New C5!

It has been a rough summer.  Sold my 91 Vette and since then I have had nothing fun to drive for months.  I did get an 03 Harley V-Rod for short time, but not having a drivable Vette around really played havoc with my nerves!  When I would get a day off I normally would have some tedious tasks to run and I didn't care, great opportunity to take the Vette out for a cruise... but when you have to actually drive a Cruze to do your errands... well, there isn't much fun in that.

I was set on getting another C5 Corvette.  Not a parts car, but a drivable Vette for hopefully a decent price.  My goal was a Red 6-speed... not an easy find.  Automatics seem to be in abundance, but a 6-speed with a clean title and not an overload of miles at a decent price... well, that was a task.  I ended up finding a black Corvette, 6-speed with only 78xxx miles for only $10,000!  The car was 4 hours away from me and I went to work to secure a loan and get things set up.  You think that was the end of this story but, it was just the beginning...

It was mid-August when I found the car.  Okay, it wasn't red but it was the next best thing, black with Z06 chrome wheels.  The guy I was dealing with seemed nice and up front, but after I was approved for a loan to get the car, that was when the problems started.  Since we couldn't meet at the bank, the bank required a notarized bill of sale.  This proved to be no problem for the man and he was quick to get that done.  Next, they needed a copy of the title, after which they found out the car was in his wife's name.  This wouldn't fly since the bank would only issue a check out to the person whose name was on the title.  The man told me that his wife was a traveling nurse and that it could be weeks before we could set up a time to do the deal. So, without even asking me first, he decided to have the title switched over to his name.  Now, the car was in Missouri and he claimed it would be back in a few days.  I told him in Illinois it could take 6 weeks or more to get your title back. He acted like I was crazy... So I waited.

The first week went by pretty quick and no sign of title.  The second week I went out a purchased a black gas lid as the one he had on the car was some aftermarket silver one that I did not like... I mean, I was getting the car.  The third week I was getting antsy, we were now into September and my vacation was coming up in a couple weeks and I was looking forward to taking my new Vette on a road trip.  Vacation came and went and still no title.  I would message him every other day, where he would say that he called the DMV and they said that system was way behind... great. 

By the 5th week I was losing it.  I started watching the classifieds more closely in case some really good deal came up... nothing did.  By the 6th week I was actively looking for another car.  I went and test drove a 2000 convertible what was pewter, my other two C5s that I had were pewter and I wasn't really wanting another one, but this had low miles and it was a 6-speed.  I drove it and then tried to talk them down.  They had already dropped the price to $12,000 but, it was dealer, and by the time they added taxes and title and whatever else it tacked another $1,000 on the price tag.  I told them if I would take it for $12,000 even, they quit returning my calls.

I pretty much gave up.  I figured I would spend the winter waiting for the mysterious title to arrive to a car I has a gas lid to but nothing else.  Then, one morning I woke up a 7 am for no reason, and I couldn't get back to sleep.  As usual, I picked up my phone and went through the latest Craigslist listing and saw a picture of a beautiful 2000 Torch Red Corvette.  Before I clicked on it I figured it was an automatic... no, it was a 6-speed... in my price range!  This car was beautiful and exactly what I set out looking for, the mileage was higher than I had hoped but I was interested nonetheless.  I was so excited I sent a text at 7 a.m., which is something I never do because I hate when people text me in the middle of the night or early morning.  The guy responded, he was going to work and couldn't take my phone to work, told me to call him at a different number later that morning.  Around 10 I called the number he gave me and it went straight to voicemail,  I left a long message with my number but never heard anything back.  I attempted to call the number two more times over the next 3 hours but now the phone would just go dead, didn't even go to voicemail... not a good sign.  I ended up texting him again and told him to contact me as soon as he could, wanted to see his car tonight... once again, I played the waiting game.

Around 5:30 that night get a text that I could look at the car, I set up to meet him at a church that was over an hour away from my house.  I got them there a little late, he got there even later, but there was the car!  We went for a long test ride on some curvy road in the country and it was love at first sight.  I attempted to talk him down in price but he was quick to shut me down. "My friend told me I priced it too low already, I have got a ton of messages from people I have to call back now," he told me knowing that he could easily sell his car.  I was actually the first person to contact him, he was working down the list of calls. I didn't even argue, gave him $100 earnest money and he met me at the bank 5 days later to close the deal.

Here are some photos of my new beauty.  Of course I had to call the first guy back and told him I bought a different car, the title was still not in.  He said he understood and wasn't mad... I still wonder about what that was really all about. My wife would say there was reason I happened to wake up early that day and the title never came in... not sure if she is right, but I do love this car!

You can see my prototype cup holder in this photo. The cup holder in the C5 are crap, mine will hold a 44 ounce. Working on streamlining it more but hope to eventually mass produce them in the future...