[mrvette]

I got my own ideas, and anyone can guess with a few glances....but

is it the style?? the ease of improvements....the parts availability?? or ease of working on them?? can't be reliability on a ~25 y/o car...or CAN it??

is it power?? romance??

OR, the combination that says to anyone even remotely auto oriented....

HOLY ****!!!!.....:laughing: :laughing: :rolling: :WTF

Even in this afternoon's thunderstorm (MUCHLY NEEDED BTW)....I had a ball driving the silly thing.......

I"m an olde phart, so have had my share of hotrods but this is the best so far....butwhy???:rolling: :crazy: :WTF :cheers:

 

[vettecop]

I got my own ideas, and anyone can guess with a few glances....but

is it the style?? the ease of improvements....the parts availability?? or ease of working on them?? can't be reliability on a ~25 y/o car...or CAN it??

is it power?? romance??

OR, the combination that says to anyone even remotely auto oriented....

HOLY ****!!!!.....:laughing: :laughing: :rolling: :WTF

Even in this afternoon's thunderstorm (MUCHLY NEEDED BTW)....I had a ball driving the silly thing.......

I"m an olde phart, so have had my share of hotrods but this is the best so far....butwhy???:rolling: :crazy: :WTF :cheers:

That's the reason! :thumbsup:

 

[big2bird]

My take on it?

Older men tend to always buy that car they saw as a teen, and said to themselves, "Someday when I can afford it, I am gonna have one of those."
Barret-Jackson is PROOF of that theory.

 

[Patrick]

I think when most think of a Corvette that the C3 comes to mind first.

I personally think it's the fricking sexiest of all generations and the peak of great Corvette body design. I don't own one because I am too mechanically retarted to maintain one. My only hope is to find a perfect car that's already been restored. Then it's foot to the floor and rubber on the road. Someday.:thumbsup:

 

[DJ Dep]

Pat: If you are short for your weight (my main problem) or otherwise large in the stomach and waist, better sit in one before falling in love with it. The nicest thing (other than the amazing power) of my C5 was that it was perfectly comfortable for my ample size. I had to buy a T&T steering column to even get my legs under the steering wheel of my '72. And I still feel like I am sitting in a go-kart with a body on it.
Only way I can really get comfortable is to roll the window down and let my arm hang outside the window. Hmmmm....I wonder if Twin Turbo has similiar problems? :laughing:

Dep

 

[bojvette]

I THINK THE LAST CORVETTES EVER MADE ARE THE C 3 s AND THE FIRST CORVETTES MADE ARE THE C 1 s DONT THINK THY MADE THE C 3 s:rolling:

 

[TwinTurbo]

Pat: If you are short for your weight (my main problem) or otherwise large in the stomach and waist, better sit in one before falling in love with it. The nicest thing (other than the amazing power) of my C5 was that it was perfectly comfortable for my ample size. I had to buy a T&T steering column to even get my legs under the steering wheel of my '72. And I still feel like I am sitting in a go-kart with a body on it.
Only way I can really get comfortable is to roll the window down and let my arm hang outside the window. Hmmmm....I wonder if Twin Turbo has similiar problems? :laughing:

Dep

I always had my arm out the window, even when it was real cold. I couldn't move my left arm with the window closed which made steering a PITA. These damned cars are so cramped, I also always had the seat in the rear most position and severely reclined so I wouldn't hit the roof/roll bar and I'm not even that tall, only a little over 6' but I have short legs I think LOL
I wonder why some people weld a roll cage in them, makes them completely impractical :rolling: My fat ass simply doesn't fit the car very well

 

[DJ Dep]

TT: I figured you had the same problem. Ditto for me with the seat. I think the C3 Vettes were made for dwarves or midgets. Also a PITA to work on both inside and out. How many other cars require you to remove the front seat to work under the dash?? :crazy:
I'm only 5'8" and it's still cramped for me. I guess the car really was designed for rich little old men to own :laughing:

Dep

 

[mrvette]

I am 6'5" or so, shrinking height with age....and just weighed in a 224 lbs before lunch....age 63 with a skeleton age of 203+-.....serious...

in '01, right around the 9/11 date I tore the vette apart and rebuilt a goodly sectiio of the interior to MY specs....took out the seat tracks in rear, to lower the seat about 2"....took out the carpeting/padding under the front seat mounts...another 1/2 inch....
cut and moved the lower front floorboard forward, and eliminated that silly headlight dimmer pad the switch being on the previously long tyme installed '78? up TT wheel/column....I bent the turnsignal lever toward the wheel, and the tilt lever also...knee room...lowering the lower 1/2 of the firewall allowed changing the pedal positions by cutting/welding the brake pedal, and heating/bending the gas pedal lever....so everything is now out forward allowing me to lower my knees off that small diameter late shark wheel.....OH...BTW, I have never dumped the original foam padding, but have redone my seats twice in 12 years.....why?? it's thinner, I just pulled out springs from the supports to make it even lower....
my spine is stiff as a teen aged dick...and so it seriously hurts to lower my head when the top is off....

the seat width is no sweat for ME, but then again the prez of my old Vette club in DC was a rather weighty Italian guy and he drove an earlier C4 with the narrow seats like my '87, and I hated those side bolsters because they squeezed my hips to the point of pain....that and many other complaints are why I ditched the car....figgering IF I had to work on the car, may as well restify one as attempt fixing something I was having trouble with....

ALL this ergodynamics crap is up to the individual, obviously...and yes, it's a part of hotrodding also...far as I"m concerned...

you don't love to drive the car....it's uncomfy for whatever reason....

it's NO FUN....

OH, and anyone think I work at anything over 3-4 hours a day is nutz....

BUT then again I WORK, don't sit there mulling over the obvious...I do enuff of that at night when I can't sleep....

 

[DJ Dep]

Gene: What you did certainly would fix a lot of the problems....BUT...I would prefer to just go out and buy a C5. ALL problems solved...except one...convincing my wife that I need it :laughing:

 

[gtr1999]

Interesting question. But are they still popular to the guys who waited 30 years for one reason or another to buy one only to find they are not anything like they were expecting or accustomed to?

There is no room, they run hot as an oven in the summer, the a/c never worked all that great, they leak rain water, the door locks jam up, the wipers are good if they clear the wiper door, and most used ones are beat into the ground.

You know the guy I'm talking about, spends too much for the car and then finds out it has to be rebuilt and cost 3x times what he was thinking. Now he may try and rebuild it because he used to tune his '75 Pacer. Only he/she gets in deeper then the Titanic in the Atlantic. This will be the true point at which he/she loves the car or "cuts bait" and moves on. Being popular and owning one are two different things at times that's for sure. Some of the new cars today are popular but I don't want one. C5 and C6's are great cars but I don't want one of those either.

Rebuilding every part on the car shows who the real corvette people are and those are the ones who deserve all the popularity that comes with the car. They are also the best but craziest people I've met:rolling:

Remember that the next time you're at a cruise night and some guy tells you his brother had a mint '67 Split Window and his Dad bought a new 83. Yeah they're popular alright, a human magnet enjoy the show it's always entertaining.:smack

 

[Nvts]

I have really wanted one my whole life, as my dad had one. I think the lines are damn sexy. These cars are all engine compartment

Then again, if someone wanted to send me an old GTO, a better off dead camaro, or a chevelles...

Sometimes it's about opportunity as well as desire. There were a whole lot of vettes made.

 

[mrvette]

Gene: What you did certainly would fix a lot of the problems....BUT...I would prefer to just go out and buy a C5. ALL problems solved...except one...convincing my wife that I need it :laughing:

Dep, Linda here is wife #3 but in fact, she is the best....easy....she don't complain except when I torque off about something....usually poly-ticks...

or something that from the git go could have been better engineered....

another topic...

or better materials used.....

but she shuts me up when my time is allotted, which is when she gets pissed off.....and tired of the story....for the 20 billionth time, allready even yet....

:laughing: :crazy: :rolling: :WTF :cheers:

but no matter how crazy my projects get, CAR, HOME, BOAT, whatever....she lends tacit support....

THAT in MY mind is more than requested....by FAR....

:huh:

 

[TimAT]

I'm 6'2" and 260- if I EVER have to get OUT of the thing in a hurry, it's going to be really, really fugly.

In '63 my stepdad had a body shop, a customer had a 63 that had a minor crunch, we fixed it. One night it rained big time. Next morning he pulled up out in front, reached back in the Vette, pulled out a sponge and squeezed what looked like a gallon of water out of it. Came into the office and announced he had the only swimming pool in town that would run 140 MPH.
Never did get all the water leaks stopped.

It's either a love it or hate it thing. No middle ground at all. Lots of individual little quirks and no two are the same. Either you're willing to put up with them or not. And from the looks of the Forum, there are a whole group of us that are going to deal with the quirks.



:cheers:

 

[mrvette]

Either you're willing to put up with them or not. And from the looks of the Forum, there are a whole group of us that are going to deal with the quirks.



:cheers:[/QUOTE]

Hey, i'm not all THAT quirky, am I???:crazy: :rolling: :cheers:

 

[normshark]

I think it's a combination of "all of the above". Ask a guy who has one and I'm sure that his (her) answer will contain something of what has been said.

For me, they were the new Vettes when I was a kid and had the opportunity to spend some quality time with a few back then. Just took me a while to get my own.

There are lots of fast cars out there. But just stand back and look at a C3. The proportions. The crisp lines and sensuous curves. The aggressive stance. The voice that says "LETS GO......NOW!". Sex on wheels.

 

[JungleCat]

:agree: Yeah, the looks of the car for sure. The newest C3 is 25 years old and you don't see as many of them on the road as the newer generations. Today, most C3s are either collector cars or Vette rods.

 

[SMYDA]

C3s have character..................that the later models do not have.
As a kid the C3s (and C2s) were the baddest looking cars on the road.
You NEVER mistaken a C3 Corvette for any other car.

It's looking over those swelled fenders and not knowing exactly were the nose is at.
It's sitting shoulder to shoulder with the person riding next to you.
It's knowing the rear tire is just mere inches from your butt.

I loved the cars as a kid.
I loved the cars in high school.
(My brother had a '74 T/A with a 455, but the dude with the '80 Turbo C3 always blew us away.)
I really fell in love the cars while working in Custom shops in FL. in my early 20s,
and several Chevrolet dealers after that. But I was always on the Body and Trim side things.
They're not practical is right and that's why I kept talking myself out of one.

So I'm one of those guys who has waited 20+ years but now I have my very own.

Yes it will need a ground up resto but that's the way I like it.
When I'm done I will have been intimate with every square inch of her and I will
know her inside and out. We will be ONE.
That's what owning one of these cars is all about.

IMHO the guy who just buys the resto vette and never BUILDS one is not a REAL CORVETTE MAN.
(But I think someone has pretty much already said that. :thumbsup: )

 

[TimAT]

Hey, i'm not all THAT quirky, am I???:crazy: :rolling: :cheers:

No more than I am!! :thumbsup:

 

[PNHNDLE96CE]

I think (JHMO) that the C2/C3s are the sexiest of all corvettes or even detroit designs. Saying that, I think the popularity of them is because that was the car we all wanted growing up. Who is to say that 20 years from now when the kids of the 80/90s hit our age that the C4/C5 won't enjoy similar popularity. We love the Corvette because it's a Vette, it's a passion or obession(to some) not because someone else thinks it cool. I'm glad you dig your C3 so much, I wish I had the cash to fill my gargage with one of each of the six generations. I think every vette is awesome whether it's a blue flame six 53 or a LS7 Z06, all I can say is LOVE THE ONE YOUR WITH!