Could not have said it better ... Great Pics

 

I'm not a fan of unions but your facts are wrong and need to be addressed. A long time ago (the 60's) I drove a car hauler for a living. All short trip from the factory to the long haul truckers and R.R. terminals. Our local delivery charges (to local dealers) were less than $20.00. Some as low as $12.50. Shipping to California however was as high as three or four hundred dollars.(It depended on the vehicle weight). Somewhere along the management line someone got the bright idea that making shipping costs the same everywhere would sell more cars and trucks on the west coast. This is the tricky part so pay attention. Just raising what we in the mid west pay to lower the west coast cost was considered a bad policy, so they decided to take all shipping costs involved in the manufacture of an automobile, add them all together and then average them out and charge everyone the same price. Of course they didn't lower the price of the vehicles where internal shipping costs were all ready hidden, the just upped everyone's overall cost by charging you for all shipping costs. Had to haul a truckload of engines from the engine plant to the assembly plant? Pass that cost on in the shipping charge. Paid to have a bunch of differential cases shipped over from China in a container? add it to the shipping charge. Well, you get the point. The $995.00 shipping charge on a C7 comes from a multitude of transportation costs and not just the car carrier that delivers it to your dealer or the museum. I didn't stay at the auto hauler company very long, it's hard work and boring, but they are not the sole reason shipping charges are so high.

Scott

 

Me too in April. Definitely worth doing (even though it poured the entire day, making the pictures not quite as great)




Yes, you get the same NCM team member for the entire day, and it's all they are doing that day.

 

I can understand that if your intent is to get Xpel or something like that before you start driving, but with that said, you are opening yourself up to a "road beating" and a flat tire very time you drive the car anyplace. I know one buyer didn't want to do the drive because he didn't want the car to get rained on. His intent with the car was to never drive it in the rain. He has had the car now for 6 years and has never driven in the rain, nor does he have one imperfection on it. But......he only has 3,300 miles of smiles on it. But, that is what he likes.

 

I highly recommend it! It was a wonderful experience. I would do it again in a heartbeat. I elected to do the engine build and the museum delivery and I could not make a third trip back so I did not get to do the buyers tour but I think that would be a great experience. I highly recommend getting the book too.

 

I put 3300 miles on in 8 days! No Xpel. I do have a few souvenirs on the nose, but once covered up with Xpel, can't hardly see them. Got a good rain soaking on Route 66 and after I washed it, you couldn't even tell. The bottom probably doesn't look new anymore, but who can tell, the car is so low.

I've had cars sit under car covers for most of the time I owned them, so I get that, but then, they weren't any fun.

These C7s are a kick to drive and I can't see where a low mileage C7 will be worth that much more down a less traveled road.

 

To think that a drive from the museum is more risky than any other drive makes no sense to me. I never planned on mine being a garage queen and I have 24,600 miles of smiles on mine in a little over 18 months.

I tend to keep all the cars I have ever purchased so I do not plan to sell mine and plan to enjoy all the miles I can on the car. I do have paint protection film so I can periodically replace it to keep it looking as new as possible.

I really enjoyed the museum delivery experience and the drive back from the museum. I had originally planned on taking the long way home from the museum over to the tail of the dragon and then down to Atlanta, but I ended up spending too much time in Bowling green and would have hit the tail too late to enjoy (I did drive up there with a buddy a couple months later and had a blast on that road).

 

I don't plan on putting any protective coating on my C7. On past cars, I've had good luck keeping them pristine - all you have to do is keep them off the interstate. You need a garage too - car covers are rough on the finish.


Interstate driving is boring - there is always a more interesting way to get somewhere and you are alot less likely to get a ticket.

 

Does anyone know if there are certified Xpel installers that will wrap the car before leaving for the drive home? I understand that the GS's and Z06's can pit the paint on the rear brake vents in 100 miles.

 

all you need to do is take a roll of painters tape and cover the areas that are likely to get dinged up. I did this on my 14 Z51 back to dallas and then had it wrapped.

 

Good idea!

 

There was a member that picked up his laguna blue vette and put up pictures with blue painters tape. IThe tape almost matched and was not as obvious.

Would love to see that someone drove home with the white cover. :P

 

It wasn't asked, but a great place to stay in Bowling Green while doing a museum delivery is the La Quinta Inn, exit 22 off I-65, near all the restaurants, shopping, car wash, gas stations, etc.. Plenty of good parking also, and you can walk across the street to the Cracker Barrel, if you're to tired to go to a fancy restaurant after a long day on your feet, at the museum and the plant.

 

It is totally worth it.

 

If you get the buyers tour and ncm delivery coming from out of state, I assume you have to travel to BG more than once?


That is also assuming the building parts of the buyers tour is probably days away from car completion and NCM delivery?


Or can both be done in one visit?

 

The gets built in a couple days, but I believe they still hold the car 10 days after it has been built for a quality hold before it is delivered to the museum. So it would probably be two trips if you do the buyers tour and museum delivery.

 

Now thats the way to do it.

 

If you look on the NCM website in the Museum Delivery page, you will find that the first available delivery is normally 2 weeks after the build date. It would require two visits to BG.
http://www.corvettemuseum.org/visit/...seum-delivery/

 

I've done it twice before on my '01 Z06 and my '03 Z06. I plan to do it again.

 

Boy oh boy! You really have the fever Mike. Just by looking at your signature.