This was my initial thought, aside from what does one need with that kind of car? Thought a trip to pick up a conatiner of milk would be an experience.

Hats off to you on several points:

1. completing the project
2. being big enough to admit mistakes made
3. being able to realize the project for what is was - a project
4. sharing your experiences with us
5. being smart enough not to endanger yourself or others in driving something you do not feel safe in.

There a a few more that escape me.

As for the "we" part mentioned earlier. There are 2 sides to this sort of project - build and design. I have to believe that you were involved somewhere in the design side.

Personally, having money to pay someone to build a car (or anything else) is not a negative. I routinely pay for things I can do myself to allow more time spent making $$ or with family. There is no shame in paying for services

 

What the heck is up with E-bay? Everytime I go to the link one if not all the pics don't open and get the hated red X. Personally with a current bid of 47K on a 250k machine I would renig and keep the car. With three years of back breaking work and all those custom parts that no one will ever appreciate, except us Forum folks, it seems a crime. Considering all the money you will lose there is no way in hell I would sell. If it requires a CHP13 then so be it. Take a 2nd mortgage on your house, whatever. heck for all the backbreaking work the mechanics went through and the painter's love and dedication to make those huge fenders appear flawless is being thrown away to John Doe who will rap it around a tree 3 weeks after he gets it. As your mechanic if I spent 3 years with you Steve building your dream I'd be sorely disappointed.
P.S. I used to be 300+ but am now 210lbs. As I see it, respectfully speaking, not only can you save the car but more importantly your health/ life. God gave us one body. We can have multiple careers, marriages, cars, houses etc. etc. but just one body, and yes I am discounting surgical options out there becuase they do not work. What I discovered is one must make a life style change. my diets worked temporary but I always regained till I took control of my life. Keep in mind there are issues such as overactive glands etc. etc but that is another topic. Steve do what you must but consider my option and good luck whatever your choice may be. God bless.

David

 

Steve,

As I stated before, anyone who can start and finish a project gets a tip of my hat. This shouldn't be an attack or a reason to make it personal or to name call.

However, in all fairness to those who followed your work, you have to admit this whole thing is bizarre and frustrating to say the least.

Yeah, it was cool to listen and follow, but to have at the very end this anti-climatic finale is a bit of a bust. I'm not surprised that there's a bit of animosity. Sure, it's your car and you can damn well do what you want with it, but you can't expect to bring people along on this journey and then make such a capricious announcement without some grumbling.

You don't fit? I'm a big guy too and I own a C3. And sure, there's not a lot of room, but to offer that as an excuse with all the design decisions and forethought you put into this car just sounds goofy. I mean a better excuse might have been that you just found out that Corvettes were made by Chevy and you always said you would never own a Chevy.

It was like, you were building a plastic model or something. Or a great movie that we all watched, only to have the most wacky, bizarre, crappy ending imaginable.

I certainly wish you all the best in his new endeavors, but we certainly shouldn't be surprised at the comments. Writing your thoughts and offering a journal of your work, and getting people involved with your project is a double-edged sword. You get the praise and attention of the onlookers, but you're also going get a number of people who think you're a bit wacked.

I guess that's the price of fame.

Regards,
Jim

 

The e-bay site can't show the pictures because they are linked to Steve's web site which is down at the moment.

Steve -- get a better web host !!

Good luck on the sale.

 

I bet when NASA built Apollo, they ended up firing some of their best astronauts, as they probably couldn't fit in that either.

Congrats on a successful project and thank you for sharing your experiences with all of us. Hopefully, everyone has walked away from it learning something or two about fabrication, construction, and realizing that even the best laid plans are frought with peril and the occasional disappointments.

Good luck on your PHD program and future endeavors!

-Deano

 

Quote:

From what i gather he ignored his inability to comfortably drive it, because of his love for the C3.

Yep, that sounds like ultimate C3 to me... Let's build a car I can't drive..
:rolleyes:


[Modified by 70PurpleLS7, 12:21 PM 12/12/2002]

 

if you cant understand, you dont need to. thanks for your input. :p:
and what does his inability to drive it have to do with it being the ultimate C3? it still is the ultimate streetable C3 no matter who drives it. i didnt figgure you for a troll based on your 1st post, but your starting to sway my decision.


[Modified by '79ProwlerOrange, 10:41 AM 12/12/2002]

 

70PurpleLS7 - You completely missed the point. I enjoyed building the car. Even with all the frustrations it was a blast! I knew I didn't fit well in the C-3, that is no suprise. I am just too damn tall for it. My legs are too long. That doesn't change the dream I had. I guess there is no point in trying to explain. Some people are just closed minded. This is a dream that I had since I was a kid. I am not selling it simply because I don't fit. Don't you think if I REALLY wanted to I would find a way around that I would? I am selling it because it is done, I don't fit & I don't feel like ripping the car apart again. It's done. Time to move one. Other mountains to climb.


[Modified by Merlin522, 9:51 AM 12/12/2002]

 

BSeery - That web host is my house. I am running a triple cluster - each with dual Xenon procs managed by app center. 8 gigs of processor & a gig memory per maching. We have 100 meg fiber to the house which has been clogged since I posted. Right now the monitor is showing a terabyte of data flowing through my house every hour or so. If I took this to a web hosting company, it would probably cost me a few grand just to host it (unless I could find some idiot to host it with unlimited bandwidth). Please note that the ebay page has sustained nearly 13,000 hits in 2 days. We are probably going to set a record with this one. Folks - know the facts before you jump to conclusions. It makes one look silly when one makes assumptions like that. I'd say I have one of the best web hosting setups of anyone on this forum. There is just a HUGE amount of hits & downloads going on around the clock right now. The ebay page & my site have now made it onto over 100 different forums worldwide. The exposure blows my mind - mainly because I didn't promote it, it just happened itself. So, all I can request is that everyone just be patient & hold off on dowloading any videos until the auction is over. When you start tanking a fiber channel - that is some SERIOUS traffic!

 

Steve,
I've never met you....However following your post and your endeavors while building Merlin522 has been a complete pleasure....Thanks for keeping us out here posted on your challenge to build the baddest and finest C-3 on the planet...I will miss your post and the future exploits involving your car.....You are the man....for being straight up honest and knowing your limitations....Can't take that away from you.....I think the majority of us out here wish you the best of luck and a prosperous journey into the future.....If you ever come to Hawaii....Give me a call and I'll be glad to show you around.....Always keep this in mind....some of the folks on this Forum would drive up to the gates of heaven and honk.....don't let those people get under your skin....RISE ABOVE......Aloha..... :seeya Cappy

 

i'm not sure how to respond, most certainly it isnt worth it. But hey, i got a half hour to kill before i got to get motivated with my day, so here goes...

Go to Martin Chevrolet, warren ohio. Ask for Johnny, they'll know who you want. Very weathered, lovable type guy. He'll have his 65 out back behind the dealership. Yes, he drives it in winter. Talk to him all about it, you'll see it's just as i said.

aside from that....i dont know what else to say, or particularly feel i have anything else to say. I only scanned most of what was said about me, i honestly found it pretty funny. I dont understand how i became a liberal communist, but rest assured i'm going to use that one in the future. I'm not doing this for attention if that's what you mean. Just had a thought and voiced it.

Well if you're going to ride me over something as silly as a name, i might as well give you the full story.

Yes my real name is rusty, and i like it (even though i'm not even a red-head). Was it a cruel joke by my parents? Well, yeah. My dad was a pretty cruel man; those who know him jokingly say it took two planes and two collapsed buildings to take someone that mean down.

Anyway, one thing i learned from kenjutsu is that all attacks are personal. Did you really expect to expose yourself on such a large medium, and not get some flak? I dont recall riding merlin that much, i think i made maybe 4 posts to him. The only other one i remember was when he hadnt even completed his project and was already planning to sell it and build another one.

Your project always struck me as "Project Mid-age Crisis". The fact you gave up on it so readily and so soon just enforces that thought, in my mind. If you're going to go with something, you just have to go with it all the way. It's never practical, but it's good for the soul.

I didnt mean to make this a contest in who's toughest here. I may be lean and mean, but i've always found it distasteful to overtly show just how much of a bad azz you are. As someone rightly pointed out, the really tough people never show it, and you'd never know by looking at them. That's definatly me. One sign of definate tough is fair disregard of what is said about you. That's surely what i'm feeling now.

As far as being rude, yep i am. Some of my better friends in the corp call it "keeping it real".

other than that, i stand by my other post adamantly. Off i go....

 

i know you probably wont read this, and im not out to change anyone's mind, but Merlin is finished. read above. and keeping it real is diffrent than being rude. you can tell steve you think it was dumb to start a large project just to sell it, but calling him a yuppie and being ignorant isnt needed, and it only creates animosity.

out of all the people that ive met and read about that do large projects, %75 sell them upon completion. even if it is their dream car. its a hobby. is there anything else i can say? the project is done time for something new. i think this thread has gone downhill though. i dont know that there is anymore that can be said. Steve is happy with his project and ready to move on. he is selling it, and it will sell. a yuppie might buy it, but a yuppie didnt create it. after all, yuppies think all C3ers are rednicks, right Vetteloverbutnomullet? cheap shot i know, but im still pissed off about that guy.

 

No doubt the car is cool. Although the claims of best handling, fastest etc etc were never substantiated. In fact, just the opposite was proven. If there is a lesson learned in all this, it would be to match the power of the engine to the capabilities of the car. I certainly hope we can follow the history of this car once it's sold. My guess is that it will become a show piece.
No offense Merlin, you seem to be a very respectful guy, but you made some pretty bold claims that were never even put to the test. Anyhow, the car looks awesome and it's too bad you can't play with it more. You possibly could have proven us doubters wrong! I must admit, even this doubter had fun watching the drama surrounding your project. Thanks. Hope things turn out well for you.

 

Good Luck Steve :) :)


[Modified by 76 Red, 12:33 PM 12/15/2002]

 

I just thought I would jump in here and offer my unqualified thoughts. I will just start off by saying that I don't know either Rusty or Steve, and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Rusty, we might be friends under different circumstances because it seems we are at least a bit alike. Although I will say that I don't really "feel sorry" for Steve because I don't think that is really the right term to describe this situation. I think it's a shame that Steve has to sell the car that he put so much into, but as many have already stated, for many, the thrill is in the hunt. By the time you get everything accomplished, it almost seems like it's time to move on to something else.

What I have issue with, Rusty, is you trying to belittle Steve's accomplishments with Merlin because he wasn't the primary wrench-turner. Saying that he doesn't deserve the car or doesn't appreciate it because of this is out of line. I have been trying to put together a hot rod Corvette for the past five years. I don't have near the funds Steve has, so the process has taken me and will take me much longer. I have not performed much of the work on my car whether it be for lack of time or lack of knowledge. Does this mean that I don't deserve my car since I am just "paying the bills"? I don't think so. Does it mean I don't appreciate the car since I didn't physically perform the work? Hell no. This car means more to me than almost anything else in the world. In the end, however, it's just a car that can be replaced. But it's more than the car, it's a representation of events that have happened in our lives. Very few people do "all" of the work on their cars themselves. When you feel attatched to a project, you use "we" to symbolize that you were a part of something more.

As I said, I could never afford to do something like Steve has done with Merlin without doing the majority of the work myself. Hell, if I saved my entire salary for two-and-a-half years, I would be able to buy the car at his asking price today! But I am not going to cry and say, "Why me, God" because Steve can do it and I can't. What's the point? At some point, you need to be happy with what you got, or you will never be happy getting all you want. Rusty, whether you are jealous or not, it sounded that way on your previous post. I won't call :bs on your claims because I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt until they prove otherwise. But man, try to give some credit where it is due!

I will step off my soapbox now. By the way, Steve, they are making those Tiger Shark body kits for the C5 now. They look sort of C3-ish....

 

Honestly, the purpose of the post was just to keep you all in the loop. I wasn't going to tell anyone because I knew it was going to tank my servers, which it did. I knew you would all find out & be hurt at not hearing it from the source. I was just trying to show some respect. This thread got WAY off topic. Really, the reasons for selling it are nobod's business but my own. I just wanted everyone to know what was up. The more I look at the car, the less I want to sell it. If it doesn't go, I may still figure out a way to make it happen. And no, losing weight has nothing to do with it. I'm not a fat person. I guess the pictures just make me look that way. I'm just very large & very tall. Anyway, I was just trying to show some respect. Not looking for pity whatsoever. I am perfectly at ease with everything.

 

Hey Steve, if all else fails, I need a beater to learn how to drive stick on. I'll take the next plane up there and drive it home free of charge. :)

I'm sure it's been said about 10,000 times in this post, and I know I've said it before... here goes.

I've been a dream chaser for the longest time, and I think the most exciting part about it is chasing the dream. Sometimes the dream doesn't turn out the way you wanted it to, but at least you've got a "life goal" out of the way. I own a copy of Phantasy Star for the Mega Drive. Only 1000 made, and I spent about five years hunting it down. Got a damn good price on it too. Now, I've got it hidden away behind CDs and software in my room. I'm just happy knowing it's there...

That little dream of mine is totally different from yours, but at least it sets me up for what I want to say. Even if your dreams weren't realized, you've given so many of us the desire and the willingness to see our projects through. You've proven to us that anything is possible, with enough blood, sweat, and tears. You have a life that a lot of us are envious of, even though none of us realize exactly how much goes on behind the scenes. I'm sure quite a lot- I've gotten tastes of what serious programming is like... and it's a hell of a lot scarier than writing a Dickens novel, I can vouch for that! Whether you keep the car or not, you've got the right to do what you want to with it. It's the living embodiment of Zora Arkus Duntov's dreams. Maybe it should go to a museum, maybe not. Either way, it should be somewhere where it's cherished, and I know for a fact that it's already there.

Kudos. Thanks for the trip! I am glad you got to scare yourself to death at least once. How about a Merlin522 Cadillac? That would be quite a trip...

-Steve

 

I couldn't have said it better myself. One word, Jealous! You’re probably the type that would beat someone down to get ahead. Just go away... Man you **** me off... Remove this guy from the forum! :mad

 

If he came to me & told me I was an idiot for spending $250K on a car & not making sure I fit in it, I would have to agree!

I would have to agree with the not fitting into the car. I would have to go to therapy to figure out why your project has always irritated me. Perhaps it is because I will never have the money to waste like you do. It could be because the whole project just never made any sense. Too much HP, a weak drivetrain, not enough safety devices. Not fitting well in the car just tops it all off. I don't want to be personally offensive and I wish you well. I have kept my thoughts to myself in the past.
I really don't see the car selling for over 50,000. It is only good for parts.

 

Pacin'California - Yes, you are absolutely right. It is about dreams. I made some pretty outlandish assertions - many of which are probably true, but the fact is that is what dreams are all about. Whether I prove them or not doesn’t make any difference to me at this point. You give me the toughest, most hard core race on this forum & I guarantee I can scare the hell out of him. Chris is a professional racer & he is terrified of the car. It’s definitely a demon & a force to be reckoned with. I don’t need a single number to know that. If dreams weren't outlandish, dreams would be boring! At least I'm not out there BS'ing about something that I'm not or telling other people their projects are crap or their projects don’t make sense. I have people writing to me from around the world with all kinds of projects – on every end of the spectrum. I try to go out of my way to be supportive of everyone. The only time I get nasty is when people get nasty with me first.

I think I have earned the right to enjoy the car, flaunt it or do any damn thing I want with it. I feel that the dream WAS fulfilled. When I first drove it, the car was everything I ever thought and then some. I read posts about how scary Lingenfelter's 427 TT is. I think this car makes the TT look tame. It's not even the extra horsepower & torque; it's how violently quick it comes on. I have said over & over that I think Monty's car is a far superior street racing machine because of the way the power is distributed. My dream & goal was to build a car that would finally help me shake the demons of my past. When you lose someone that you love as much as I loved Laura & my son, it kills you inside. Call it a mid life crisis, call it whatever you want. I was supposed to be in the car with her. I still blame myself to this day. Ironically work saved my butt because I got called away. A drunk driver ran into her car & killer her instantly. My son died a few hours later. It took incredible toughness to get through that. I’m still amazed sometimes that I’m not pushing a shopping cart down the street for a living. After the accident I was almost suicidal. I just didn’t care about life. I started buying faster & faster motorcycles. I would push them right up to the edge. I used to fly by Harley Davidsons doing 3rd gear roll-on wheelies. I didn’t care. Still, the quest for more power was there. My dream was to build a beautiful C-3 & scare the **** out of myself at the same time. Having driven it a few times, the goal was realized 100%. I LOVE driving this thing, but it has served its purpose. I feel like my demons are finally at rest. I am selling the car because it’s almost like a band aid for me. It stopped the bleeding & now I am whole again. I still sit there & just stare at the car for hours. It’s the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. That doesn’t change the fact that I can’t do a whole lot with it. Fortunately I found out today that I will likely get to stay at Boeing & won an even larger contract than last year but it’s time to move on. I now find myself more impressed with comfort & luxury. I’m already in a new phase of my life. This car is the old phase. It’s time to let it go. This car wasn’t about anyone but me. I built it for myself. When you guys build your cars, you should build them for yourselves. I simply thought since this is a C-3 board, that folks would be keenly interested in it – which many of you have been. Folks like Rusty & this Ken guy who just posted don’t get it & probably never will. It’s not about Rusty. It’s not about Ken. It’s about me. This is what I wanted to do. Norval built a car for Norval. Monty built a car for Monty. We should all rejoice in getting to share other’s experiences. I know I have learned so much from everyone here. It’s been a real pleasure. I plan to stick around & continue to be a part of the forum – no matter what I do next in life. Ken above is focused on me not fitting in the car. It’s not that I don’t fit. I fit. It’s just not comfortable & not really that enjoyable to drive. It is a complete white knuckle experience. Having my legs jammed into the steering wheel make it even more difficult. I think what these people are forgetting is that the car started out as an automatic. I have never driven a C-3 with a stick. If this car had a 4L80E in it, driving would be a breeze. It’s not that I don’t fit, I just can’t shift it very well & that is a bad idea with this much power.

Back to the dream, how many people can say they have driven a street car with better throttle response? There may not be any that exist. A roots blower doesn’t have near the throttle response of this thing. The Whipples & huge throttle bodies on this thing are amazing. We’re talking nanoseconds from pedal being pressed to massive white smoke poring out the back of the car. The drive train is PLENTY strong in this thing because all it does is spin the tires. I can’t describe it to you unless you actually were in the car with me. Ken doesn’t see it selling for over $50K. It’s already over $50K 3 days into the auction. Ebay is not a great venue for this kind of car. If it doesn’t sell, I take it to Park Place or Carlisle. The car WILL sell for over $50K. If it doesn’t I keep it & do something else with it. Ok, there – more insight into the madness. I now return you to your regularly scheduled lives already in progress….