Jistari
Well-known member
Well it was a little different for me.
I can't really say "I always dreamed of owning a Corvette". I mean I did (what American born male would answer the question "would you like to own a Corvette" with the answer "no"?), I just never saw my self as being in a position to actually get one.
Wifey had a significant neck injury a few years ago and was permanently put out of work. I made it a point to get her out of the house as much as possible, usually weekends, usually driving.
We also refinanced the mortgage for a better rate and cleared up any outstanding accounts, so while I didn’t have a pile of money sitting there, we were pretty much debt free except for the house.
Sooo....I get the bright idea "hey, why don’t I look for a nice car, that will be fun to drive her around in....nothing expensive....I don't know.....maybe an old Corvette. I always liked a 67 ish black coupe with side pipes and the 427 tri-power......what could it cost? $15,000 ? $20,000 ?....so I started looking around.
When the ambulance left.....<== that would be from the shock of seeing what that type of vette was going for
I looked into the later models. C3 very nice....affordable too.....ride too stiff for wifey in her condition. C4 very nice...also affordable...but no matter what I do my head hits the targa bar (I only wanted a coupe). So that was pretty much it. C5's were beautiful but in my mind, way out of the budget.
So after looking at a crap load (that’s a technical term....its somewhere between a butt load and a sh_t load) of cars, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be in a position to actually buy one.....wifey got tired of looking
We were standing in a local vette dealer looking at a black on black 2001 C5 coupe. She asked me "Any car here (and there were a bunch of really nice vettes....matching number c2's in great shape, c3's c4's and a bunch of c5's) which one would you get if you could ?" I said it would probably be this one right here. She told me to "wait here" and left. She comes back ten minutes later and counts out the down payment to the dealer
I couldn't believe it. I was nervous about spending so lavishly on something that wasn't a necessity. I'm sure you all know how it is. Many years, despite a lot of overtime, no vacations, the house.....life in general I asked her "why?" She replied "when ?" (in other words.....if not now.....when?). I told her thanks honey...but no....not sure this is the right thing to do, we're finally getting our heads above water.
Well....this story is getting complicated. I'm a little reticent to go into her real motive for insisting that we get the car, but I guess I'm in this far, won't make sense unless I just get it out there.
She turns to me and says "You always do the right thing You remember all those days coming home from the Trade Center? You're getting this car, we're done here " [without opening up an entirely different can of worms, I did 90 days at the rescue/recovery effort down there, and while I know we have other public safety and military people here who already know this, for the rest, some things take their toll on not only the people involved, but also to a great extent on the family at home]. What could I say? I made a half hearted effort to run down forty-seven different reasons why it wasn't a good idea....blah blah blah. She wouldn't have any of it. She says "if you don’t get this car now.....you are going to have to have the clips installed on the one you eventually get.......clips ?.....what clips?......the clips to hold your walker when you go out for a drive ...we're done here....your getting this car".
We say it all the time : Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus. At least in my experience, quite often there is a significant discontinuity between the logic employed in ones own decision making process and that which we observe in the opposite sex. I guess the moral I'm trying to get to is, sometimes you just have to believe and go with it. Needless to say......we got the car.
One of the best things we ever did. Even conceding that Life was definitely on the upswing for us at that point, I have to admit that we have gleaned more enjoyment and done more things together with the vette then I ever thought we would. Great call honey
P.S. In looking back at this post it occurs to me that it went way longer then I intended, and I apologize to the reader for the lengthy response. In retrospect, it doesn't seem too far off the mark though. The intent of the thread seemed to be about the passion we here all have for owning and driving this particular car. Passion too strong a word? oh yeah?...tell me you haven't been walking by your garage on some other errand, and for no reason, just stepped in and ran your hand along the fender? What is that.....a wax check?....right.....just a car.....it's passion baby
I can't really say "I always dreamed of owning a Corvette". I mean I did (what American born male would answer the question "would you like to own a Corvette" with the answer "no"?), I just never saw my self as being in a position to actually get one.
Wifey had a significant neck injury a few years ago and was permanently put out of work. I made it a point to get her out of the house as much as possible, usually weekends, usually driving.
We also refinanced the mortgage for a better rate and cleared up any outstanding accounts, so while I didn’t have a pile of money sitting there, we were pretty much debt free except for the house.
Sooo....I get the bright idea "hey, why don’t I look for a nice car, that will be fun to drive her around in....nothing expensive....I don't know.....maybe an old Corvette. I always liked a 67 ish black coupe with side pipes and the 427 tri-power......what could it cost? $15,000 ? $20,000 ?....so I started looking around.
When the ambulance left.....<== that would be from the shock of seeing what that type of vette was going for
I looked into the later models. C3 very nice....affordable too.....ride too stiff for wifey in her condition. C4 very nice...also affordable...but no matter what I do my head hits the targa bar (I only wanted a coupe). So that was pretty much it. C5's were beautiful but in my mind, way out of the budget.So after looking at a crap load (that’s a technical term....its somewhere between a butt load and a sh_t load) of cars, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be in a position to actually buy one.....wifey got tired of looking
We were standing in a local vette dealer looking at a black on black 2001 C5 coupe. She asked me "Any car here (and there were a bunch of really nice vettes....matching number c2's in great shape, c3's c4's and a bunch of c5's) which one would you get if you could ?" I said it would probably be this one right here. She told me to "wait here" and left. She comes back ten minutes later and counts out the down payment to the dealer
I couldn't believe it. I was nervous about spending so lavishly on something that wasn't a necessity. I'm sure you all know how it is. Many years, despite a lot of overtime, no vacations, the house.....life in general
I asked her "why?" She replied "when ?" (in other words.....if not now.....when?). I told her thanks honey...but no....not sure this is the right thing to do, we're finally getting our heads above water.Well....this story is getting complicated. I'm a little reticent to go into her real motive for insisting that we get the car, but I guess I'm in this far, won't make sense unless I just get it out there.
She turns to me and says "You always do the right thing
You remember all those days coming home from the Trade Center? You're getting this car, we're done here " [without opening up an entirely different can of worms, I did 90 days at the rescue/recovery effort down there, and while I know we have other public safety and military people here who already know this, for the rest, some things take their toll on not only the people involved, but also to a great extent on the family at home]. What could I say? I made a half hearted effort to run down forty-seven different reasons why it wasn't a good idea....blah blah blah. She wouldn't have any of it. She says "if you don’t get this car now.....you are going to have to have the clips installed on the one you eventually get.......clips ?.....what clips?......the clips to hold your walker when you go out for a drive ...we're done here....your getting this car".We say it all the time : Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus. At least in my experience, quite often there is a significant discontinuity between the logic employed in ones own decision making process and that which we observe in the opposite sex. I guess the moral I'm trying to get to is, sometimes you just have to believe and go with it. Needless to say......we got the car.
One of the best things we ever did. Even conceding that Life was definitely on the upswing for us at that point, I have to admit that we have gleaned more enjoyment and done more things together with the vette then I ever thought we would. Great call honey
P.S. In looking back at this post it occurs to me that it went way longer then I intended, and I apologize to the reader for the lengthy response. In retrospect, it doesn't seem too far off the mark though. The intent of the thread seemed to be about the passion we here all have for owning and driving this particular car. Passion too strong a word? oh yeah?...tell me you haven't been walking by your garage on some other errand, and for no reason, just stepped in and ran your hand along the fender? What is that.....a wax check?....right.....just a car.....it's passion baby
I can remember going there to get a sneak look at the 68's when they came out, I used to buy a lot of parts thru them even had an account with the parts dept way back then.
