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I own an 01 m6 Pewter coupe, and it’s my DD 3 seasons out of the year, and would be my DD year round, except snow duty is better handled in my suburban with 4x4 and heated seats
My dad has a 63 SWC that he completely restored, and therefore I am a big fan of the mid year Vettes and I spend a good chunk of time over in the C2 forums
It seems most of the time when those cars were originally delivered, they were bought as DDs and were driven as such. My question is, when did this change? At 23 I’m obviously on the younger end of the age range of Corvette owners so I don’t think I have a full appreciation for this because of my age. You fine folks here at CF have helped ease the idea in my head that all Corvettes are garage queens, much to my appreciation ; but it remains many are garage queens, which there is nothing wrong with, I just can’t see spending Vette money and not drive it!
Any insight into this or any discussion would be much appreciated!!
I like to use mine as a daily driver but the amount of salt that is put down is pretty bad. My work looks like the salt flats for three months. I don’t remember this much salt years ago,lawsuits I imagine.
I like to use mine as a daily driver but the amount of salt that is put down is pretty bad. My work looks like the salt flats for three months. I don’t remember this much salt years ago,lawsuits I imagine.
I agree they coat the roads with salt, it sucks its like being on a dirt road, with all the salt kicking up when you drive over it, the road looks so white it looks like there is snow ridiculous!
St. Jude Donor '03-'04-'05-'06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16-'17-'18-'19-
'20-'21-'22-'23-'24
NCM Sinkhole Donor
CI 5, 8 & 11 Veteran
I've never been one that would question why someone does or does not drive their car on a regular basis. It is simply a personal choice. I sure don't drive mine as a DD.
You will find plenty of members on the forum that do in fact drive their car year around, and not all of them live in climates that would traditionally be conducive to doing that. About the only limitation for some is ice and too deep of a snowfall.
I daily my 01 convertible. I have another car (a little Nissan) that is used when I need a backseat or there is ice or snow on the road, which is rare enough in NC. I would not have bought this car if I could not drive it nearly all the time, since it replaced a daily driven Mustang. I did have a "toy" C3 that I drove rarely, but just sold it because it was rarely used and I just did not have the time and money for it.
After eight Corvettes and 150+ other vehicles I have always stored cars I like during New England winters which are loaded with road salt. Rust never sleeps and makes a mess or all cars, even plastic cars.
When I was 21 I had a '66 427 4 speed fastback as my daily driver. That was back in 1971 when Sonoco 260 was $.33 a gallon. Thought nothing of driving it every day. If I still owned it would I be a DD? Not on your life. When a Corvette ceases to be a daily driver is when the owner no longer looks at the car as fun transportation and starts looking at it as an investment. Now days the C1's and C2's are pretty much in the investment category as are the early C3's and most of these cars will be only driven in nice weather and in most cases driven carefully. Later models aren't there yet, but their day will come.
All that said, my current Vette (which is new to me) is a '99 C5 and its a high mileage car that has not been well taken care of. It's a driver but will be a work in progress for the next couple years as it will take me that much time to bring it back to the car I know it can be. If it was my only car, it would be my DD for sure because it's not an investment grade Corvette yet.
There are always people keeping special vehicles with little usage. I personally find it a waste... except that it allows others to buy low mile samples later on.
My Z is my DD 3 seasons, and even that is almost a pity to me. In the winter though I get to drive our 190HP Grand Caravan.
Mine's a DD with 115K miles. I bought it with the intention on driving it every day. I have no kids, and the Z06 meets my practical needs out of a car.
I also live in TN which sees mostly mild winters, and I can work from home on days when the Vette can't handle it.
Mine's def not a show car, as it has rock chips and normal wear from being driven. Still looks good when washed. I didn't pay a fortune for it and enjoy it so I don't mind that it's not pristine.
It's been pretty reliable, never stranded me, but I've had the common vette annoyances that seem to plague these guys. Harmonic Balancer replaced, Leaked for a while, that kind of stuff. With these guys seeing 300K+ miles, I'm not too worried about engine problems.
I don't down anyone who wants a garage queen, but I think, to really know a car, you have to put some miles in behind the wheel.
One thing to keep in mind, with more miles, things will break. If you don't wrench yourself, you could see pretty hefty maint costs.
Also, high mileage Corvettes really don't sell for much, as most want the low mileage cars. Doesn't help that there is a disproportionate amount of low milers to choose from on the market. I'd be lucky to get more than $11k for mine. That said, I have no regrets dailying mine, and appreciate the thing every day on my 60+ mile daily commute. In the end, it is "just a car".
My 04 is my dd, but never use it in the rain, or if it looks like it might rain.
The reason is, our roads get very slippery when it rains, from all the oil vehicles leave behind, and it hardly ever get's washed away, and builds up on the roads.
I have seen to many fender benders involving stupid people who do not know how to drive in the rain.
On rainy days, I drive the pickup.
My C5 is a daily driver. I'm averaging about 12k miles per year.
I estimated once if I was driving a high mpg Honda or something "economical" instead, I'd save maybe $60-70 a month in gas. It's well worth the trade off.
Three season car I bought new. Once the roads clear I will drive it as much as possible. Main reason I don't drive it on rainy days is I don't always have time to wash it as much as I'd like to. BTW, I bought my Z06 new and it now has about 160k miles. Just bought some new Forgestars because I still love my car.
I daily drive my '02 C5 to work year round; of course that's easy to do living here on the Gulf Coast. The only time I leave it at home is when heavy rain is forecast (flooded streets) or I take my Honda VTX 1800c.
02-15-2018, 10:09 PM
Corvette Daily Drivers
