine, to make a long story short, my estimate was that I had spend about 4 hours working on it for every hour that I drove it (????). Part of this scenario, was that I had some trouble making it reliable. It tooks several months to make every thing work consistently. The GM rocker arm parts just didn't hold up. I had to use performance rocker arm components to make the engine work.

I expect that when my 1968 hits the road, I'll have reliability problems again. My biggest fear is that I will have overlooked something important, such as leaving a bolt in the suspension untorqued. Also, I have a lot of non-stock stuff like VBP components, Tom's Diff, Van Steel, Be Cool, Guldstrand, GM Performance along with the standard Paragon/Volunteer Vettes/Midamerica/Ecklers, etc repro stuff. How all of this is going to play together will be interesting. I expect that some things won't work out, but that's OK. I think that'll be part of the fun of doing this.

Once again, drive every day? With all the work on the undersides of the 68, I don't ever want to drive in the rain. As a So Cal car, my car has had only small amount of rain exposure before I started working on it. So I was very surprised to see some rust problems, such as severe rust corrosion pits in my strut rod/shock absorber connecting bolts.

Also, there is the theft problem. I'm very cautious about where I would park my cars for a few hours. An acquaintance of mine had a really nice 1968 full size Chevrolet convertible that he drove to work. The last he saw of his car was the video of the parking lot security camera showing people stealing his car. Of course, the parking lot securiy camera's resolution was too poor to identify the car that the thieves were driving. (Why do all of these security cameras have such poor resolution? Where can you even buy such poor quality cameras?)

So I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel for getting my 68 back on the road, I'll be as nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs when it comes to parking this car somewhere away from home.

 

i live in south Texas so driving year round is no problem. in fact, driving in the fall, winter and spring down here is probably more enjoyable than summer driving. i've owned my 79 L82 for almost 15 years now. it sat virtually undriven for years but has been driven nearly every week (at least once) for the past 2 or 3 years. the car isn't show quality but it has never left me stranded and has never failed to start. it's my "stress reducer" and i look forward to every therapeutic drive, usually scheduled after a tough day at work. i'd like to do some "big" projects on it that would require some major disassembly but i just can't bring myself to do it because of the "down time" required during which period i wouldn't be able to drive it.
Hmmmmm....... maybe i need two vettes. one to drive and one to work on. lol.

 

I have a 77 that did have a engine/tranny/rear swap & rebuild a few yrs ago & was & still is a daily driver (20-40 miles/day rain or shine). It was off the road for a total of about 4-5 months in the past 7 years that I have had it. 75% of that time was when I first bought it and started R&R for daily driving. It has been very reliable over the past 2 years with most of the BS R&R behind it. Now its just normal wear & tear, repair or maintainence. I really have to stand back once in awhile to remind myself that "Holy sh*t this thing is 29 yrs old". I did almost all of the repair myself except for the Rear diff rebuild, rear wheel bearing rebuild, & install of the auto tranny. Home garage with minimal tools. I rented a engine hoist once and a sawzall for the rear bushing repair job. I worked like a dog fixing some of these items but it was worth it in the end. Thus the name dogboy was borrowed for my user ID.

 

I drive my '78 L48 4 speeder everyday 52 miles round trip to work rain or shine in NJ.

KEEP DRIVING !!!

 

I drive my '69 an average of 4000 miles a year and my '61 an averfage of 2000 miles a year these days- when single I drove the '69 more. I have driven the '69 about 142,000 miles since 1977 when I completed its first paint job and the '61 about 32,000 miles since I frame up restored it in 1985. I take both on IA to NH trips usually on alternate years. I drive them to work only occationally. The tops are down 90% of the time. I will not drive on salty roads. Years ago, I would brave the ice and salt to allow winter trips to CA. These cars are too sweet to be caged as ornaments!

Almost forgot-EVERYTHING works on both my Corvettes!!

 

Thin skinned are ya? Get used to it bud...you gonna get a lot of that from this crowd if you come in here with a chip on your shoulder...

That said, mine's a garage queen, pampered, heated garage, 60 degrees in the winter, and when April rolls around, Vrooooooooooooom...Vrooooooooooooom...Vr oooooooooooooom.....wish I had something to fix on mine, since a frame off resto was finished in 2001...nothing to do on it, except wash and wax...yea, wax it twice a month in the winter months....it sho do shine boss....yessum...

 

Geez George! If I knew your car was a shut in I'd have picked you up a car capsule at the NCRS show a few weeks ago.

 

seeing as Im in RI its a garage ornament from November to April. After that its on the road every chance I get!

 

Im with this guy....

 

The Cah don't wanna come out in the snow and salt...then why didn't ya drive up north an' pick me up? Whazzamattawizyou eh?

 

I have 69BB and now a 65SB to go with it in the garage. Yes they are garage queens in the winter and during the rain, but they never arrive anywhere on a trailer. Anyone that knows me knows that if my cars are spotted on a trailer they must be stolen! Where ever I decide to take them they are driven and driven hard!

My 95 300ZX is the daily driver.

 

Sure sounds like you need a second project....

Steve

 

I'm impressed. I wish I could say something similar!!

 

Can't see the forest through the trees. haha thats helarious. I got my 80 just after i turned 19 one year ago. Early in the summer i thought i was gonna blow that thing up trying to keep up with my buddies LS1s and 4.sux. Now its a year later and 2000 miles and the car never broke down once and the motor never blew. Now i'm upset that i wasn't able to blow it up. I guess i didn't go hard enough. Maybe this will be my summer. 2000 miles isn't much but i'm a carpenter so you wouldn't find me driving my vette to a rough framing job.

 

oh the car works fine as a whole ....
it's the little things that don't.....

clock, need to rebuild again.......
headlights, always the headlights.......
A/C ....... well, it's not hot now .......
heater core leaking .... bypass ..... who needs more heat in the cabin of a c-3 anyway?

Robert

 

I have a garaged Vette that runs and drives great. It's largely original too.