Rant at the geriatric corvette owners that ruined the z51 package
 

just a rant towards the 80s corvette owners that got the z51 package ruined (used to be standard).

Made complaints like ‘sloshes my soda on the way to palm springs’

IMHO all corvettes should have the z51 package. You want a cadillac ride you buy a cadillac.

The best thing i did was took off the floaty bilstein shocks off of my 93 vert and installed bilstein z51’s.

And i use the term geriatric not to loosely describe someone that has more years of life under their belt, but rather someone who aches/pains of their own choice - regardless of age.

It's interesting that someone who is primarily concerned with performance would be driving a boulevard cruiser...i.e. a convertible.

The buyers who wanted a more compliant ride didn't put a softer suspension on the C4, GM did. Tell them of your displeasure.

34 years later, they have been admonished. Just a note; 2 years after I bought my Z51 84, I swapped rear springs from a base 85 Vette. I didn't complain to GM though since I ordered the car the way it came.

Pretty sure GMs goal was to sell cars. So towards that goal they built cars that appealed to the largest group of buyers. Which to use your term were the geriatric buyers. Man, I love capitalism.

Guessing you just were bored in that arctic wasteland so you posted to pick a fight. It's cold here too high barely into the 60s so I'll leave the targa in when I head out in the non-z51 luxo-cruiser this afternoon.

He lives on the other side of town from me. Lately the weather here simply can't make up its mind. High 50's one day, snow on the ground the next.

The Z51 option (mine is) does require that you pay attention to the road you are driving on, especially here in NE Ohio. Due to a quirk of my memory, I can remember the location of the potholes, rough spots on the roads I drive on and either map out the smoothest ways or miss the holes as much as possible.

I watch people in my rearview mirrors hitting the same pothole that they hit day after day on their way to work.

If it makes you feel any better, their solution now is worse. Now you' have to buy an expensive adaptive suspension package that was so integrated into the car you couldn't replace it without sending the car comouters into a haywire.

yep, lame.

people are even more whiny and complainers now days. i can't even imagine. Just look at the news.

Buy a 'top of the line performance car" and then decide you don't like that really you just want to say you have it.

Most corvette owners. Enough money to get one and not like it, but not enough money to buy one and let it sit just to say they have one.

AC cobra is the answer to anybody with "production" car issues.

Even down here the weather can't make up its mind. Late Feb we were in the 80's. Today Mid to upper 60's. Last two nights we dropped below freezing.

Its not the shocks that makes a Z51. 25 yr old car probably needed new ones. It's the springs. The goal for the C4 was 1.0 Gs on a skid pad. since none of the cars had horsepower handling became the big deal. Of course, the public had no clue what it takes to achieve the goal.

I have a marketing document from around 30 years ago that spoke to the demographics of Corvette buyers. I've been meaning to post it here sometime, because it does not match me, and probably a number of other forum members as well.

One trait was that Corvette buyers enjoy Easy Listening music. So yeah, guys that prefer instrumental strings covers with a slow tempo would probably be happier with the Z52. :lol:

Around here, the majority of folks in the Corvette clubs all have more than a few years on me and I am 61. That should tell you something.

At Carlisle though, I did notice that the younger folks from the east coast were the ones with the newer, higher end Vettes

Try this. Build your own car the way you want it or take whatever production gives. It is that simple.

I used the C4 as a platform for what I wanted. I didn't want the L98 stock engine so that went out the door. Rear end and trans? See above. Next iteration will have something better but I would only accept an LS based car that is used so the cost is less and I have a platform to build it the way I want to.

They study sales among other things so in a sense, they have asked and you replied.

Dizwiz, tell us how you really feel. :lol:

Easy listening?! Lol. I guess all my experience witnessing the blues, rock and metal blaring out of Corvettes was some kind of illusion or anomoly. Mine included. I must live on Mars.

Viper isn't dead due to poor sales, it's dead due to government regulations. Viper side airbags are not compliant with the new rules, and the coat to go through all the required testing and redesign wasn't worth it. Make no mistake, Viper will be back, likely on a platform shared with other FCA brands, like Alfa, Maserati, and Ferrari.

The average sports car buyer isn't a driving enthusiast, they're an egomaniac that wants a piece of jewelry. That's why there are no drivers cars left, only the STI and a ton of fakes. But the automotive press is even worse, anything that is actually a drivers car and challenges you instead of coddles you is derided as being "unpredictable" and "poorly mannered".

There's not really any new cars worth buying. The auto industry hit its peak for cars and is now on the downhill slide. It's sad.

The easy listening golf course types are the people with money. The number of people that track their corvettes in a way that utilizes the stock suspension (therefore making z51 useful) is so small it might as well be zero. The overwhelming majority of corvette owners, never push their cars anywhere even close to the limits of adhesion, regardless of what suspension is on the car, but they all hit potholes.

Well said.
I would add that many of them just want to be noticed, mostly because their personal life's accomplishments are so small that no one ever noticed.

I thought I remember reading that it was actually Chevy/GM execs that wanted the change ... after driving their 84s around the smooth roads of Detroit :rofl:

Manufacturers will make what sells. Most will option things if there's enough of a market for it (meaning suspension upgrades etc.). That's also why there are aftermarket companies selling products for modifying cars. Either get it as you want or make it what you want.

having been hurt by a joy-riding kid T-boning my car gave me a new perspective on cars and how they drive, I'll take a softer suspension any day over spending the day flat on my back in pain from too rough a suspension. That makes me neither good nor bad, it makes me a customer of a sweet handling car that loves curves (especially with my upgrades) and doesn't shake the fillings out of my head.

Not happy with that you have: trade it for something different or mod it to be what you want. Both are viable options.