I just purchased my first Vette !!
03-09-2005, 02:00 PM
#1
Le Mans Master
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Location: Everett WA
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C4 of Year Finalist (appearance mods) 2019
I just purchased my first Vette !!
I've been posting in both the C4 & C5 forums for the past 6 months while I learned and searched for my very first Vette. So many of you have been so very helpful in answering all of my newbie questions and providing info on various cars that I wanted to say thank you by way of telling you the story of the purchase and the 900 mile drive home. 
BTW after test driving 4 different C4's and 2 different C5's I decided that the best car for me was a late model C4.
Some of the previous cars that I looked at were disapointments... some were deals that just didn't come to fruition but this is the one that did. A special thanks to Bill up in Whitby for showing me what a top condition C4 is supposed to look like
I spotted the owner's add the day he posted it on Autotrader and called him that evening. We corresponded almost every day for a month. After 4 phone calls, more than a dozen full size photos including several of the underside with the car on a lift and maybe 50 e-mails I knew that the car would be exactly as it was represented to be. During that time, someone ran me a car fax and another very nice individual ran me a born-on sheet listing not only all options & delivery point (this enabled me to verify that he was indeed the original owner) but also all warranty work that had been performed on the car.
We negotiated and agreed on a price that both of us were pleased with. A true win-win situation. I then sent him a scan of the certified bank check so that he had plenty of time to verify that the check was legitimate & to know that I was serious.
Last Friday my 17 yr old son & I flew down to Modesto and the owner met us at the airport. He & I spent 30 minutes gping over the car & then we took the car for perhaps a 10 min test drive. No surprises Then we sat down in the airport lounge, signed all of the papers & I gave him the certified check for the agreed upon price. At 4:30 PM we drove off from the airport & rather than get on I-5 we decided to just stay on 99 for a while as it was raining quite hard. Well there really wasn't much traffic so we stayed on the backroad all the way to the mountains in Northern Calif. After the 1st 100 miles the rain had stopped and the roadway was empty and dry. I let my son drive for several hours (boy was he ever thrilled!!) then I drove until about midnight at which point we had just crossed over into OR. We got a room for the night but along about 4:45AM I woke up and said HEY come-on lets get back on the road with no traffic & watch the sun rise. So by 5:30 AM we were back on the road and with the sun just coming up to the right & no traffic I decided to see.... well ya know..... ah..... well come to think of it some folks had told me that if there was any problems with the opti-spark it would show up in the upper part of the rpm range so I decided that I should, well you know, check it out.
I slowed to about 50 and I just put it to the floor and watched the tach out of the corner of my eye and when it shifted into 3rd I glanced at the speedo and it said 82 mph and the car was just as smooth as can be. Boy that car really pulls hard all the way through the rpm range. And then ....... and then I watched the tach again to see what it would top out at the shift out of 3rd .......... but frankly I let up on the gas at 125 figuring that even with no traffic I didn't really need to push it for both my son's sake as well as my own & I was really pleased. After another hour or so we switched places and I let my son put 250 miles on the car. We saw perhaps 2 troopers the entire time one in OR and one in WA. We reached our home in Everett about 2PM tired but really really happy.
My son has his own car & knows that he will not be allowed to drive the Vette but I'm sure that he has a cool story to tell his friends, after all how many 17 yr olds get to put 400 miles on their Dad's first Vette !!
As to the “grin”, yepper it started about 30 minutes after I started driving the car and has been constant ever since. This is as much fun as any of the motorcycles I've had over the years. Ever since I was 17 and got to ride as a passenger in a friends 68 vette I've always wanted one. It only took 35 years but hey .... it was worth the wait.
Mark
BTW after test driving 4 different C4's and 2 different C5's I decided that the best car for me was a late model C4.
Some of the previous cars that I looked at were disapointments... some were deals that just didn't come to fruition but this is the one that did. A special thanks to Bill up in Whitby for showing me what a top condition C4 is supposed to look like
I spotted the owner's add the day he posted it on Autotrader and called him that evening. We corresponded almost every day for a month. After 4 phone calls, more than a dozen full size photos including several of the underside with the car on a lift and maybe 50 e-mails I knew that the car would be exactly as it was represented to be. During that time, someone ran me a car fax and another very nice individual ran me a born-on sheet listing not only all options & delivery point (this enabled me to verify that he was indeed the original owner) but also all warranty work that had been performed on the car.
We negotiated and agreed on a price that both of us were pleased with. A true win-win situation. I then sent him a scan of the certified bank check so that he had plenty of time to verify that the check was legitimate & to know that I was serious.
Last Friday my 17 yr old son & I flew down to Modesto and the owner met us at the airport. He & I spent 30 minutes gping over the car & then we took the car for perhaps a 10 min test drive. No surprises Then we sat down in the airport lounge, signed all of the papers & I gave him the certified check for the agreed upon price. At 4:30 PM we drove off from the airport & rather than get on I-5 we decided to just stay on 99 for a while as it was raining quite hard. Well there really wasn't much traffic so we stayed on the backroad all the way to the mountains in Northern Calif. After the 1st 100 miles the rain had stopped and the roadway was empty and dry. I let my son drive for several hours (boy was he ever thrilled!!) then I drove until about midnight at which point we had just crossed over into OR. We got a room for the night but along about 4:45AM I woke up and said HEY come-on lets get back on the road with no traffic & watch the sun rise. So by 5:30 AM we were back on the road and with the sun just coming up to the right & no traffic I decided to see.... well ya know..... ah..... well come to think of it some folks had told me that if there was any problems with the opti-spark it would show up in the upper part of the rpm range so I decided that I should, well you know, check it out.
I slowed to about 50 and I just put it to the floor and watched the tach out of the corner of my eye and when it shifted into 3rd I glanced at the speedo and it said 82 mph and the car was just as smooth as can be. Boy that car really pulls hard all the way through the rpm range. And then ....... and then I watched the tach again to see what it would top out at the shift out of 3rd .......... but frankly I let up on the gas at 125 figuring that even with no traffic I didn't really need to push it for both my son's sake as well as my own & I was really pleased. After another hour or so we switched places and I let my son put 250 miles on the car. We saw perhaps 2 troopers the entire time one in OR and one in WA. We reached our home in Everett about 2PM tired but really really happy.
My son has his own car & knows that he will not be allowed to drive the Vette but I'm sure that he has a cool story to tell his friends, after all how many 17 yr olds get to put 400 miles on their Dad's first Vette !!
As to the “grin”, yepper it started about 30 minutes after I started driving the car and has been constant ever since. This is as much fun as any of the motorcycles I've had over the years. Ever since I was 17 and got to ride as a passenger in a friends 68 vette I've always wanted one. It only took 35 years but hey .... it was worth the wait.
Mark
Last edited by Mr. Peabody; 03-09-2005 at 02:05 PM.
03-09-2005, 02:49 PM
#10
Burning Brakes
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Cruise-In V Veteran
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St. Jude Donor '07-'09
Congrat's
Mark,
Sounds like you did everything right! It looks great!!
--
I too bought my first vette last year after having the fever since I was 12. I am now 39. I was also a bike rider before this (owning over 17 bikes) I agree the vette is better. Besides I stay dry and no helmet hair. I decided to take advantage of the 0% money and bought on 2004 on my birthday.
--
If you can make it the "Cruise In" rally in Bolling Green in May is "WAY COOL". We went last year and had a super time and met a lot of good people. We will be there again this year.
Sounds like you did everything right! It looks great!!
--
I too bought my first vette last year after having the fever since I was 12. I am now 39. I was also a bike rider before this (owning over 17 bikes) I agree the vette is better. Besides I stay dry and no helmet hair. I decided to take advantage of the 0% money and bought on 2004 on my birthday.
--
If you can make it the "Cruise In" rally in Bolling Green in May is "WAY COOL". We went last year and had a super time and met a lot of good people. We will be there again this year.
03-09-2005, 02:51 PM
#13
Drifting
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Congrat on the new ride and I can appreciate your story as I picked a new sports car in Houston once and flew down with my middle son and drove it back to Rochester, New York. We had a great time and except for a state trooper in Ohio had a really fun drive.
03-09-2005, 03:06 PM
#14
Corvette C5 Enthusiast
Welcome Mark - 
and Congrats on the Ride.... 
Were you a Saturday morning cartoon fan....ala "Mr. Peabody"?
and Congrats on the Ride.... Were you a Saturday morning cartoon fan....ala "Mr. Peabody"?
03-09-2005, 03:12 PM
#17
Burning Brakes
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Graet story , and isn't any story that has someone owning a Corvette by the end a great story , and That ending is going to lead to a lot of new beginnings .
03-09-2005, 03:47 PM
#18
Le Mans Master
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C4 of Year Finalist (appearance mods) 2019
Originally Posted by c5BlackBeauty
Welcome Mark - and Congrats on the Ride....
Were you a Saturday morning cartoon fan....ala "Mr. Peabody"?
and Congrats on the Ride.... Were you a Saturday morning cartoon fan....ala "Mr. Peabody"?
Indeed
