- Joined
- Jan 19, 2003
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- 5,800 feet above sea level
- Corvette
- 2006 'Evil Stealth Black' Roadster
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Two years ago, as a public service, I wrote “Be Cool: Common Pitfalls for the C5 Owner & How to Avoid Them” as a guide to understanding the relationship between a Corvette owner and their ride. The common unit of measure in that guide is the “Coolness Quotient,” the rating of how well, as a Corvette owner, you have become the living equal to your Corvette. Let’s face facts: there is nothing more cool than the Corvette, and to own one is be seeking coolness yourself.
Much of what was written in that guide is applicable to C6 owners as well, and I encourage you all to have a read through the original Be Cool dissertation. For instance, the admonition about remembering to open the fuel door before you exit the car, or risk receiving a spanking from the fuel door when you have to reach into the car from the outside, is still perfectly relevant for C6 owners. From how to administer a smack down on a teenager driving a ricer, to appropriate clothing while motoring, to encounters with law enforcement, C6 owners will find much with which they can identify. But C6 owners have a unique challenge in cultivating a coolness quotient, a challenge unknown by owners of other generations of Corvette.
This means that an addendum to the Be Cool guide is necessary for C6 owners.
The unique challenge I refer to here is technology. The C6 has introduced, from the factory, many technological advancements to the Corvette line. These can be bewildering, intricate and in many cases, intimidating. The net effect is that the C6 has raised the bar on where Coolness Quotients must start, and this challenge is one far too many C6 owners have not fully met.
Whether you own a coupe or convertible, a Z06, or the ultimate in Corvette Cool, the C6 ZR1, this guide is intended to put your mind at ease, and establish that zen-like relationship with your car that will yield dividends in your Coolness rating. You, your Corvette, and your Coolness must be one, and you must accept that as your mantra. So, once again, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, I give you:
Be Cool:
The Addendum for C6 Owners to Understand Their Corvette
Fellow C6 Owners, once upon a time, the idea of a truly smart car was the stuff of popular fiction. A neat idea in theory, where a car could talk to you, do things for itself, find things for you and give you directions to get there, and provide you with high performance motoring into the bargain, that theory is now becoming real. You may have heard of the television show “Knight Rider” or grew up watching “Transformers” as a cartoon and now as a movie franchise. Whether it was an early 80’s Pontiac Trans Am (original Knight Rider) or a late 2000s Ford Mustang (current Knight Rider), or a concept 2010 Chevrolet Camaro (Transformers), the basic premise is unchanged: the car is actually smarter than the actor being hired to drive it.
This is not necessarily a good thing, particularly where your Coolness Quotient is concerned. Consider it this way: in one recent episode of the re-launched Knight Rider series, one of the series’ characters scoffed at Michael Knight that “it sounds like (your car) K.I.T.T. just made you his b!tch.” Translation: you cannot be truly cool if your car owns you. And in the sixth generation Corvette line, this risk is sadly beginning to manifest itself, to the detriment of Coolness Quotients everywhere.
A proper relationship between man and machine must be maintained if Coolness for both is to prevail. And this is no small endeavor, for the C6 has staked out new territory for where that relationship must begin. Now, there is no need to be alarmed. Your yin and your Corvette’s yang (or is it your yang and your Corvette’s yin?) will achieve balance if you carefully read what follows.
Two years ago, as a public service, I wrote “Be Cool: Common Pitfalls for the C5 Owner & How to Avoid Them” as a guide to understanding the relationship between a Corvette owner and their ride. The common unit of measure in that guide is the “Coolness Quotient,” the rating of how well, as a Corvette owner, you have become the living equal to your Corvette. Let’s face facts: there is nothing more cool than the Corvette, and to own one is be seeking coolness yourself.
Much of what was written in that guide is applicable to C6 owners as well, and I encourage you all to have a read through the original Be Cool dissertation. For instance, the admonition about remembering to open the fuel door before you exit the car, or risk receiving a spanking from the fuel door when you have to reach into the car from the outside, is still perfectly relevant for C6 owners. From how to administer a smack down on a teenager driving a ricer, to appropriate clothing while motoring, to encounters with law enforcement, C6 owners will find much with which they can identify. But C6 owners have a unique challenge in cultivating a coolness quotient, a challenge unknown by owners of other generations of Corvette.
This means that an addendum to the Be Cool guide is necessary for C6 owners.
The unique challenge I refer to here is technology. The C6 has introduced, from the factory, many technological advancements to the Corvette line. These can be bewildering, intricate and in many cases, intimidating. The net effect is that the C6 has raised the bar on where Coolness Quotients must start, and this challenge is one far too many C6 owners have not fully met.
Whether you own a coupe or convertible, a Z06, or the ultimate in Corvette Cool, the C6 ZR1, this guide is intended to put your mind at ease, and establish that zen-like relationship with your car that will yield dividends in your Coolness rating. You, your Corvette, and your Coolness must be one, and you must accept that as your mantra. So, once again, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, I give you:
Be Cool:
The Addendum for C6 Owners to Understand Their Corvette
Fellow C6 Owners, once upon a time, the idea of a truly smart car was the stuff of popular fiction. A neat idea in theory, where a car could talk to you, do things for itself, find things for you and give you directions to get there, and provide you with high performance motoring into the bargain, that theory is now becoming real. You may have heard of the television show “Knight Rider” or grew up watching “Transformers” as a cartoon and now as a movie franchise. Whether it was an early 80’s Pontiac Trans Am (original Knight Rider) or a late 2000s Ford Mustang (current Knight Rider), or a concept 2010 Chevrolet Camaro (Transformers), the basic premise is unchanged: the car is actually smarter than the actor being hired to drive it.
This is not necessarily a good thing, particularly where your Coolness Quotient is concerned. Consider it this way: in one recent episode of the re-launched Knight Rider series, one of the series’ characters scoffed at Michael Knight that “it sounds like (your car) K.I.T.T. just made you his b!tch.” Translation: you cannot be truly cool if your car owns you. And in the sixth generation Corvette line, this risk is sadly beginning to manifest itself, to the detriment of Coolness Quotients everywhere.
A proper relationship between man and machine must be maintained if Coolness for both is to prevail. And this is no small endeavor, for the C6 has staked out new territory for where that relationship must begin. Now, there is no need to be alarmed. Your yin and your Corvette’s yang (or is it your yang and your Corvette’s yin?) will achieve balance if you carefully read what follows.