After spending several years away, vette-less, I've come home. I've spent the last few years enjoying all flavors of Challengers. Great cars, but they are becoming as common as Camaros and Mustangs.

I sold my 2014 Challenger R/T and purchased a 50th Anniversary convertible. I've always been a Vette guy and this is my 25th Corvette and my 10th C5: 5 coupes, 1 FRC, 2 Z06's, and 2 verts.

I also am currently enjoying a 2005 SSR and a 1996 Lincoln Mark VIII that I'm building to be a show car.

Wanted to say hello to my old friends that may still be here and looking forward to making new ones.

 

That's a lot of C5's lol, welcome back

 

very cool

how about a list of your vettes (?) and some comments about the god, the bad, & the ugly !

 

Welcome back to a C5 - you've certainly had a heck of a lot of Vettes over the years. How about a pic of your latest one?

 

hello !!!!!!!

 

Welcome back to the dark side. bwhaaa hah haaaaaaaaaaaa

 

Welcome back!

 

Hey welcome back old friend.
Congrats on the AE.

 

I'll try to recap as best as I can remember. All Vettes I bought new except the 2004's and the current one.

1998 Black Auto Coupe - The only distinct memory I have on this was that it didn't have BSM's. Always wanted them. Ironically, on all the other C5's I had, I removed them. No real problems with it.

2000 Red/Black 6 Speed FRC - This is the second most fun Vette that I had. It consistently dynoed on the high side and was a blast to drive. This was the first car I had racing stripes painted on. Really made it distinctive back in the day. No real problems with it.

2001 Navy Blue/Cashmere Auto Coupe - Great car. Had to buy it long distance because dealers in Houston were still asking premiums for Vettes. The trip to get the car was fun as was the drive home. No real problems with it.

2001 Speedway White/Black 6 Speed Z06 - Without a doubt the worst C5 I ever had. After I bought it I discovered that it had been damaged in transit. The dealer repaired and repainted the driver's side front fender. Painted right over the BSM, which I discovered after removing them. You could see the outline of them where the paint depth was different. This car, as many 2001 Z06's did, burned and spitted out a lot of oil, so much that the back of the Vette was moist with oil. It went through at least a quart every 500 miles. After enough of this I sold it rather than letting the local dealer do a ring job on it as Chevy wanted.

2002 Electron Blue/Gray Auto Coupe - Only had this car for about 30 days. No problems with it.

2003 Spiral Gray/Gray Auto Coupe - Bought this when I went to pick up the license plates for the 2002 coupe. Saw it in the showroom and fell in love with it. Did some custom paint on the hood that set it apart from the others. Really a great car. No problems with it.

2003 Red/Black 6 Speed Z06 - This one started out bad. I thought at the time that Z06's were just junk. Had to have the half shaft seals replaced very early, had the gas gauge going to empty problem, and column lock issues. After all issues were resolved, this ended up being my most enjoyable Vette. Had it the longest - 3 years. Shouldn't have sold it to get a C6.

2004 Black/Black Auto Coupe - Got back into a C5 after a couple of disappointing experiences with C6's. Enjoyed the car and no problems with it.

2004 Yellow/Black 6 Speed Vert - This was my first vert. It was a very low mileage car that ended up being a real lemon. Shortly after I bought it the transmission started having issues. I dumped it before it required major repairs since it was out of warranty.

2003 50th Anniversary Auto Vert - Won't take delivery of it until Friday or Saturday because it is have some minor cosmetic issues corrected. Hoping for a very good experience with it.

Writing this brings back a lot of memories that I haven't thought about in a long time. I had several C3's and C4's before I bought my first C5. The C5 was light years ahead of them back then. Really phenomenal cars at the time both in performance and looks. Great bargins for the money.

I was big into modifying the cars back then. I did a lot of stripes, both vinyl and painted. Installed custom interiors on many of them. Always switched the manual shifters out for the B&M and usually installed B&B Bullets on them. Over the years I could swap out a shifter in 10 minutes or less. I usually installed the silver guage rings, which didn't always work out well as excessive glue was evident on a couple of the cars. Always lowered them as far as they would go on stock bolts. Installed a lot of carbon fiber pieces in the interiors and engine compartments. Painted more sets of calipers than I care to remember.

I spent many, many hours on this forum reading and learning. This led to hosting several mod-days at my house and meeting many great people, some of whom are still friends today, 15 years later.

I really learned a lot about cars by modifying these. I did a lot of things that I didn't know I could do. Learned how to install seat covers, cat back exhaust systems, shifters, column lock bypasses, gauge cluster rings, decals and badges of all types. I'm sure I've missed a lot of other things.

After having done all that, I have absolutely no plans to do any mods to the current Vette, except a console cushion. Maybe I'm just getting older but I like it the way it is. Don't need the loud exhaust. I want to be able to go over speed bumps and enter driveways without dragging. It's a special edition car so not paint or interior "enhancements".

I'm satisfying the "mod bug" on the SSR which just cries out to be customized and the Lincoln which will be an all out show car when it's finished in a few years.

Looking forward to learning more and contributing where I can on the forum again.

 

Welcome back. I've got to ask because I'm a curious person. Why did you go through so many cars?

 

WOW! That's a lot of Vette's! What about the other Vettes you've had? Tell us about those!

 

I knew someone was going to ask this. There were a few reasons. First I dumped a couple of lemons. I bought one just because I fell in love with it at the dealership. I traded the 2003 Z06 to get into a C6. The rest I traded because I was big into modding and car shows and once I completed a car I got bored and decided to do it all over again, a different way.

 

It would take too long to really talk about the rest of them. In summary I've 3 c3's, all 1982's including my first Vette a 1982 Collector edition. I've had 8 c4's ranging from 1989 - 1994 models including a 1993 40th anniversary vert. I've had 4 C6's including a 2008 pace car and a 2011 coupe that was a true lemon that was bought back. That was my last Vette until now.

 

Welcome back to Corvettes and especially, C5s.
I think you may hold the record for the most number of C5s owned by a non-dealer. Congrats, I think.

 

I like the way you think.

Why, because you selected the C5 over the other options. I am starting to see C7's around town, and they look pretty good, finally reaching the smaller size of a real sports car, but the angles , while modern today, suffer in comparison to the curves of the regrettably larger C5. To me a circle looks faster than a cube, no matter how you fold it. A flowing line is more humanistic and easier to follow and understand with the eye.

I like those anniversary colors, distinctive and worth keeping well.

 

That's a lot of Vettes with a lot of problems. Curious if you still have the vin to the speedway white. If so, please let me know.

 

I'm with you all the way except trying to use that theory on a stealth
fighter jet.
Fred