With some exceptions most Corvettes are "third" cars just driven in pretty weather and probably on weekends and in the more northern areas even put into winter hypernation. I was struck down by a severe heart attack followed within three weeks by three strokes three years ago this month. I was blind, could not sit up without falling over, walk, care for myself in anyway and the worst of all I had total memory loss. I had three hotrods in my shop at that time, one being a 20,000 mile, never rained on c5 Corvette. The doctors told my wife that I would probably never be much better, but she had faith that I was strong enough to fight back and with this communication it is obvious I did. I am still in recovery each day and so is my vette.I got out of the wheelchair one year ago last Christmus and parked my walker for a customized walking stick last may. Sadly the stick wii be my companion forever because of strokes and I also have Parkinson's disease.
The corvette was only driven about two hundred miles until I learned to drive again. It was always meticously maintained but when I was able to start driving it the folowing problems started:
The battery was bad
The ac does not work and the passenger side of the dual controll hvac system does not work.
The dic readout panel is black and the temp. gage does not work which probably indicates a bad instrument cluster.
The engine ran rough until a few cans of fuel injector cleaner was ran through it, fortunately because it was not driven a lot I always put a fuel stabilizer in each fillup.
Needless to sat a major cleanup/detailing was needed./

It wasn't in my Corvette but I set a landspeed track record on the Maxton Monster Mile in Oct. and I am preparing my SS Silverado truck to run the first ever Ohio mile this April.

I live by the following two sentiments:
I owe my recovery to God, my family, and my love of cars
I make a point of learning one thing new each day.

Garrell Patterson.

 

Garrell, you are an inspiration to us all! God Bless, and keep us up to date on your continued recovery. (And congrats on the land speed record!)

 

I remember when my parents bought me my first BMX bike... I put it in the garage, kept it clean and showed it off to friends, but never put more than a mile on it.


NOT!

I went out and rode the living crap out of that bike until it was eventually stolen. (Glad I got a lot of use out of it before hand.)

Not driving the Vette around is like having a kite on a breezy day and keeping it in the closet. Pointless. These cars were meant to be driven so drive them.

As I mention often, I work from home and still put 15-20K miles a year on my Z06. As it should be.

Drive it and be happy you have it. There are MANY people out there that would gladly trade their crap-boxes for your Vette and drive them into the ground while you park the crap-box. Justice would be done to both cars.

 

Glad you're doing better. I can identify with you a little. The day I was scheduled to retire I had a heart attack. I couldn't believe it; I've been healthy all my life, never had a broken bone or a stitch and BANG, I'm laid up for the better part of 2 months recovering. Fortunately for me my wife and my daughter are both top flight therapists in 2 different disciplines so my cardiologist put THEM in charge of my rehab. They put me through the paces/changed my diet and in 8 weeks I went back to work full-time till I qualified for full retirement with all benefits. Not too long after that I got my Vette and we've been having a nice time driving to the golf course. Continued good health to you.

 

Just to clarify, I do drive my Corvette as often as possible but when you have three other cars, one being my old school 1939 hotrod chevy truck which is my go to, daily driver, I don't see the need of driving a special car like a Corvette in bad weather and getting the under carriage all filthy. I have had a Corvette pretty much constantly for the last forty years, many of which are very rare cars today but were just nice late model examples when I owned them. Most of them saw drag race duty, never modified but thrashed pretty hard.

As a sidenote, after I came back into the world I developed my own therapy exercizes which now takes about two hours to do. It consist mostly of twisting, turning, leg lifts, arm exercizes and lifting light dumb bells to loosen up stiff muscles and joints. I have to live with some pretty severe, chronic pain and because of this I sleep vey litttle and I perform my therapy exercizes around 2:00 am.

Garrell

 

You are living proof that God still works miracles. I hope your improvements continue and you can enjoy your cars for years to come.

 

 

Retirement is a killer. In my line of work, I see it all the time. Stories just like yours and worse.

 

God Bless you for your courage! You are an inspiration. I too an getting older and will be sick when I can no longer drive the Vette.

The problems you describe with the DIC and cluster sound like ground issues. Just before I bought my 01 a year ago with 13K on it, a dealer needlessly replaced the entire cluster. It was still going black after I got it. I cleaned all the grounds and all is now well. Took me about an hour.

 

Glad you are doing better and hope the recovery continues for you. And you're right - get out, enjoy life and don't save things until later - some day it just may be too late.

 

Garrell,

Thanks for sharing your story, truly inspirational and words to live by. You only live once and to make the most of it and every day. The last two years of my life taught me that as well. That is what led me to buy my C5, the car I didn't think I could ever own or do things in my life because it was not the right time or didn't have enough money in the bank. The old saying is true, you never see a brink's truck following a hearse, can't take it with you so you might as well enjoy it when you can.

Funny how time changes you too. I used to think the C4 with the Greenwood package was the nicest car ever made, and maybe it was back in the late 80's and early 90's, but today I don't care for them as much. I am sure the c5 had everything to do with it plus the new cars are just more enjoyable and comfortable to drive, no bucket of bolts bouncing down the road. Which leads me to this one. This was a car auctioned off yesterday at Barrett Jackson in Scottsdale. It was specially ordered for probably $30k and then shipped to Greenwood for their special package for probably another $20k. Only driven for 4k miles and sold for a measly $28K. I don't understand it, All that money into something and never even enjoyed or drove the car???? To each their own, but I am with you Garrell, LIVE FOR TODAY AND ENJOY IT. Thanks for the reminder.

Continued success on your recovery and enjoy your Corvette.

 

David, thanks for the tip I kind of wondered about a grounding problem or a fuse that would just light up the dic panel for if you push the mode button the speedometer changes from mph to kph and the outside temp from celcius to farenhite.

Thanks to all for the words of encouragement for as improved as I am I still have a long way to go and may never be 100%.

Garrell

 

Garrell,
Great story...glad you are recovering so well..
The 'Vette is one great form of therapy!!! I don't drive mine as much as I should or would like to, but when I do I feel better all over!!!

 

That is some story. You certainly are a fighter to overcome those health issues. Glad that you are doing so much better. Sounds like you have a wonderful wife and family. Hope to see you posting regularly.
to a healthy and happy new year. Enjoy the Vette.

 

Praise God for sharing your story. This is even more amazing because I got on the site today with the idea of making a thread asking why do some Vette owners brag about the low miles on their rides. I am new to the Vette scene but I have always felt that a car should be driven.

My '04 Vette is MY primary vehicle. My wife has a Buick and we have my 1968 Mustang Coupe as well (368,000+miles original motor). I also have a choice of three "company cars": a 2003 Crown Vic (w/ custom BLUE lights), a confiscated 1994 Tahoe with 35" Swampers, and a 1994 Custom Astro van...However...

I plan on driving my new love as much as possible. A slight change from the old saying...
I'm gonna drive it like I'm PAYING for it...cuz I am...lol

 

 

Well said!!

 

There are gems of wisdom everyday on this forum and heartfelt stories of real people...thanks for sharing yours....you are an inspiration to us all...especially those of us that are a little older living with aches and pains from years of wear and tear to just get out there and enjoy the moment in our vettes while we can

 

Great that your getting better!!! The glory be to God!!! Keep on keeping on!!!

 

AMEN!!!!