What was your "first drive" in a Vette?
Discussion
Out in USA back in the 1980s. There was a new C4 sitting on a dealer forecourt and I couldn't resist a drive. The clamshell hood and exposed suspension had me gripped before we even turned a wheel. Then the performance and sound had me totally hooked! I was blown away by the car and it started my hankering for a Vette. As things turned out other cars occupied the garage until I saw a C5 on the road back in 1998 - and that was it! Had it nearly 10 years now... 
I hired a yellow C5 Convertible when I went on holiday to Florida a few years ago.
Managed to get nicked doing 110 in a 55 zone near Kissimee. $400 fine.
Got job they didn't see me the next day doing 160 on the way to Miami!
It was a bit bulky, I knew how quick the C5 Z06s were but it just wasn't the car for me.
It was testing the C6 at Circuit Ascari in Spain when GM launched the car that I realised it was now a really well resolved car in every department, the C6 being shorter and possessed with superb handling and of course great engines. I knew I had to wait for the Z06 though...
Managed to get nicked doing 110 in a 55 zone near Kissimee. $400 fine.
Got job they didn't see me the next day doing 160 on the way to Miami!
It was a bit bulky, I knew how quick the C5 Z06s were but it just wasn't the car for me.
It was testing the C6 at Circuit Ascari in Spain when GM launched the car that I realised it was now a really well resolved car in every department, the C6 being shorter and possessed with superb handling and of course great engines. I knew I had to wait for the Z06 though...
Edited by JenkinsComp on Friday 24th October 11:35
Edited by JenkinsComp on Friday 24th October 11:36
In 1992, I qualified as a barrister and to "reward myself", I went out to buy a coupe of some variety and considered everything from a Nissan 200SX to a TVR to a Porsche 928. A friend of mine was into American cars but I wasn't. He wanted a Camaro which I wasn't really aware of at that time. Another acquaintance had bought a 1st gen Camaro which I thought was a pile of junk.
Having tested a 928 and found it heavy and bulky, it nevertheless conspired to make the lesser coupes a bit "ordinary" so they were half-rejected at this stage. I considered TVRs but never really got past possibly liking the idea but wedges were about the only thing in my range and I didn't like them.
A friend pointed out a black 1985 Corvette in the local Auto Trader and talked me into going to see it. I loved it on sight but hey, it was a 5.7 litre V8 and it was all a bit tongue in cheek at this stage. A test-drive complete with "squadron of Lancasters" soundtrack had me all over it like a cheap suit but the running costs were making me apprehensive. However, within a day, I found myself longing to drive it again and hey, if my mate could buy a Camaro then sod it. I drove back down to Bath to buy it, knocking £1000 off the price for "running costs". I drove it home and fell in love with it. It lasted 3 years before the CSA really dug their claws into my pay packet and it had to go. It was a complete wrench, like being punched in the stomach, watching it drive away.
I suspect it was the huge jump to the Corvette (from normal cars) that made it so special. When I bought my C5 Z06 in 2004 after 4 years of Camaro Z28 ownership, it was nothing like as special an occasion - quite dull really - very fast but far more mature and grown-up and capable and sadly missing the hooligan element and body-quaking noise that made the C4 so cool. It's probably one of the reasons I ended up selling it a year later to buy the Mustang (which itself is also far more grown-up than the Camaro was...).
Having tested a 928 and found it heavy and bulky, it nevertheless conspired to make the lesser coupes a bit "ordinary" so they were half-rejected at this stage. I considered TVRs but never really got past possibly liking the idea but wedges were about the only thing in my range and I didn't like them.
A friend pointed out a black 1985 Corvette in the local Auto Trader and talked me into going to see it. I loved it on sight but hey, it was a 5.7 litre V8 and it was all a bit tongue in cheek at this stage. A test-drive complete with "squadron of Lancasters" soundtrack had me all over it like a cheap suit but the running costs were making me apprehensive. However, within a day, I found myself longing to drive it again and hey, if my mate could buy a Camaro then sod it. I drove back down to Bath to buy it, knocking £1000 off the price for "running costs". I drove it home and fell in love with it. It lasted 3 years before the CSA really dug their claws into my pay packet and it had to go. It was a complete wrench, like being punched in the stomach, watching it drive away.
I suspect it was the huge jump to the Corvette (from normal cars) that made it so special. When I bought my C5 Z06 in 2004 after 4 years of Camaro Z28 ownership, it was nothing like as special an occasion - quite dull really - very fast but far more mature and grown-up and capable and sadly missing the hooligan element and body-quaking noise that made the C4 so cool. It's probably one of the reasons I ended up selling it a year later to buy the Mustang (which itself is also far more grown-up than the Camaro was...).
Sorry - I read first drive as first drive behind the wheel - for me it was a white 1969 coupe big block - complete with small '390hp' sticker on top of the air filter. Total experience, including the flappy vacuum operated wiper cover thing that popped up and down excitedly as that huge engine settled down after starting. Monster.
First time I drove one was the day I picked up my new '01 C5 convertible from ACI. A mate and I had both had a very good year (ah, the days of uncapped commission...) and decided we needed to spend it on something suitable.... He bought an Elise and I went for the C5. I kind of had to buy it really as I'd already bought a suitable reg number ( Y8ODY )!
I traded in a '99 Z/28 so the drive home was a doddle (like driving a sub-compact compared with the Camaro!).
I traded in a '99 Z/28 so the drive home was a doddle (like driving a sub-compact compared with the Camaro!).
The first corvette I drove was a chrome bumper of uncertain vintage.
I was only 18 and was driving the best little hot hatch of the day,a Sunbeam Lotus,tweaked with Bilsteins,a quickrack,LSD etc.I was into rallying but always loved the look of the american stuff at the time (Smokey and the bandit Trans Am's etc)
Anyway,I took this old 'vette out by convincing the salesman I could afford it 'cos I was driving the Sunbeam.
Being 18 all I wanted to do was go like hell and powerslide it around the corners ! Needless to say it didn't have the finness of my Sunbeam but it did sideways very well.
I didn't buy it in the end because it had seen better days,I recall the salesman looked like he was just pleased to see teatime after half an hour with a young hooligan in a Corvette.
I was only 18 and was driving the best little hot hatch of the day,a Sunbeam Lotus,tweaked with Bilsteins,a quickrack,LSD etc.I was into rallying but always loved the look of the american stuff at the time (Smokey and the bandit Trans Am's etc)
Anyway,I took this old 'vette out by convincing the salesman I could afford it 'cos I was driving the Sunbeam.
Being 18 all I wanted to do was go like hell and powerslide it around the corners ! Needless to say it didn't have the finness of my Sunbeam but it did sideways very well.
I didn't buy it in the end because it had seen better days,I recall the salesman looked like he was just pleased to see teatime after half an hour with a young hooligan in a Corvette.
Edited by v8yea on Friday 24th October 17:54
In 2002 after living in the US for a year, JulesV came to visit and took me straight to the dealership to try out a C5 Z06; and then to a Viper dealer and made me try that too. He then refused to go home until I bought the Vette. Of course I gave in, as my kids were beginning to call him Uncle. Haven't looked back - that beautiful black Z06 is now in the UK, with, er... JulesV, and a C6 Z06 here with me.
As I've said on other threads, I've driven practically every 'supercar' as a member of P1 and nothing comes close to the satisfaction of a Z06. (Well maybe GT3 RS and Vanquish S, but nothing else).
As I've said on other threads, I've driven practically every 'supercar' as a member of P1 and nothing comes close to the satisfaction of a Z06. (Well maybe GT3 RS and Vanquish S, but nothing else).
mrobin33 said:
In 2002 after living in the US for a year, JulesV came to visit and took me straight to the dealership to try out a C5 Z06; and then to a Viper dealer and made me try that too. He then refused to go home until I bought the Vette. Of course I gave in, as my kids were beginning to call him Uncle. Haven't looked back - that beautiful black Z06 is now in the UK, with, er... JulesV, and a C6 Z06 here with me.
As I've said on other threads, I've driven practically every 'supercar' as a member of P1 and nothing comes close to the satisfaction of a Z06. (Well maybe GT3 RS and Vanquish S, but nothing else).
As I've said on other threads, I've driven practically every 'supercar' as a member of P1 and nothing comes close to the satisfaction of a Z06. (Well maybe GT3 RS and Vanquish S, but nothing else).
You make out it was all my fault. I have been for a lovely drive today over Ashdown Forest in the Autumn sunshine.
1978 ... friend of mine told me he had bought a Corvette for more money than I made in a year. I thought he had bought a boat hehe ... All that money for a car? Get a taxi !!
Then he drove round "1978 Anniversary Edition C3". Love at first sight
and I couldn't afford one... gutted.
Then the bas
rd comes round with a 1974 convertible. So it's his fault I can't get bloody Corvettes out of my system.
Then I made the mistake of reading about the C6 Z06 now I got one of those up the drive. ZR1 seemed pointless if you've already got an uprated Z06 , for me anyway.. phew...
Then he drove round "1978 Anniversary Edition C3". Love at first sight
and I couldn't afford one... gutted.Then the bas
rd comes round with a 1974 convertible. So it's his fault I can't get bloody Corvettes out of my system.Then I made the mistake of reading about the C6 Z06 now I got one of those up the drive. ZR1 seemed pointless if you've already got an uprated Z06
, for me anyway.. phew... Edited by ERIKTHEVETKING on Sunday 26th October 00:59
My first drive in a Corvette was when I bought my C5 back from Cheshire to Hampshire in the rain and sleet/snow four years ago.
It took me ages to get the grin off my face - and the skid marks out of my pants. Lots of "torques" as they say on Top Gear in that weather in a very unknown package. Heaps of fun, especially after I thought I had got the feel for it and switched the TC off. WOOOOHOOOOOOO !!!
I am smiling lunatic style now just remembering that journey, and it's the same pretty much every day I have the pleasure in firing her up.
It took me ages to get the grin off my face - and the skid marks out of my pants. Lots of "torques" as they say on Top Gear in that weather in a very unknown package. Heaps of fun, especially after I thought I had got the feel for it and switched the TC off. WOOOOHOOOOOOO !!!
I am smiling lunatic style now just remembering that journey, and it's the same pretty much every day I have the pleasure in firing her up.
franv8 said:
Sorry - I read first drive as first drive behind the wheel - for me it was a white 1969 coupe big block - complete with small '390hp' sticker on top of the air filter. Total experience, including the flappy vacuum operated wiper cover thing that popped up and down excitedly as that huge engine settled down after starting. Monster.
Strange - that also was my first Vette drive - bought the car - still own it - not a 390 hp any more though!I blame franv8 for "demonstrating" his C4 to me! After one shot at the wheel of his, and with my relocation to Detroit, there really was only one car on my shopping list there! After 4yrs of '94 LT1 ownership and more than a year now in a 2001 Z06, i really had to bring the Z06 back to Blighty with me.
First drive was when I test drove a '72 big block that was for sale in auto trader back in the early 90's, went like stink but was rapidly falling apart (door handle fell off on the test drive!!)..
Real glad I took the then girlfriend with me to view the vette, as she talked me out of it as despite it being a heap I still nearly brought it, 2nd drive was a few years later in a '67 roadster which was a blast..
But the most memorable was Dec 30th 1999, it was a proper winters day with a good covering of snow & bloody freezing.
I'd gone to the wifes parents house in the morning as they'd 'planned a birthday breakfast for me', which I thought was odd but hey why not..
On arriving the father-in-laws best pal pulls up in his brand new candy red 6 speed C5, it had less than 1,000 miles on the clock and he'd ordered new from BM's.
At the time I had an LT1 Z28 and the C5's were newly released & the hottest thing out there.
Happy birthday says the father-in-law who'd arranged with Tony to take me for a spin in the C5, knowing that the C5 had cost £40k, it was kept wrapped in cotton wool it was Ton's pride & joy & there was 2"s snow on the ground I tried to tslk Tony out of it as the C5 was gleaming and it felt criminal to get it filthy..
'You're right says Tony, there's no way I want to drive it this weather, so you'd better & throws me the keys'
As a birthday surprise he'd insured me on the C5 for the day, planned a route and we spent 3 hours around herts, beds & bucks 'testing' the C5's potential..
To the extent that when we got back Tony went straight indoors for a large whiskey...
Real glad I took the then girlfriend with me to view the vette, as she talked me out of it as despite it being a heap I still nearly brought it, 2nd drive was a few years later in a '67 roadster which was a blast..
But the most memorable was Dec 30th 1999, it was a proper winters day with a good covering of snow & bloody freezing.
I'd gone to the wifes parents house in the morning as they'd 'planned a birthday breakfast for me', which I thought was odd but hey why not..
On arriving the father-in-laws best pal pulls up in his brand new candy red 6 speed C5, it had less than 1,000 miles on the clock and he'd ordered new from BM's.
At the time I had an LT1 Z28 and the C5's were newly released & the hottest thing out there.
Happy birthday says the father-in-law who'd arranged with Tony to take me for a spin in the C5, knowing that the C5 had cost £40k, it was kept wrapped in cotton wool it was Ton's pride & joy & there was 2"s snow on the ground I tried to tslk Tony out of it as the C5 was gleaming and it felt criminal to get it filthy..
'You're right says Tony, there's no way I want to drive it this weather, so you'd better & throws me the keys'
As a birthday surprise he'd insured me on the C5 for the day, planned a route and we spent 3 hours around herts, beds & bucks 'testing' the C5's potential..
To the extent that when we got back Tony went straight indoors for a large whiskey...
Edited by JakesterUK on Friday 7th November 23:47
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