FIGHT, KICK, SCREAM DO WHAT EVER IT TAKES.... DON'T SELL THE VET.....
trust me you will need it to let off steam. there are times when you get done with all-nighter, or have a mental block that you will need it. i find it a great stress reliver, just ot go take the tops off and drive around. you need a way to relax. insure the thing as a classic car that should help some. i have made it through 7 years of architecture school trust me you will need it just like it needs you.

 

Daniel,

First and foremost is family. Do not let a car come between you and your family. Second is Education. With only few exceptions without an education you cannot go and just buy a brand new Corvette. Third is Corvette, there are no other cars.

As far as dependability, once you have the bugs worked out the cars run well. I drove our ’69 daily for 10 years and our daughter drives 45 miles round trip to collage almost daily in a ’79 we bought 4 years ago. The up sides on a ’77 are: No deprecation - it’s paid for. It may likely need repairs like any other used car but the hard parts that it takes just to keep the car running are dirt cheap and you can do much of the labor yourself. Price a rebuilt master cylinder for a Vette vs. one for a BMW. We do not bother to insure the ‘79 (only the driver as required by Calif. state law.) Insurance is so high that it would have to be totaled out every 3 or 4 years for us to be even. Not likely. Even if it is totaled a junkyard will give a couple of thousand for it. Except for the cost of fuel keeping a Vette is the rational thing to do.

Architectural Engineering IS :sleep: but it pays better than architecture.

George. Cal Poly SLO ARCE class of ’80.

 

Dan
From what I've encountered , C-3's arnt that expensive.
I'm 21 now and Looking at getting off my parents insurance (just turned 21)
But I've been under theyre insurance as the main driver on all my cars since I had my liscence.
The car I had before my vette was a `95 saturn (yes I said saturn :U )
Anyway when I added the vette to my insurance the cost was the same for both the vette and the saturn , only about $50 a year difference. and the vette was the $50 cheaper.
And thats only about $1200 a year, and I have a HORRIBLE record. :reddevil
I'm not going to get into it but trust me , its bad :)


[Modified by Anar76, 6:06 PM 1/5/2002]

 

Im trying to keep it, but things arn't looking good. trying to convince me parents the vette is a better solution, but they don't understand it. My Mom, Dad, Step mom, and Step Dad(parents split and both are remarried), say that it is not a good idea to keep the vette despite it being my first car. My "step mom"(not yet but soon), has owned almost every year vette, and says they are a pain. She said a vette of my year is mainly for someone who has time(not nessisarly money), but time to tinker with it, and she said I'd probably be happier with something like a drop top beemer for stress release anyway. She also said that most girls my age(my batchelor prime) don't want to go anywhere with such a "brute force" car. And I have noticed that a little. I know I shouldn't go for a girl that doesn't like vette (:jester), but there are few my age that do(most of you older guys have girlfriends or wifes who grew up with a dad or someone owning a C3, most my age grew up with dads or someone owning lexus's, beemers, mercedes, etc(I live in a place like that) so I have to compramise.

My free time is geting shorter and shorter, and come tomarrow(monday the 7th), I will pretty much have NO time, I go to school from 8-3, then I got a job from 4-10:30, then I come home, do homework, work out(another one of my stress releavers), take a shower, and go to bed...The weekends will be me working from about 10am to 6pm, then after that, its the weekend, and I'll have to go hang out with my friends or spend time with my family. I don't want to ditch friends or family, because I need to install another powersteering pump or bleed my brakes.

I know I will regret it, but for now, the vette is down on my list of nessesities.
1 is keeping my parents happy with me and paying for:
2 school
3 a job to help pay for school
4 my happiness(I like working on the vette and all, but I have no time anymore)
5 friends(good friends are more important then a car, because they understand things from my perspective, unlike my parents sometimes(like in this case))
6 A car I enjoy driving(the vette for example).

I know most of you love corvettes, and I do too, but most of you like them a little more then I do. I may just be a nieve kid, but I will own more vettes, just not right now.

Daniel
PS. Its not my decision, its my parents, convincing me to keep it doesn't help much, because I want to keep it...its my parents who are sketchy on the idea.

 

PS. the main point of this post was for everyone to go "I understand where your parents are coming from and good luck" :jester That would have made this much easier.

Also, it was an informal way of offering the car for sale, I'd love to sell it to a forum member, but if not I'll end up doing the ad in the paper, talking to the chevy dealership about putting it on their lot, and anythnig else I can think of. I'd rather get it over with quick and painless then to drag it out and have everyone tell me I should keep it....it just makes it harder. Im trying to force myself to become excited over another car so it won't be as hard to sell.

Sorry guys, but its something I think I need to do...(and everyone but most of the forum memebers agree with me). I will still hang out here, I'll just change my name every year counting down until i can own one again like right now it'll be "8moreyrs" next year it'll be "7moreyrs"...and so on...

Daniel

 

Well man
It sounds like you're pretty set on selling it.
Since You've already convinced yourself your selling it, it wont be so bad.
But I have to say, this has regret writen all over it.
You'll always regret getting rid of it.
Sorry man, Hate to see ya go , but good luck with that "drop top beemer" :)

 

A wise man once said "regret builds charicter"...:rolleyes:

Im trying to convince myself Im "set on selling it"...Because arguing with my parents is pointless when it comes to something like this. So Im tried to make it easier on me...

Im not going anywhere, I'll still hang out here, It will be good to watch forum member cars to help me get through the 8 years of being vette-less...

Daniel


[Modified by daniel77350, 1:38 AM 1/7/2002]

 

Daniel:

This post is really too much fun... seeing you struggle and feel the pain just makes my reward for going to college, and getting that ARCHITECTURAL ENGINEERING bachelors degree just that much more valuable. Your post really touched a nerve... you've already heard from the dentist (and you noted that he has a Z06!) and you've heard from just plain ole engineers... The common thread is to stay in school and finish.

My vote is to convince your family to KEEP THE VETTE... You have invested so much in the car already and its no loss to just park it for a while... Keep the Jetta as your college car unless you guys are just bound and determined to change vehicles... Minimize the outlay by storing the vette and using the veedub... Wax the vette when ever you need a pick-me-up.

Carl in LA - BSARE University of Texas at Austin - 1992

 

I'll always remember that gorgeous blue on that '77. It was the car that made me like plastic bumpered vettes.

 

:eek: :eek: Im flattered, seriously. I think thats awesome! My baby will be happy to hear that. :)

Daniel

 

Good to hear....I think...?

ARCE is :sleep: :sleep: , no offince. I'll stick to drawing them. One day I'll send my stuff to you so you can make it work. :jester

Daniel

 

Have you considered getting a part time job while in school and contributing financially to a solution so you could work out a deal with your parents on a way to keep the Corvette in storage. That way you would not have the maintenance expense and gas which might be a bit much to carry while in school but it would show your parents that you're not just expecting a handout and they might come around and meet you half way. It almost sounds like you want the whole enchalada and want them to pay for it too. I can see where that might cause them to flinch a little. Put some sweat equity into the deal with some part time earnings and they might soften up a bit. Just a thought,

 

I though I made you like plastic bumpered vettes! :smash: :lol:

 

Alright quick update. I talked to my parents in a calm manner(ok I got mad and said things in a firm voice(I don't yell at my parents)). I told them to compramise, the origional complain was it was a corvette, but after the compramise, they said "ok you can look at c4's"...actually they didn't say that exactly, but they said I could look for one like Brett's(he lives down the road), he owns a C4....so basically they said I could look at C4's. This, to me, is good news because I can stay in the vette family. There was a lot more talking that was done, but thats the outcome of the conversation...I am still talking to them about keeping the '77. But the worse case sanario is I'll end up with a C4 coupe...which isn't to bad considering what could have happened.

I'd still like a vert though, Kelly Blue Book tells me I can get an '88 or '89 manual vert and still be in my budget enough to get rid of those ugly saw blade "wheel" things.

I'm going to keep working on my parents, but I may be posting over in the C4 section about a possibly car-for-car even trade...

So this is good news, but still not as good as I'd like it...

What are you opinions on this? Is a C4 a good compramise?? Its still a 'vette. The gas milage will probably be better, as will the reliability. And its newer so I won't be as worried about people sitting on fenders(its not a classic)...

Daniel

 

I think a C4 would be a perfect car for college. I was actually looking to buy a C4 before I bought my 81. They're nice, especially on the inside. C3 interiors don't even compare to the C4's. Bad thing is, you won't get as many compliments on it, as the '77, but you still would be in the Vette family. Two bad you couldn't get a LT-1, but I guess a L98 would do. No complaining here.

 

Uhh - ohhh, we have someone bashing a C4 :D

Seriously, the C4's are great cars. My suggestion is probably going to be the same that you would get from the C4 forum: Buy the newest Corvette you can afford. They made improvements every year, including the '96 model. I'd say at least try to get a '92+ with the LT1 engine. Also remember that all of the coupes have a targa roof, so it's almost like having a convertable. I had a '94 making 330/350 rwhp/rwtq and I still got 19/26 mpg city/hwy, so yes it will be better on the gas.

Another option would be to sell the Jetta, get a Tremec (for the overdrive) and the Holley MPFI setup and you will get comparable gas mileage.

 

Im going to try to find a '87 or '88 vert...I think I can keep under budget with that...but if I doubt I can find a manual version for under budget, so I may end up with a auto for now :(. But it should get me through college in(IMO) style, I should enjoy driving it, and the gas should be pretty good(better then the '77)...Hopefully I can get it if I have to sell my baby.

Daniel

 

I think a '90-'91 coupe is about all I can get with my budget. I'd like a '92+ but, we'll see...if I have a choice between a '90 coupe and a '87 vert(same price, miles, etc), I will pick the vert...But hopefully I can get about a '88 vert...I will look around. I have a few months.

Daniel

 

One other thing I meant to mention is that I don't believe that a 14 year old car ('88) is going to be any more reliable than a 25 year old car ('77) for which you have already put in a lot of effort and new parts. Especially since you are so familar with the car, if something does go wrong, it will take you half the time to fix it.

 

I am checking around for the reliability of those years...

And its my belief that 10 years would make a bit of difference on any car...so I think the newer ones will be a little more reliable...but I don't know for sure. I do know that I have a 10 year old car, and when it was new it was good, now its 10 years old and about to fall apart, so 10 years does make a difference...

Im still looking and trying to convince my parents, but a C4 is defanitly good news compared to where I was a day ago.

Daniel


[Modified by daniel77350, 9:45 PM 1/7/2002]