Welcome to the Corvette Forums at the Corvette Action Center!

After a 50 year wait...I now own my very own 2019 ZR1 Ragtop 7-Speed manual, non-ZTK

silentservice703

Active member
Joined
Feb 10, 2019
Messages
40
Location
Duxbury, MA, USA
Corvette
2019 ZR1 Sebring Orange Convertible 7-speed.
Hi folks! New owner here. I am a motorcycle nut....specifically MV Agusta motorcycles, so I like speed and style. I am a moderator on mvagusta.net so stop in there and say hi if you dare.

A little background is that when I was 8 and the Corvette L88 hit the street, I wanted a 'vette. Not just any 'vette, but a '68 L88 in Forrest Green with a convertible top...T-tops if I couldn't get one with the rag top. My father was particularly against the idea because, well, I was 8! Really, it was a bit later when I started trying to find one at age 15 that he got worried that I might actually succeed in my quest.

He didn't like the Corvette. He thought it dangerous and ill engineered. Unsafe. Mind you my father was an Engineer....an Electrical Engineer...but with years of car tinkering under his belt.

He went so far as to take me to an accident between a pick-up truck and a Forest Green Corvette with T-tops...a 1968 no less! This was the C3 body STINGRAY! The car hit the truck head on as it left a party. The headlights had not come up yet as they were vacuum actuated and it was cold so they were a bit slow. The truck was a Chevy and it was a friend who was responding as a volunteer firefighter to a call.

The car was gone from the nose to the passenger compartment. Destroyed. The engine had been pushed in between the seats as designed. The driver and passenger seats were fine. The compartments for the footwell were fine. The driver and passenger were fine. The driver of the pickup was uninjured, but the truck was totalled.

My father was not happy when I Pointed out to him how the safety engineering of the 'vette protected the occupants. This was at 2 in the morning!

It became "my roof, my rules"....and I got a nice light green 1972 Chevy Impala.

Corvette took many turns with its design over the years. It got slow. It got heavy. It got ugly. It got gentrified and it lost its luster.

During that time, as recently as five years ago, I started looking for a '68 L88 because I was going to want a retirement car for fun...and I could probably afford one now. My father has long gone, so he could not dissuade me...and my wife, Cindy was on board with a cool little rag top 'vette...
smoking.gif


...until we saw one sell on Mecum....$1.3 MILLION US DOLLARS!!!! Dream crushed again.
kicknuts.gif


Then, Chevy did it....the C7 body. The Stingray was born again....'vette looked great again!
yo.gif


Then the rumors started...C7 will be going away, rear or mid-engine, no more pushrod V8....horror!
wtf.gif


But wait, what's this....C7 is going out with a bang...ZR1 - 755 hp - 710 ft-lbs torque - rag top option - 7-speed option!!!!!! No Forest Green, but a cool Sebring Orange....
mouth_watering.gif


Being charitable and kind, I approach the CFO of The Compound...she likes it.

So after some discussion about affordability and potential value years on down the road, we ordered our 2019 Corvette ZR1 in Sebring Orange with a 7-speed manual tranny and the ZLZ package. That was on March 15th of 2018. The car was built on January 11th 2019 and delivered to the dealership January 21st.

The car had its PDI done and the dealership wanted it off their property because of fear that something might happen to the car, so they let us take it on a bad check and a promise to pay for the other half of the car on the following Monday.
baddeal.gif


So, unprepared to drive this vehicle off the lot, I turned to my wife and said: "You take the truck and meet me at the detail shop, I'm driving the car over there now."
later.gif


They brought the car around and while I was signing papers, two jamokes parke the car in nose and tail.....
banghead.gif
You can see the look on my face as I sit in the car thinking: Hmmm, I've never driven this car, it is not plated, it has temporary insurance and the tires aren't qualified below 40 degrees...hell, it's 41...what could possibly go wrong. It's got front and rear view cameras, so I'll just creep it out of these two "considerately parked" vehicles and off I go...oh, what? It has no fuel? I'll get gas....
ahhh.gif


So, off I went. 15 miles of "what is going to hit this car" and to the Detail Shop it went. Uneventfully.
smoking.gif


The Big Orange Beasty stayed at Northeast Auto Spa and it got cleaned. It got Xpel film over 3/4 of the body. It got Ceramic Pro coating on its outsides and insides. It was looking sharp!
mouth_watering.gif


It is winter in New England. It is cold. It is wet. My driveway is muddy. Northeast Auto Spa has an owner who is a car guy. He offers to deliver the car in an enclosed trailer right to my garage. Anthony is KING
king.gif
IMG_2097.JPGIMG_2175.JPGIMG_2206.JPGIMG_2208.JPG
 
NICE!

From one New England ZR-1 Owner to another, welcome to the Corvette Action Center! :w
 
Very nice.

Don't be afraid to use it.
 
Welcome to CAC!!!!
Enjoy!!!

Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk
 
Welcome to the CAC.

I hope we have an early spring so you can starting enjoying the drive.

Tom
 
Nice car, good story! Welcome to CAC and Corvette ownership. :w
 
Looking at your screen name, I have to ask, were you on the Boston? And, welcome to the CAC!
 
Yes, I was on the USS Boston SSN 703 as the Leading ELT from '83 to "86 (MM1/SS)

Thanks for the welcome.

Chuck
 
Enjoy !
 
That really is a ticket me color, it's gorgeous.

Harley in the background?
 
That really is a ticket me color, it's gorgeous.

Harley in the background?

I like my motorcycles in "Arrest Me Red".

Under the cover is a 1996 Ducati 916 that I am restoring for a friend. In my trailer there are several bikes: The obligatory HD CVO Electra Glide Black that my wife bought me for my 50th, a 2007 "Slightly Customized" Ducati Monster S4Rs, a 2007 Ducati Monster 695 (hers), a 2007 MV Agusta F4 312R, a 2010 MV Agusta B4 Brutale 1090RR, a 2015 MV Agusta B3 Brutale 800RR, a 1961 MV Agusta 125 TRA and the bike I learned to ride on: 1963 Honda C100A Cub.

I have MBS bad.
 
I like my motorcycles in "Arrest Me Red".

Under the cover is a 1996 Ducati 916 that I am restoring for a friend. In my trailer there are several bikes: The obligatory HD CVO Electra Glide Black that my wife bought me for my 50th, a 2007 "Slightly Customized" Ducati Monster S4Rs, a 2007 Ducati Monster 695 (hers), a 2007 MV Agusta F4 312R, a 2010 MV Agusta B4 Brutale 1090RR, a 2015 MV Agusta B3 Brutale 800RR, a 1961 MV Agusta 125 TRA and the bike I learned to ride on: 1963 Honda C100A Cub.

I have MBS bad.



Seriously nice bike collection.

No "Arrest Me Red" Ferrari?
 

Corvette Forums

Not a member of the Corvette Action Center?  Join now!  It's free!

Help support the Corvette Action Center!

Supporting Vendors

Dealers:

MacMulkin Chevrolet - The Second Largest Corvette Dealer in the Country!

Advertise with the Corvette Action Center!

Double Your Chances!

Our Partners

Back
Top Bottom