couldbefun

Today my father talked to me about my beloved "batmobile" again. tried to get me to sell the vette to buy a 67-69 camaro. i explained to him (again) how i like my car and would not like to take a step down to a camaro. why trade the chevrolet flagship, the pinnacle of chevrolet's engineering in 1979, for a although nice, but a step down car, ie a camaro. finally i realized although i tried to find out indirectly, i had never reallly directly asked why he favored camaros. what he told me shocked me and makes me nervous. he said that really, it wasnt the car he didn't like, but rather the image it presented. he told me when he sees a man driving an old camaro, he thinks hey, theres a man who loves old cars. a man who works on and drives old cars because he loves it. he sees a man who values the american legend of a muscle car. then he told me what he sees when he sees a person in a corvette. he sees a business owner, a rich person who doesn't do much work on the car, just takes it into a shop whenever it needed fixed. and a person owns it because he likes it, not becasue he enjoys the corvette heritage, or the nostalagia, or the fact it is a piece of american history. this bothered me because i realized many of the people in our town are that way... most that owned the corvettes were people who had high paying jobs and the ones who wouldnt know a trailing arm from a crankshaft. or some i talked to didnt even know what a c3 was, even though they owned one. i also realized that i never pictured myself mentally with my, car, and i can see what hes thinking. i picture the same thing. and it scares me. please, please someone tell me im delusional. does everyone see this the same way?? please tell me this view is just a heretical dysfunctional trait in my family and that im completely, utterly crazy. god i hope im crazy. :crazy:

Steve Straus

I'd say to hell with what other people think. If you like your car it's your damn car.

PRNDL

I expect people in my town see me as an underendowed or impotent aging yuppie living out some kind of midlife crisis, most likely under or unemployed because i am not driving a porsche (sp?) like everyone else. :)


The neighbors have an unrealistic idea of how much work I do on the car because i am constantly under the hood. Little do they know I am typically just staring at the engine. Otherwise when they see me "working" on the vette i am usually washing it! :lol: :lol: :lol: MJ

couldbefun

i try to tell myself that, but its hard. yah youre right, but it just bothers me cause the last thing id like people to picture me as is a rich young punk with a car he doesnt value. guess ill get over it or somethin :chevy
Oh and MNjack, perhaps you have the right approach. maybe ill park in the street and just stare at the engine. hell god knows i enjoy it hehe. right now i cant drive my beauty but i still take pride in the fact i can smoke those porsches! now whos unemployed?



[Modified by couldbefun, 1:03 AM 4/1/2002]

paso

Then there is the forum people that know it's not true :lol: :lol:

villare

I am not sure why your dad comes to that conclusion, maybe he is right about people that own later vettes but you should show him the forum and show him how some of the guys in here when they bought their vettes and the condition they were in.

couldbefun

I have shown him this forum. he says even though he know i do a lot of work myself, he says he still thinks that is a common view

razz1980

have ur dad check out what a true vette lover like me did with my $3000 vette and i bet he changes his mind..all hard work on a very very limited budget :yesnod:

76 Shark

I think that image, deserved or not, is more applicable to NEW (C5) Corvette owners. You know, the ones that lease them 'cause they are the hot thing right now, but next year it might be an M5 or a Benz SUV in their garage...

Tell him that Camaros are "mulletmobiles" ;) (I'm kidding of course, my Daily Driver is a 96 RS 'Vert)

couldbefun

hehe i bet. that looks like a 13,000 vette. about your sig, if they both cost too much, and you have to get rid of one or the other, remember how hard it is to find an old vette :lol: just kidding and kudos to you on your create-a-classic job on the vette. looks beautiful :smash:
76 shark: most of the time i think youre right. but it still scares me casue i can picture people like that when they own a c3


[Modified by couldbefun, 1:38 AM 4/1/2002]

lbell101

Geez.

1. I think your Dads confused.

2. In my mind the image of a guy who works on his cars and a guy who's weathy enough to have someone else do the work are equally impressive.

Black68Vette

Bah, your dad is off the hook..

Thats like Mexicans can't drive, or all blacks are drug dealing gang bangers. A complete crock of ****. Maybe a little true on the brand new vette owners (C5s), but frankly I don't know of many (if any) C3 owners that are that way. And frankly, there are as many rich non-car people who spend $80,000 on a 1969 yenko camaro as there are ones who do the same for vettes. **** on the bunch of those yoyo trailer queens

couldbefun

1. well hes certainly confused.
2. but i see people who do things like change their own oil and do their own mechanical work as people who enjoy their cars more. people who care for them like it was their baby... not somone who would trust someone else to do the work on it unless it was out oof their league. also im a high schooler, so a rich person who can afford to have the work done is someone who earned that money whereas people see a kid who can afford to do the same as one whose parents drop the money into their lap. and i work my a** off for my job and my $$ for my car so it bothers me to think that OTHER people think im like that.. a rich young punk. in any case, i guess ill still get some enjoyment out of knowing theyre all jealous. hehe :yesnod:


Black68vette: yes i know thats true, its stereotyping, but there are few people who dont stereotype. all of us are guilty of it on some level. denying this is like proclaiming youre perfect and/or can walk on water. its built into our social caste.


[Modified by couldbefun, 1:45 AM 4/1/2002]

Paul L

I bought this car in 1986. Mid-mortgage, mid-career, mid-bills up to you know what. Was stolen, vandalized, electrical system burnt out but it was mine, and a Corvette. MY dream at a much later age than you. Three years later it was paid for. Much/most of the early grunt work was mine. Those hot evenings in July when the jack stands sink into the driveway asphalt. It was always driveable but the cost of restoration/repairs took some time to absorb. Shops did some of the work as my tool box is limited and lower back pain can do a job on your aspirations as well. The $4,000 paint job came only two years ago. My Wife and I have enjoyed the car immensely since purchase date. We are not well off but we balanced the financial books between the Corvette, the house and other priorities in life. Thus I do not agree with the premise that Corvette owners are those with upper incomes who do not know how to turn a wrench.

I do know that next week when the snow disappears I will be taking my 1979 out of five months of winter storage. I have not seen it since October 15. The tradition of the Wife and I is to hit the road with the t-tops off, the heater on and Irene Cara's "What a Feeling" on the stereo. Sunday, April 14 watch out!

gerry c

I think that people who have those ideas about vettes do not know how little most C3 vettes cost or how "common" they really are. I would venture to say that a higher percentage of vettes have survived than most any other model car (pick-ups excluded). A lot of people think that they are epensive and therefore you must be rich to own one and that nobody who is rich works on thier own cars. Take a nice mid 70's vette and put it next to an equally nice '67-'69 Camaro Z-28 or SS396 and most people would think the vette costs more and that the Camaro was owned by a gearhead when I think in most cases the opposite would be true.

JB

I've talked to other folks about perceptions of vette drivers. I've gotten two main responses, one interesting, one very disturbing.

1. muscle cars like camaros, firebirds, GTOs, Challangers, etc. make you like like a Joe Dirt who's been promoted to assistant manager of the Taco Bell while vettes look like your into muscle but got some class

AND

2. Barbie drives a vette, so vettes are feminine compared to other muscle cars. :eek:

JB

couldbefun

jb: hehe yah i like to think it has some muscle to back up that class

2. my dad told me the same thing, that its a sexy muscle car and you see alot of women driving them. my view is that if women drive them they must think its a cool car, and well, it should be easier to get the pretty ones in the car....... the last owner of my baby sold it cause his wife didnt like the looks he got in the car :D ill have to have a prenup and an agreement that the car stays hehe as far as feminine compared to a camaro, youll have to offer the guy a ride or race a camaro to see who fares better, or maybe compete in a skidpad test.....we might get to see that view change realll quick


[Modified by couldbefun, 2:28 AM 4/1/2002]


[Modified by couldbefun, 2:31 AM 4/1/2002]

Barry's70LT1

Eric, perhaps your father's belief in the type of person that drives a C3 is based on his image of the driver several years ago when C3's were new.
As mentioned, several C5's are purchased by individuals who like to drive a nice new sports car and do not want the problems of repairs.

I have owned my C3 for 32 years. I've seen several "attitudes" from people over the years. As the vette gets older the attitudes change.

You now have a certain attitude/opinion about C5 drivers, and if you don't change it, then in 20 years you will judge all C5 drivers the same way. In reality, the type of person buying C5s in 20 years time will be different then the buyers of today.

Just my opinion.
Barry

medic007

I have learned not to think about what people think. Your car makes you feel good and that is what it was made for. Enjoy :cheers:

Jester69Stingray

1. I work on my car all the time I spent 15 hours working on ut just last Saturday.
2. I think most of the people on this forum do most of the work on thier own cars too.
3. Screw what other people that you dont even know think. If they know you then they will know that what your dad said isnt true. If you enjoy your Vette keep it if you would rather have a camaro then get one, but dont do it because of other peoples warped perceptions.
:chevy