Attention Vette Lovers

eSGEe said:
My dad was a big Nascar-- indy --NHRA fan -- so I grew with a healthy respect---but -- as kids will do -- I took dads love of race fuel ---and went FURTHER----
He never rode-- I been on 2 wheels more of my life than I can count--- and to me ------- this -------
is RACING gents...........

not a race circuit -- not perfect roads-- not "safety barriered" protection--- you "F" up you die-- simple---
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My former sidecar passenger (monkey) raced in the Isle of Man GP in the summer of '97. I was his pit crew.

In my opinion, the GP is much more fun than the TT. For the GP races, it is all vintage bikes. I've never seen so many Norton Manxes, Matchless, Aermacchi, Vincent, Rudge, and other makes in one place. Unfortunately, there were no sidecars, but we still managed to take the rental car over the Governor's Bridge in an airborne state.

I was still thrilled to be sitting on the balcony of Greg Ny Baa with several pints of Guinness while watching Norton Manxes at over 100 mph come down from Kate's Cottage, and make the bend under the balcony at full speed.

I don't have any of those photos loaded onto the computer, as they are on film. But, the guy hanging off of the sidecar in this photo is the guy that raced there. Me, the driver was the pit crew. Fun times in a past life. WTF did I get married?

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All Ford v Chevy ribbing aside, it's a shame to see that some of the Vette parts are made in other countries. Ford, Chevy and Mopar have all come out with some great cars, and some dogs. Mrs. Wav's PT Cruiser was Hecho in Mexico for the most part.
 
WavMixer said:
All Ford v Chevy ribbing aside, it's a shame to see that some of the Vette parts are made in other countries. Ford, Chevy and Mopar have all come out with some great cars, and some dogs. Mrs. Wav's PT Cruiser was Hecho in Mexico for the most part.
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Its not Ford vs. GM for me, its a vehement dislike for bullshit and engineering flaws that we - as a motoring public - are being told is normal and/or acceptable...and its not just GM that's doing it.

BMW, and Mercedes have been building cars in China since 1999. Since the property the factories are built on were made 'German' by diplomatic resolution, the cars can still legally bear Made in Germany on them.

However, many BMW's from about 2012 onwards, now have dropped the "Made In'"phrase from the build tag altogether.

I'm also very jaded. Mom and Pop always had Corvettes growing up and i just never found them to be stellar performers, even the 327/375 left me wanting more and the Corvette's tendency for understeer made me very uneasy on a track.

Looks or reputation were never motivating factors in acquiring a car, even if the rest of the world thought it was cool.

We never lost a gymkana or a drag race to a Camaro or Corvette against my 1966 427 Tunnel Port Fairlaine GT, which weighed less than the GM offerings and made 500 HP back then with nothing more than 2 four barrels and a dual point distributor.

I still do some private driving instruction and am still exposed occassionally to the newer cars to some extent, so i am always quietly evaluating in my head. The last 'supercars' i have driven recently was the Koenigsegg Agera and the Porsche 918 Hybrid.

I really did enjoy the Lamborghini Gallardo as a daily driver though. Super comfortable to sit in and great visibility. I loved the conventional doors, larger rear window, throttle response of the V-10 and ease of service and maintenance. In 2 years of daily use, the only problems i encountered was an electric fuel pump failure on one bank (car still ran as a 5 cylinder) and an oil leak from the external oil pump, which i repaired with an O-ring kit.

My desire to continue our philanthropic efforts makes driving a regular, uninspiring car, an absolute neccessity.
 
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WavMixer said:
All Ford v Chevy ribbing aside, it's a shame to see that some of the Vette parts are made in other countries. Ford, Chevy and Mopar have all come out with some great cars, and some dogs. Mrs. Wav's PT Cruiser was Hecho in Mexico for the most part.
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Regarding USA built cars vs off shore...... At one time we had a 99 Dodge Intrepid and a 2005 Toyota Solara. More American hands were involved building the Toyota than did the Dodge. The Dodge may have been assembled in Detroit, but virtually every major component was manufactured out of country. And yet we'd get ripped for driving a Japanese car rather than USA. Yes. Profits went back to Japan. No argument. But more impact to the US economy was being made by the Toyota factory in the States.
 
iblive said:
Regarding USA built cars vs off shore...... At one time we had a 99 Dodge Intrepid and a 2005 Toyota Solara. More American hands were involved building the Toyota than did the Dodge. The Dodge may have been assembled in Detroit, but virtually every major component was manufactured out of country. And yet we'd get ripped for driving a Japanese car rather than USA. Yes. Profits went back to Japan. No argument. But more impact to the US economy was being made by the Toyota factory in the States.
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Car and Driver recently wrote that the Toyota Camry had the distinction of being the most 'USA' vehicle currently being built!!!!
 
Robert Herndon said:
Car and Driver recently wrote that the Toyota Camry had the distinction of being the most 'USA' vehicle currently being built!!!!
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The Solora in essence was just a 2-Door Camry. It was actually a very good car. Made it just short of 200K. Last February we had to let it go as it wouldn't pass emissions anymore without spending more than the car was worth to fix it. Got us a Buick SUV so Grandma could haul her Grandkids.
 
I guess that i am still too much of a hot rod nut to drive a minivan or a pickup, even though both would be more practical. Growing up working in a hot rod shop - and racing the family's stock cars - has left a mark on me i suppose.

I own only one car. Still a V8 stick-shift. Never owned an automatic. Still using Torq-Thrust wheels 35 years later and still put 4.30 gears in my daily drivers and still lower them and do suspension work.

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I commute over 500 miles a week to work and 150 miles (round trip) to Saturday rehearsals. On weekends where i have my youngest for visitation, that's 120 miles round trip added to these numbers.

Just rolled up 222,975 miles last night.

I spend 2-4 hours a day behind the wheel...and my favorite thing about this car is the fuel economy...

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On long trips up to my parent's, running in 5th gear with cruise control on, I've recorded a best-ever MPG of 28.7 (calculated) with this 4.6 Litre 3-valve V8.

The kids sure do enjoy it.

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Its not as cool or impressive as a Gallardo, but try to keep a front bumper looking like that in L.A. freeway traffic...

Plus, i can get a double neck and three Les Paul's in the fold down rear seat and a DSL40C will lay down flat in the trunk.

My daughter gets dropped off in it at high school every morning and no complaints thus far... :-)
 
Robert Herndon said:
I guess that i am still too much of a hot rod nut to drive a minivan or a pickup, even though both would be more practical. Growing up working in a hot rod shop - and racing the family's stock cars - has left a mark on me i suppose.
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I get it. I’m a gear head as well. The SUV is mama/grandma’s car. Given the choice, “my car” will always be a car. Preferably two doors. My commute car is an 07 Honda that’ll be turning over 190k in the next few months. My “fun car” is a 77 Vette. Nothing special. Definitely not a collectible. It’s a driver.
 
I had snow skied throughout my 20s and 30s with a close group of friends. We also took up scuba diving. Then, for my 30th birthday I convinced 4 of them to jump out of an airplane with me. So we got to thinking, on a good day we could scuba dive at Laguna Beach in the morning, drive to Lake Perris and sky dive in the afternoon and then drive to Big Bear ski resort and night ski. We talked about it but never actually did it. The fun part was knowing that it was easily doable.
 
OK, now back to the Ford ribbing
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