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Joe, I hear the same thing from my wife. Luckily, your didn't say, "You love that damn Corvette more than me." Then you'd have a whole different problem on your hands. DON'T let it get to that point !!!!
I remedied this problem by taking my wife with me, but GOING SOMEWHERE SHE WANTS TO GO! For example, my wife loves to go to the City Market here in Kansas City. So we take a little trip downtown on Sundays!
It really is a simple fix which accomplishes more than one thing.
This, my friends, is a VERY smart man! People, this car is meant to be driven. Get out and drive your C7's. Part of the fun is cleaning it back up after a good day of driving it! You'll get a HUGE sense of accomplishment by making it shine again.
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Yeah. I do that with my wife too. She likes to go for rides in it and drive, although she is a little apprehensive. We are going to the Spring Mountain driving school together on April, I think it is the 8 and 9th session. She is looking forward to it.
I finally had to come to the realization that I am suffering from this in regard to my car. My wife finally informed me. "Why don't you just go out and drive that damn thing. All you do is worry if it is going to rain, get dirty, this, that and the other! You love that car. Enjoy driving it. So what if you have to go out and wash it once a week. Have fun!"
I was taken aback. But she is right you know. She went on to say that is why there are wash buckets and windshield wipers. For crying out loud you're going to be dead within 25 years, and you'll never see a tombstone stating "I wish I hadn't driven my Corvette so much!"
She was right you know. Starting tomorrow I am no longer going to check the radar map for rain, the extended weather forecast, go get my carduster, my detailer, my microfibers, my this, my that..I'm just going to go outside into the garage, open the door to the car, step on the brake, push the start button, and listen to that cool exhaust turn on and go for a ride! Anyone care to join me?
Holy shnikey, did my wife talk with yours? Same conversation we have been having since 9/14 when I got my '15 Z51 and now in winter storage with only 2,500 miles. Windshield wipers have never been used, but this will change when it comes out of hibernation on Apr 1. Since I was at Spring Mountain on Oct and drove the first day there in the rain on the track, I have a complete new level of confidence on its handling in the weather mode and once I finally get A/S tires for cold weather, my beast is going to see more road time. It is my first Vette, a fabulous piece of machinery and computers that will be my DD unless it snows.
I have come to the same conclusion. I plan on driving it and enjoying it. I heavily modified my G8GT, which I still have, but it has spent most of its life in the garage. I bought it new in 2008, and spent a lot of time and money modifying it, but not driving it all that often. It has just under 30k miles on it now, and was going to sell it, but decided to keep it and buy the C7 and keep it stock, but start to drive and enjoy both. To sell the G8, the next owner would get a very well cared for beast for basically the same price as an unmodified G8.
I took the C7 in for what window tint on Friday and it was rainy and windy out, but didn't care. Just enjoyed driving the car. Came to the realization that I need to just enjoy the cars. Took it to Cars and Coffee the next morning, dirty as heck from all the rain, but didn't care. Had a great time talking with other car guys, and nobody cared my car was filthy!
Never understood why people buy cars and make them garage queens. I would understand if it was a collectible but the c7 is a mass production car...drive it like you stole it.
No thanks. Same disorder here, but I've still managed to put over 7500 miles on mine in almost 2 years (April 24th). This works fine for me and still get all the enjoyment of owning the car.
Same here. Almost 4,000 in just under two years. OCD is me.
Never understood why people buy cars and make them garage queens. I would understand if it was a collectible but the c7 is a mass production car...drive it like you stole it.
Common comment on this topic on this forum - let's explore that a bit with some logic. Let's go back 50 years and look at another Chevrolet that was mass produced - I chose a 1966 Chevelle SS 396. Looks like this:
Would you call that collectible today? I know I'd sure love to have one. If you look up production numbers you'll see that over 66,000 of that specific model was made in 1966 - roughly twice the current production of Corvettes. Admittedly - cars from that era were unique year to year, were made of materials more likely to degrade with age, etc. But I'd argue that in 50 years ANY C7 Corvette in pristine condition will be a very collectible and desired automobile.
Common comment on this topic on this forum - let's explore that a bit with some logic. Let's go back 50 years and look at another Chevrolet that was mass produced - I chose a 1966 Chevelle SS 396. Looks like this:
Would you call that collectible today? I know I'd sure love to have one. If you look up production numbers you'll see that over 66,000 of that specific model was made in 1966 - roughly twice the current production of Corvettes. Admittedly - cars from that era were unique year to year, were made of materials more likely to degrade with age, etc. But I'd argue that in 50 years ANY C7 Corvette in pristine condition will be a very collectible and desired automobile.
True. And the vast majority of us won't be around in 50 years to know or care. Trying to predict what current mass produced car will eventually appreciate in several decades is a crapshoot at best and a terrible way to invest your money.
I finally had to come to the realization that I am suffering from this in regard to my car. My wife finally informed me. "Why don't you just go out and drive that damn thing. All you do is worry if it is going to rain, get dirty, this, that and the other! You love that car. Enjoy driving it. So what if you have to go out and wash it once a week. Have fun!"
I was taken aback. But she is right you know. She went on to say that is why there are wash buckets and windshield wipers. For crying out loud you're going to be dead within 25 years, and you'll never see a tombstone stating "I wish I hadn't driven my Corvette so much!"
She was right you know. Starting tomorrow I am no longer going to check the radar map for rain, the extended weather forecast, go get my carduster, my detailer, my microfibers, my this, my that..I'm just going to go outside into the garage, open the door to the car, step on the brake, push the start button, and listen to that cool exhaust turn on and go for a ride! Anyone care to join me?
Joe, I know exactly how you feel....after reading and posting questions about washing, exterior care, etc, etc, I suddenly realized I was WAY over thinking this thing.
My last two hi performance cars were garage queens- washed, polished, and then driven only on sunny days. I was obsessive about keeping them perfect, shiny, and show room fresh.
All for the next owner.
Now, I've only had my Vette three weeks, but I've done a turnabout on the washing/detailing thing. My car has a film of road grime after driving it a mile down our country highway. The wheels are filthy after driving up and down my driveway.
So, she's in the garage protected but unwashed, and I'll be driving her tomorrow, in the rain.
Swing on by Newport. We're ready to go almost anytime.
When I return from a vacation with the wife, sometime around the first week of March, I intend to change out the tires to an all weather, non runflat. That way, I can drive it most months of the year. Probably won't be testing out on ice and snow, but will drive in most other conditions. I definitely intend to enjoy this vehicle. My last one (C-5) was a "Garage Queen" but this C7 will be seeing a lot of the road.
Common comment on this topic on this forum - let's explore that a bit with some logic. Let's go back 50 years and look at another Chevrolet that was mass produced - I chose a 1966 Chevelle SS 396. Looks like this:
Would you call that collectible today? I know I'd sure love to have one. If you look up production numbers you'll see that over 66,000 of that specific model was made in 1966 - roughly twice the current production of Corvettes. Admittedly - cars from that era were unique year to year, were made of materials more likely to degrade with age, etc. But I'd argue that in 50 years ANY C7 Corvette in pristine condition will be a very collectible and desired automobile.
Ahh yes, and that is where it all started with me... A long time ago (bought the car new when I was a Senior in high school in April 1966; pic taken day after I returned from Vietnam, August 1970). Needless to say, it was a daily driver, but my OCD kept it "show room" clean up to the day I sold it and married life began... Thanks for the memory.
Last edited by monicatomokc; Jan 17, 2016 at 09:43 PM.
Joe, I know exactly how you feel....after reading and posting questions about washing, exterior care, etc, etc, I suddenly realized I was WAY over thinking this thing.
My last two hi performance cars were garage queens- washed, polished, and then driven only on sunny days. I was obsessive about keeping them perfect, shiny, and show room fresh.
All for the next owner.
Now, I've only had my Vette three weeks, but I've done a turnabout on the washing/detailing thing. My car has a film of road grime after driving it a mile down our country highway. The wheels are filthy after driving up and down my driveway.
So, she's in the garage protected but unwashed, and I'll be driving her tomorrow, in the rain.
Swing on by Newport. We're ready to go almost anytime.
Yeah, were only a 100 miles away. I'll PM you when we head down that way. We can meet and have a cup of coffee, lunch, or a bottle of something.
Isn’t the fact that everyone thinks differently a wonderful thing?
Here’s the thing… While some people don’t understand (or apparently respect) why people won’t drive their car when the weather is poor, there are other reasons than just for simply not wanting it to get dirty. To some folks, having a clean car is comparable to a hobby, just like the satisfaction you get from whatever hobbies you have, there is an incredible satisfaction connected with knowing that your car is show worthy clean. I don’t know how else to explain it, and if you don’t get it, you probably never will, and that is fine by me.
I personally don’t know why I would ever really want to drive my brand new Corvette in the rain, it’s like getting on a thoroughbred race horse, and then just walking around on it because the conditions are too poor to make it safely go fast… what is the point? I have two other daily drivers I can drive around in the rain, get in and out of with wet muddy feet, get dirty, and not care about, and I also won’t feel like a caged animal driving those, since they aren’t fast cars. To me driving a 460HP 3300lb car in the rain makes no sense if I have other, more appropriate choices. If it were my daily driver, then of course I would drive it, but, that is a different issue.
If you want to drive in the rain, cool! If you don’t, cool! I won’t judge you :-)
I drove mine home from the museum in rain the just about the whole way - 2100 miles. It got rained on, I got two chips in the front and a small ding on one of the headlights. We got stuck behind trucks slinging mud and rocks on us, but it was an awesome road trip. Some of you guys would've had a coronary I guess.
The car did great, and it looks great. I didn't buy it to save it for the next owner. I say get out there and drive it, it's a hell of a lot more fun to drive than it is to wax.
I agree wholeheartedly!
I've lusted for a Corvette since I was 15 and finally got my first, a 2006 red Z51 convertible at 64. I bought the car to drive and have done so. Got it in Dallas and drove it home to Minneapolis. Drove to Fl last year and encountered what can best be described as a monsoon all all thru WI and well into Ill without 1 drop of leakage.
In the 2 years I've owned it I've put about 20,000 miles on the car and enjoyed every one single one. (This in Minnesota with the car in storage Nov-mid April)
Never could understand the bragging about low mileage Vettes.
Each to his own I guess!
I need to drive mine more and this year it is my intention to do just that.
