Originally Posted by ApexOversteer

Let me tell you about my Corvette love and my honest feelings on the C4.

I was born in December 1972. My mother totaled the massive station wagon she drove two weeks before I was born. On the day she went into labor my father called a Taxi to take them to the hospital. Being winter in Fitchburg, Massachusetts it was snowing and the way my father tells it the guy driving the cab was a maniac. He decided then that his wife and his child were never, ever getting in a cab again and he would be driving us home himself. So, he returned home, took the Silver Pearl '66 350hp Roadster down off the blocks, had snow tires put on the knock offs by the Sears in Leominster, and I came home from the hospital in a '66 Corvette.

I'll be the first to tell you that infants imprint on specific stimuli and the sound of a small block V8 running under a fiberglass body, through sidepipes certainly fits the bill. To this day, and I'm not kidding, the sound of a smallblock midyear brings the feeling of being in my mother's arms to mind.

I spent my formative years in and around that car. When most 6 year olds fall of their bike, they want their mommy. I wanted to stand in the passenger side of the Vette, gripping that handle above the glove box, redline in all 4 gears please. When I was 6 I had a '66 Sting Ray. And then one day it was gone, sold while I wasn't looking.

That is where my love of all cars, and Corvettes in particular comes from.

In the early days of the 80's you could not get away from "The Next Corvette". Now, remember, I had lived my entire life to this point only ever knowing one body style being available at the dealerships. '81 or '82 rolled around and there was Popular Mechanics, Car And Driver and Road And Track running almost monthly bits on what was going on with "The Next Corvette". By '83 I was frantic with anticipation. Then it was out and I had to see one. I would ride my bicycle down to the dealership to see if they had one yet, at least once a week. The guys at the dealership all knew my name and I knew all of theirs. '83 passed into '84 and no Vette, not surprising for a tiny New Hampshire dealer. Then one day I came home from school and my mother got me in the car telling me she had a surprise for me. What I didn't know was that the dealership had called her the minute their first, and only, '84 Corvette arrived on the truck. When we pulled into the parking lot I could see it through the showroom window.

It was gorgeous. The future made real. If you squinted it looked like a Ferrari 512BBi, but then you unsquinted and it was better. It was so wide, so low and everything was fat and hollered performance. The dealer guys, who had gathered around to see my reaction, were all smiles. I uttered my first swear word my mother ever heard (and the only one she ever ignored) when the manager turned the key so I could see the digital dash come alive. It was the only car related thing my mother and I ever did without my father. Waiting for a totally new Corvette, something I've only gotten to do 3 times in my life, is to me the greatest time a car enthusiast can live through. It's Christmas, once every 10 years, if you're lucky.

The C4 was the king. ONE-F*CKING-G on the skidpad. Not even Ferrari had a car that could match that. Then a car came out and blew it out of the water, the ZR-1. Until that came out I took a lot of crap in school for being a "Corvette guy". The King Of The Road shut those kids up but quick.

I make fun of the C4's because it's amusing to me, especially when people totally flip out and start taking this whole internet thing far too seriously. Rest assured that I don't actually hate the C4, or in fact any Corvette, or for that matter most any car.

Just make sure you park it inside... the rest of us don't want to look at the damn eyesore.

Originally Posted by ApexOversteer

I'm the only one that rags on my car and it's missing wipers, roof, windows, doors, heater and radio. It doesn't have any carpets and sadly that means I can't use floor mats. Not having these things keeps it light. My car has to be light because I'm so enormously fat. It does have some pretty fruity seat covers, but there's nothing wrong with that.

But, for all the things it doesn't have, it's got a lot...

It's got fat tires, chrome rims, a chrome rollbar, straight exhaust, a teeny tiny steering wheel and 40hp.

It was German engineered, but American built. Rear engined, short wheelbase, wide stance. It will absolutely cane a Porsche Boxster going down a twisty mountain road and does so regularly. I learned to just let the Exiges go, that one time was embarrassing (and expensive) enough.

It gets attention. Men want to have it, to drive it, to be me. Women want to ride in it and will show me way more of their ***** than they think they are to get that ride. Children get beatings for screaming and waving out the windows of their parents SUVs. I've never once run into anybody that didn't like it. Well, except that one guy I ran into. Did I mention manual steering and manual drum brakes all the way around?

So my car might be nothing more than some blue fiberglass, a couple seats and a buttload of fun... I might get wet and cold every time it rains... It might take 20 minutes to fill it with fuel because of the crowd that gathers around it every time I stop... but it's not a C4. I'd have committed suicide by now if I had one of those.


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Originally Posted by Camaro350z28

still wondering to myself whats wrong with the c4? only reason people bash it is because its cheap. if it were more expensive than a c5 people would switch minds, not caring on performance. all is opinion though. but c4's are great looking cars.

Originally Posted by cuisinartvette

Starting to wonder if BluRay isnt right. I cant believe the crap people are doing with these cars these days

Originally Posted by Iroc57

Hey...I resemble that remark

Originally Posted by Relic

Yep! You "killed" one. But it's yours and you had fun. I think that's the point.

Originally Posted by Iroc57

It would have been scrap anyway, at least now it is unique
I must admit that I am no purist but I could never have done this to a ZR1, GS, or any pristine vehicle for that matter.

Originally Posted by pr0zac

you should change your screen name to hitler. you have the same ideas.

Originally Posted by cuisinartvette

Iroc, I think the BB is a cool thing.Different.