Ok, who's the corvette fanatics???

Fixed it. Just as ick

 

Whatever you do car wise , do not join a Corvette Club . These clowns come up to my neck of the woods in Michigan to run the twisty roads that run along Lake Michigan , M-22 being the most popular. They are nothing more than rolling Funeral chicane .
The local restaurant employees cringe when they stop at their places to eat , cause they are notorious bad tippers . Eating a
$ 20. Lunch and leaving .25 -.50 cent tips .... No Shit !

 

Buy a Boxster. I stumbled across this last night, written by a guy that had owned a bunch of vettes

http://www.planet-9.com/981-chat/97543-my-981s-boxster-very-long-long-term-review.html#/topics/97543

 

Haha. On my phone and I actually thought it was a 430, until I read your post.

 

It's funny, I was thinking the same thing earlier in this post, because that is what I just told my best friend to buy.

He owned one before and was looking at getting another sports car to share with his boys an old classic that may be needed some work?

After looking at some Porsche 914, Fiat Spiders, and Alfa Romeos, I noticed how cheap boxsters are and you can buy those things used for 7 to 15k, if you go old enough.

Certain years you may need to budget for an IMS bearing change, I don't remember which years?

 

I do like the rendering... I hope it looks close to this... the car I saw in spy shots testing looked really awkward...

 

Well if you are going to steal some design queues from something you can do worse that the 360 Modena and the 430 Scuderia.

 

I've had a C5 Z06 and still have a C6Z06. I've been very pleased with each car. Each has more than enough pop to get you in plenty of trouble if you want, and still be quite civil and get 24+mpg with the A/C blowing and the stereo playing when you don't. With regards to an earlier post about Corvette clubs.... stereotypes exist for a reason, but most of the time they're the exception rather than the rule. That said, I wouldn't discount talking to a few local club members; often they will know where some good buys are... and perhaps more importantly know which ones to stay away from. Happy hunting!

 

Much more of a ZR1 looking front end as well. Which is kind of strange if you think about it....unless they've got a bunch of heat exchangers or are piping the intake under the cabin? Makes sense for the front brakes, but I thought most ME cars put the storage in the front section of the car? Then again, maybe they just got lazy and copied the Zr1's front end

 

I thought the same thing when I first saw the camo shots, but if you pull up the old camo shots from a few years back of the C7 it's intentional. They'll extend the front and prop up the back in weird ways that make it look bulky and oblong to protect the aero design package. The C7 looked like a rolling potato (aka what Venom drives ) in camo lol.

A boxster??? Why not just tell the boy to get a Miata and remove all doubt?

 

C7. Trust Me. Or don't trust me and just look at this eye candy.

Love the Laguna Blue and Watkins Gray, but I've always been partial to the Arctic White








Don't forget the kids!

 

A Boxster S is not gay. Hell, it could be pink with glitter accents and a dildo for a gear shift knob and still wouldn’t be gay.

Easily one of the best sports cars on the market.

 

Well of course not, since only women actually drive boxsters.

 

Well the Cayman is much more manly. But who am I to comment I really liked my MiniCooper S.

My son thinks all convertibles are chick cars and I think he has a valid point.

 

Think classic road racing, even F1. Real men drive open top cars.

Although I do have a funny story (I think I’ve told this on here before). I used to work with this state trooper at my old job. He was a really cool guy and freaking hilarious. Anyway, he retired and I moved on to a private sector job. Years later I ran into him at the store and he was REALLY tan. I asked him about it and he said he’d got a convertible. So, thinking a single, retired cop is going to have something cool, I ask him, “what is it, vette, mustang, etc?” and he says, “no, Chrysler Sebring!”. Literally the first thought that entered my head at that point was, “shit, I didn’t know Gary was gay.”

 

I'm responding after your first sentence, I haven't read the rest yet. That means you should be getting an Ariel Atom, which is what I think my next purchase is going to be. A real man open top almost race car for the street.

EDIT:
Now that I read the rest I will tell you that I almost bought a convertible Lebaron, when I first moved to California. I thought I'm living here in California, coming from the Midwest I need to enjoy a convertible. I've still never owned a convertible other than the Viper targa top car.

 

Targa's are legit. All of the sky...none of the ghey

 

One of the Vettes (C5 with the clear plastic lights/LeMans style??) looks like a Ferrari 550/575 Maranello.

 

I bought a Z51 C6 a few years ago. It is the most fun car I've ever owned. It was about 4 years old when I bought it and it had about 10,000 miles on it. I drove it for 2 years and put about 15,000 more miles on it. I sold it for a few thousand less than I paid. I never worked on it a single time. I changed the oil 3 times and that was it. I don't think many other over 400 hp cars could match that ownership experience.

I don't like the Z06 because it doesn't have the removable roof and the ride is harsh. I thought that was what I was going to buy until I drove a few of them. I decided against a C7 because it was so computer driven. Get the manual transmission for sure.

If you are really interested, I bought my Corvette here (http://www.budschevy.com/). They have a big Corvette showroom and always have a bunch in stock. My wife and I went over on a Saturday and drove at least 8 different ones until we found the one we liked. I do maybe have one regret from that trip. They had just taken a GTR in trade and it was BEAUTIFUL. They were in the mood to get rid of it since it isn't a car they deal with much. I refused to drive it because I would have probably spent too much. I kinda wish I had that car.

 

Did yours have the Magnetic Ride Control (F55)? I hear good things about it but, of course, others will say they've had nothing but problems.

Either way, the Z51 comes with other choice bits like upgraded brakes, suspension (if not the F55 option) and slightly lower final gearing. It's a good choice. (Dragstrip starts should be 2nd gear in a manual. )

As far as Targa tops, I can count on one hand the number of times I've driven in the last ten years with the top off. Sure it's kinda cool and you can stow the top in the boot, but it didn't do it for me one way or the other. The Targa is tantamount to a manually operated sunroof, except you gotta get out to remove it, and stowing it kills your cargo space...there goes your luggage when touring.
If you want the top down/off, get a convertible. The convertibles are a stiffer chassis/body, too. Don't know how much cargo room dies with that option.