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For those who do not know the history of the wave, here's an article about the tradition from the Aug/Sept 1969 issue of Corvette News

Ever since Corvette No. 00001 first met Corvette No. 00002 on the road, their drivers saluted each other with waves. Today, unfortunately, this grand and glorious tradition is wavering. WAVE WHEN YOU PASS ANOTHER CORVETTE!

There's one item of standard equipment that comes as a pleasant surprise to every new Corvette owner. It's an instant wave of recognition he or she receives when he meets one of their ilks on the road. The first time it happens, they will be taken by surprise. He immediately thinks: 1. He has been mistaken for Sterling Moss. 2. His lights are on. 3. He has just been given the bird.

Soon, however, the new Vette owner anticipates, indeed even relishes, encountering other Vettes as he drives. During this period, he experiments with his waves, running the gamut from the gaping "yoo hoo" to the ultra cool "two finger flip." He perfects his timing, making sure he affects neither a too-early wave, nor the jaded "oh brother" too-late variety. Determined not to be one upped, he even develops a defense mechanism for non wavers, usually settling on the "Wave"? My hand was just on the way to scratch my head" approach. (This is especially useful when you're not driving your Vette, but you forget, and like a dummy, you wave anyway.)

Indeed, one of the most perplexing problems facing a would-be waver is what to do when driving next to a fellow Vette owner. Passing him going in opposite directions is one thing. Greetings are exchanged, and that's that. But what happens when you pull up next to a guy at a light, wave, nod, smile and then pull up to him at the next light, a block later? Wave again? Nod bashfully? Grin self-consciously? Ignore him? Or take the chicken's way out and turn down the next side street? If you're expecting an answer, you won't find it here. Sad to say, some questions don't have any. SAVE THE WAVE!

Girl-type Corvette drivers also have a unique problem: to wave or not to wave. This miss or misses who borrows her man's Corvette for the first time is immediately faced with this quandary. Should she wave first and look overly friendly, or ignore the wave and look like a snob? Most ladies who drive their own Vettes prefer to suffer the latter rather than take a chance of being misread. For this reason, all girls are excused for occasionally failing to return a well-meaning wave. So are new owners who are still learning the ropes.

There is no excuse, however, for a guy who refuses to return the wave, not out of ignorance, but of arrogance or apathy. While this type of behavior is the exception to the rule, it seems a few owners of newer models refuse to recognize anything older than theirs, while some others simply won't wave, period. Boo on them. These ding-a-lings don't seem to realize that they are helping to squash a tradition that had its beginnings back when most of us were still driving tootsietoys.

 

Ok, I'll wave at Angelyne.

Actually, I've seen her in her Pink Vette several times in LA.

 

I wonder if she'll wave back...

 

 

I'm not too sure I want her to.

 

OUCH!

 

I think a lot of the problem with the wave now is our closed tinted windows....no eye contact.

Mike

 

The wave is very much alive here in Seattle it's just a matter of people noticing you or not charge it to their head and not their heart and keep waving.

 

I always love your posts, but this one kinda sucked

LA may be a different place, but in Silicon Valley, I see far more R8's or 458's than I see vettes. Come to think of it, that's sort of bizarre and maybe not that great. That just means my car will look like a corolla compared to everyone else's

 

Not to mention, the only effort required is this:

 

You guys in Silicon Valley are 1) richer than people in LA because you sell us overpriced cell phones and tech gadgets that don't work well without a daily update to correct problems you couldn't find while on your 14th coffee break that day and 2) don't like American cars as much as people in LA (the word "Chebby" was born in East LA) so why be seen in this "lesser" car of the Budweiser class.

Seriously... this is a mass produced car. They make one every 18 minutes. Didn't they make like 120,000 C6's in it's life? Almost all them sold in good ol' America.

Maybe in some parts of the country it's rare but in places like LA and Miami, the C4, C5, and C6 combined is almost as common as a Camry.

Besides, the new "car d'jour" in LA is the Tesla. And, they don't wave at each other either.

 

Some people wave and some people don't. Some of the people that don't just did not see you. But my take on this is, ...Corvette people wave, or at least make an attempt to wave. But not all Corvette owners are Corvette people and they either don't know about it, or care about it, and their next car will be the next flavor of the year. JMO