The Great White Z06 Acquisition Road Trip
#1
Drifting
Thread Starter
The Great White Z06 Acquisition Road Trip
Hey Gang!
My first car was a ’66 Malibu 2dr HT. I had tons of fun with that car, and out of necessity it started me down the road to becoming a mechanic. But, it also suffered from rust issues typical of cars of that vintage in a northern climate. The Corvette was my childhood favourite, them not suffering from these rust issues, and the love of a good road trip had given me a mission to one day track down the proverbial California Corvette and drive it home.
Decades passed and the form of that ultimate car evolved over time. I’ve had lots of vehicles along the way, even a white on black ’64 Corvette coupe (which I loved, but the timing was not right for a collector) and a ’99 FRC (presently my track car). I’ve recently landed a good new job with a nasty commute. A 100 km daily round trip through a very dense, usually wet, urban & highway landscape. What I needed was an agile, powerful car with ABS that was comfortable enough to spend a couple hours a day in – and visible enough to not get smoked by the legions of tired SUV drivers along the commute. Enter the ’01 Speedway White Z06 – I’ve wanted one since 2008 and the timing and circumstances were finally right.
I started a thread on the Forum, and within a week I had a deal lined up with “08 LS4” for a clean, original SWZ with mod red interior in the San Francisco Bay area.
While not the reason I wanted a white car, I do like the rarity of these low production number vehicles and wanted one that I could daily drive and maintain as a future collectable. Not that I’m opposed to modifications per se, but I’d passed on several that had been taken further down that road than I wanted to go with this car. After figuring out the nuances of the export/import and the logistics required for completing the transaction, the plan was laid down for The Great White Z06 Acquisition Road Trip!
Not exactly a straight shot, but as I presently live in Regina with a Saskatchewan driver’s license – the only way I could import the car to Canada was into SK. I’m moving back to Vancouver at the end of the month, so this would have to be a two-stage journey. All of which made for a pretty interesting road trip!
Day Zero: An early morning flight from Regina through Denver to San Francisco and a few subsequent train rides got me to a friend’s place in Silicon Valley, where I got to drink some quality local beers and have an award winning burrito from a little shop down the road. My friend had moved to the Valley from Vancouver for work several years ago, and it was awesome to hang out at his pad and get caught up.
Day One: Early morning 2-hr train ride got me to the rendez-vous point, where we went over the car and the paperwork and completed the transaction.
I have to say, “08 LS4” is a great guy and a pleasure to do business with. He helped to gather the paperwork required for the import, and took care of several maintenance items prior to the sale to give the car the best possible send off. Thanks for all your help, I hope you get back into a SWZ again one day! After faxing the documents to the designated border crossing, and loading up on fuel and food I was ready to hit the road around noon.
Stage one was to take 4 days, with a target destination of Elko, NV for day one. I set off east through the California farmlands for the mountains of the Eldorado National Forest. Found very light traffic and a good classical radio station through the pass, it was a stellar drive!
Topped up in Carson City, then headed northeast and deep into NV. Some very cool scenery, not your average drive!
It was hot, and unfortunately I developed a creeping coolant temperature condition. I started dropping my speed a bit, then some more, then killed the A/C and cracked the windows. This ended up being a random thermostat issue as opposed to a deficiency in the system – which ultimately led to creeping along the highway in 6th gear with the heat cranked to keep the car from over heating, and the occasional stop at the side of the road to let the car cool off some.
It wasn’t all bad - I got to watch the sunset in the desert, and meet a couple State Troopers when they stopped to ask what was up. It added 4 hrs to the drive and there were a few tense moments, like where I could only go 40 mph through an extended single lane construction zone with a giant Semi on my tail. But, it was mostly just a very long day - 20 hrs by the time I got to Elko. But there was a GM Dealer there that I really wanted to get to first thing the next morning!
Day Two: Got the car into the Dealer first thing in the morning, and they were able to get me in right away. It was indeed a thermostat, and while they changed that and flushed the coolant I had the opportunity to explore a super classy local establishment for a late morning meal.
At the Double Dice RV Park Bar & Grill there is video gambling & bacon cheeseburgers, all is not lost! The only other guy at the bar just ordered 'the usual': Bud Light & Clamato and a giant shot of Tequila. It's 10:15 am. Two shots of Tequila and a smoke while he chatted up the Bartender. I even got a high-five when I praised the burger. Why would anyone go anywhere else?
The car was soon fixed and I was fuelled up and on the road again by about noon. What I’d realized during this unplanned extended pit-stop was that I was not too far from the Bonneville Salt Flats – so now I had a pilgrimage to make!
There was some significant weather passing through the region, and it was very cool watching the thunderstorms along the highway.
The Mecca of land speed! It was very cool watching the landscape disappear into mirage at the horizon, distant mountains melting into the salt. I’ve made the pilgrimage to the Indy speedway as well, I guess Daytona is next!
Backtracked a bit, and then headed north through some rather intense thunderstorms (hydroplaning uphill through standing water), through Twin Falls, ID to the Craters of The Moon National Preserve. Day two was all about contrasts: Salt Flats to a several thousands of yeas old lava field dotted by dormant volcano remnants. Very quiet and serene, very cool!
Day Three: Got as far as Idaho Falls the night before, a short hop to Yellowstone National Park. Day three would be a trek through the park and into MT through the northeast gate to Billings. This would turn out to be a very interesting drive.
The scenery to get to the park was really nice, Jackson was a tad too touristy, but once through it into Grand Teton Park, it opens up nicely.
Grand Teton turns into Yellowstone, and as you make your way through the forests you might find yourself having a chilidog and waiting for Old Faithful to do it’s thing.
Unless you’re into hanging out with several thousands of impatiently waiting (and occasionally screaming/crying) children for an indeterminate amount of time to see this event, I’d recommend you spend your time at the other thermal events around the park. They’re very cool and much less crowded.
As I wound my way through the throngs of motor homes towards the NE exit, the terrain starts a subtle shift. Was pleasantly surprised to be stuck in a traffic jam as a heard of Bison languished across the road.
This guy was close enough to get a pretty good sense of his mood!
Antelope too.
And one final obstacle before clearing the park and getting into some serious twisties.
The aforementioned twisties are a chunk of the 212 out of WY into MT, after Cooke City and before Red Lodge (a very funky looking town!). I had no idea they were going to be so much fun! The Google Map of the route had to be zoomed in many times to reveal this detail, which appears as a vaguely thicker line in the original map. A nice surprise near the end of a long day.
High enough to have residual snow in the middle of summer, and just warm enough to not have any ice on the road. Pretty too.
If you like very narrow, twisty roads through mountain passes, with certain death a few inches away (note the lack of guard rails), then this chunk of road is for you. I loved it.
I wish I had time to stay in Red Lodge – it looked very funky indeed, but day 4 was going to be a long one as it was and I had to push on another hour or so in the dark to Billings, MT for the night.
Day Four: Last day of stage one, and export/import day at the border at Portal, ND.
As it turns out, I dig the terrain in MT. I’d never been there before, and it has a bit of everything: mountains, river valleys, ranch land, and good roads. As I got further into ND, things started to look a lot like SK!
Got to the designated border crossing just after the 72 hrs advanced notice expired, met with the Dept of Homeland Security, and then with Canada Border Services Agency, and suddenly found myself on the side of the road in southern SK taking pictures of the car in the dying light.
A couple hours later, I rolled up to the front door just as the sun was about to go down. My lovely Wife had the BBQ going and steaks and Martinis ready to celebrate. Love that gal!
The car would need a serious scrubbing, but we were safely home incident free after a couple thousands miles of adventuring over four days. The next step was to get stage two planned: to get the car to Vancouver, inspected, paperwork completed, and ready for daily driving duty!
My first car was a ’66 Malibu 2dr HT. I had tons of fun with that car, and out of necessity it started me down the road to becoming a mechanic. But, it also suffered from rust issues typical of cars of that vintage in a northern climate. The Corvette was my childhood favourite, them not suffering from these rust issues, and the love of a good road trip had given me a mission to one day track down the proverbial California Corvette and drive it home.
Decades passed and the form of that ultimate car evolved over time. I’ve had lots of vehicles along the way, even a white on black ’64 Corvette coupe (which I loved, but the timing was not right for a collector) and a ’99 FRC (presently my track car). I’ve recently landed a good new job with a nasty commute. A 100 km daily round trip through a very dense, usually wet, urban & highway landscape. What I needed was an agile, powerful car with ABS that was comfortable enough to spend a couple hours a day in – and visible enough to not get smoked by the legions of tired SUV drivers along the commute. Enter the ’01 Speedway White Z06 – I’ve wanted one since 2008 and the timing and circumstances were finally right.
I started a thread on the Forum, and within a week I had a deal lined up with “08 LS4” for a clean, original SWZ with mod red interior in the San Francisco Bay area.
While not the reason I wanted a white car, I do like the rarity of these low production number vehicles and wanted one that I could daily drive and maintain as a future collectable. Not that I’m opposed to modifications per se, but I’d passed on several that had been taken further down that road than I wanted to go with this car. After figuring out the nuances of the export/import and the logistics required for completing the transaction, the plan was laid down for The Great White Z06 Acquisition Road Trip!
Not exactly a straight shot, but as I presently live in Regina with a Saskatchewan driver’s license – the only way I could import the car to Canada was into SK. I’m moving back to Vancouver at the end of the month, so this would have to be a two-stage journey. All of which made for a pretty interesting road trip!
Day Zero: An early morning flight from Regina through Denver to San Francisco and a few subsequent train rides got me to a friend’s place in Silicon Valley, where I got to drink some quality local beers and have an award winning burrito from a little shop down the road. My friend had moved to the Valley from Vancouver for work several years ago, and it was awesome to hang out at his pad and get caught up.
Day One: Early morning 2-hr train ride got me to the rendez-vous point, where we went over the car and the paperwork and completed the transaction.
I have to say, “08 LS4” is a great guy and a pleasure to do business with. He helped to gather the paperwork required for the import, and took care of several maintenance items prior to the sale to give the car the best possible send off. Thanks for all your help, I hope you get back into a SWZ again one day! After faxing the documents to the designated border crossing, and loading up on fuel and food I was ready to hit the road around noon.
Stage one was to take 4 days, with a target destination of Elko, NV for day one. I set off east through the California farmlands for the mountains of the Eldorado National Forest. Found very light traffic and a good classical radio station through the pass, it was a stellar drive!
Topped up in Carson City, then headed northeast and deep into NV. Some very cool scenery, not your average drive!
It was hot, and unfortunately I developed a creeping coolant temperature condition. I started dropping my speed a bit, then some more, then killed the A/C and cracked the windows. This ended up being a random thermostat issue as opposed to a deficiency in the system – which ultimately led to creeping along the highway in 6th gear with the heat cranked to keep the car from over heating, and the occasional stop at the side of the road to let the car cool off some.
It wasn’t all bad - I got to watch the sunset in the desert, and meet a couple State Troopers when they stopped to ask what was up. It added 4 hrs to the drive and there were a few tense moments, like where I could only go 40 mph through an extended single lane construction zone with a giant Semi on my tail. But, it was mostly just a very long day - 20 hrs by the time I got to Elko. But there was a GM Dealer there that I really wanted to get to first thing the next morning!
Day Two: Got the car into the Dealer first thing in the morning, and they were able to get me in right away. It was indeed a thermostat, and while they changed that and flushed the coolant I had the opportunity to explore a super classy local establishment for a late morning meal.
At the Double Dice RV Park Bar & Grill there is video gambling & bacon cheeseburgers, all is not lost! The only other guy at the bar just ordered 'the usual': Bud Light & Clamato and a giant shot of Tequila. It's 10:15 am. Two shots of Tequila and a smoke while he chatted up the Bartender. I even got a high-five when I praised the burger. Why would anyone go anywhere else?
The car was soon fixed and I was fuelled up and on the road again by about noon. What I’d realized during this unplanned extended pit-stop was that I was not too far from the Bonneville Salt Flats – so now I had a pilgrimage to make!
There was some significant weather passing through the region, and it was very cool watching the thunderstorms along the highway.
The Mecca of land speed! It was very cool watching the landscape disappear into mirage at the horizon, distant mountains melting into the salt. I’ve made the pilgrimage to the Indy speedway as well, I guess Daytona is next!
Backtracked a bit, and then headed north through some rather intense thunderstorms (hydroplaning uphill through standing water), through Twin Falls, ID to the Craters of The Moon National Preserve. Day two was all about contrasts: Salt Flats to a several thousands of yeas old lava field dotted by dormant volcano remnants. Very quiet and serene, very cool!
Day Three: Got as far as Idaho Falls the night before, a short hop to Yellowstone National Park. Day three would be a trek through the park and into MT through the northeast gate to Billings. This would turn out to be a very interesting drive.
The scenery to get to the park was really nice, Jackson was a tad too touristy, but once through it into Grand Teton Park, it opens up nicely.
Grand Teton turns into Yellowstone, and as you make your way through the forests you might find yourself having a chilidog and waiting for Old Faithful to do it’s thing.
Unless you’re into hanging out with several thousands of impatiently waiting (and occasionally screaming/crying) children for an indeterminate amount of time to see this event, I’d recommend you spend your time at the other thermal events around the park. They’re very cool and much less crowded.
As I wound my way through the throngs of motor homes towards the NE exit, the terrain starts a subtle shift. Was pleasantly surprised to be stuck in a traffic jam as a heard of Bison languished across the road.
This guy was close enough to get a pretty good sense of his mood!
Antelope too.
And one final obstacle before clearing the park and getting into some serious twisties.
The aforementioned twisties are a chunk of the 212 out of WY into MT, after Cooke City and before Red Lodge (a very funky looking town!). I had no idea they were going to be so much fun! The Google Map of the route had to be zoomed in many times to reveal this detail, which appears as a vaguely thicker line in the original map. A nice surprise near the end of a long day.
High enough to have residual snow in the middle of summer, and just warm enough to not have any ice on the road. Pretty too.
If you like very narrow, twisty roads through mountain passes, with certain death a few inches away (note the lack of guard rails), then this chunk of road is for you. I loved it.
I wish I had time to stay in Red Lodge – it looked very funky indeed, but day 4 was going to be a long one as it was and I had to push on another hour or so in the dark to Billings, MT for the night.
Day Four: Last day of stage one, and export/import day at the border at Portal, ND.
As it turns out, I dig the terrain in MT. I’d never been there before, and it has a bit of everything: mountains, river valleys, ranch land, and good roads. As I got further into ND, things started to look a lot like SK!
Got to the designated border crossing just after the 72 hrs advanced notice expired, met with the Dept of Homeland Security, and then with Canada Border Services Agency, and suddenly found myself on the side of the road in southern SK taking pictures of the car in the dying light.
A couple hours later, I rolled up to the front door just as the sun was about to go down. My lovely Wife had the BBQ going and steaks and Martinis ready to celebrate. Love that gal!
The car would need a serious scrubbing, but we were safely home incident free after a couple thousands miles of adventuring over four days. The next step was to get stage two planned: to get the car to Vancouver, inspected, paperwork completed, and ready for daily driving duty!
Last edited by darguy; 08-17-2014 at 08:38 PM.
#4
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Very cool trip and a fine looking Z06 you got.
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What a great trip! Congrats on the new car!
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#12
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Looks like a fantastic trip!!
Probably was a good idea not to walk too far from your car at the salt flats........you might not find it again!
Great trip in a great car......thanks for sharing.
Probably was a good idea not to walk too far from your car at the salt flats........you might not find it again!
Great trip in a great car......thanks for sharing.
#13
Drifting
Thread Starter
Stage Two
Hey Gang!
Thanks for the feedback, stage one was pretty cool – got to cover some really amazing territory. Stage two began after I got the car plated in SK so I could drive it to Vancouver and have it inspected and registered there. Which meant another 1000 mile road trip!
Day Five: A trek across SK and AB, a drive I’ve done several times now – 7.5 hrs of wheat fields and rolling hills. Canada is big…
The day was to begin, however, by meeting up with Forum member “Russ K” who lives in Regina and also happens to have one of the 352 Speedway White Z06s. Super nice guy, ordered his new from the local Dealer and was a great source of info on the cars – pointed out a few things to me about mine!
I then hit the road, the rest of the day looked a lot like this:
Day 6: Stayed the night at an old friend’s place in Calgary and then set off for the nearly endless expanse of mountains that is BC, ending up at my Sister’s place in Abbotsford to hang with her and her Family.
Once you get past Canmore, it’s all about the big peaks and trees through Banff National Park.
Once past the park, the roads get very narrow and cliffy near Golden.
Then the next park near Revelstoke.
Near Kamloops, the terrain opens up and gets more dry – super pretty scenery through here.
And then it’s onto the #5, the Mighty Coquihalla Highway. Killer of Turbo Audis and brake pads of all makes and models. I hadn’t driven this for a while, and I’d forgotten how cool the scenery is, how steep and long the hills are, and how amazing the roads can be in good conditions. 2 or 3 lanes each way, divided, and 120 km/hr limits. Made good time through here!
Once back down to nearly sea level where you join the #1 traffic starts to thicken up as you approach the outer towns of the Fraser Valley and get closer to the 2.5 million folks living in the Greater Vancouver area. Collected a fresh batch of bugs with the car on stage two, and got to my Sister’s place with enough light to drink a few beers and wash the car again. Thanks Sis!
Day 7: Was all about the vehicle inspection, paperwork, and getting back to Regina! Not as much driving, but there would be a couple flights.
Inspection was booked for 8:30 am at a shop in downtown Vancouver, so that meant a rush-hour commute with a hundred thousand or so other cars making their way in from the Valley. In the rain, heavy rain…
Believe it or not, the sun is actually up – you can imagine the visibility at dusk! And, can see why a Spiral Gray FRC was not a good choice for my last commuter vehicle! I almost went with Millennium Yellow, but I do love the Speedway White!
This is the shop downtown where the car got inspected, a cool family run business that will close at the end of the month along with everything else on the block to make way for another giant apartment tower. Such is Vancouver.
The only item to be addressed was a slightly loose right outer tie rod end, and with that handled and the paperwork completed, submitted, and approved I was now officially imported. The only thing left to do will be to get some BC plates on it and start driving it to my new job in Sept. I treated the car to a new set of really good wiper blades and left it with a good friend until me and the Wife get back at the end of the month.
That will be a different kind of road trip, a packed Cargo Van towing a Toyota Echo, and our giant 18 lb cat riding shotgun on the dash! But first it was off to YVR for a flight back to Regina and another round of Martinis.
It was quite the epic trip: 3100 miles total distance, 28.6 mpg with an average speed of 57.3 mph over 6 days of intense driving in some very diverse terrain. It’s going to be one awesome commuter vehicle!
Thanks for the feedback, stage one was pretty cool – got to cover some really amazing territory. Stage two began after I got the car plated in SK so I could drive it to Vancouver and have it inspected and registered there. Which meant another 1000 mile road trip!
Day Five: A trek across SK and AB, a drive I’ve done several times now – 7.5 hrs of wheat fields and rolling hills. Canada is big…
The day was to begin, however, by meeting up with Forum member “Russ K” who lives in Regina and also happens to have one of the 352 Speedway White Z06s. Super nice guy, ordered his new from the local Dealer and was a great source of info on the cars – pointed out a few things to me about mine!
I then hit the road, the rest of the day looked a lot like this:
Day 6: Stayed the night at an old friend’s place in Calgary and then set off for the nearly endless expanse of mountains that is BC, ending up at my Sister’s place in Abbotsford to hang with her and her Family.
Once you get past Canmore, it’s all about the big peaks and trees through Banff National Park.
Once past the park, the roads get very narrow and cliffy near Golden.
Then the next park near Revelstoke.
Near Kamloops, the terrain opens up and gets more dry – super pretty scenery through here.
And then it’s onto the #5, the Mighty Coquihalla Highway. Killer of Turbo Audis and brake pads of all makes and models. I hadn’t driven this for a while, and I’d forgotten how cool the scenery is, how steep and long the hills are, and how amazing the roads can be in good conditions. 2 or 3 lanes each way, divided, and 120 km/hr limits. Made good time through here!
Once back down to nearly sea level where you join the #1 traffic starts to thicken up as you approach the outer towns of the Fraser Valley and get closer to the 2.5 million folks living in the Greater Vancouver area. Collected a fresh batch of bugs with the car on stage two, and got to my Sister’s place with enough light to drink a few beers and wash the car again. Thanks Sis!
Day 7: Was all about the vehicle inspection, paperwork, and getting back to Regina! Not as much driving, but there would be a couple flights.
Inspection was booked for 8:30 am at a shop in downtown Vancouver, so that meant a rush-hour commute with a hundred thousand or so other cars making their way in from the Valley. In the rain, heavy rain…
Believe it or not, the sun is actually up – you can imagine the visibility at dusk! And, can see why a Spiral Gray FRC was not a good choice for my last commuter vehicle! I almost went with Millennium Yellow, but I do love the Speedway White!
This is the shop downtown where the car got inspected, a cool family run business that will close at the end of the month along with everything else on the block to make way for another giant apartment tower. Such is Vancouver.
The only item to be addressed was a slightly loose right outer tie rod end, and with that handled and the paperwork completed, submitted, and approved I was now officially imported. The only thing left to do will be to get some BC plates on it and start driving it to my new job in Sept. I treated the car to a new set of really good wiper blades and left it with a good friend until me and the Wife get back at the end of the month.
That will be a different kind of road trip, a packed Cargo Van towing a Toyota Echo, and our giant 18 lb cat riding shotgun on the dash! But first it was off to YVR for a flight back to Regina and another round of Martinis.
It was quite the epic trip: 3100 miles total distance, 28.6 mpg with an average speed of 57.3 mph over 6 days of intense driving in some very diverse terrain. It’s going to be one awesome commuter vehicle!
Last edited by darguy; 08-18-2014 at 02:55 PM.
#16
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Great road trip along with some great pictures. Thanks for sharing. Good way to learn what the car is all about too.
#17
Drifting
Aside from everything else good about the car, don't you just love that gas mileage?
When I picked mine up and drove it home from 150 miles away, I got almost 30 mpg going between 60 and 75-80mph all the way home.
When I picked mine up and drove it home from 150 miles away, I got almost 30 mpg going between 60 and 75-80mph all the way home.
Last edited by mrlmd; 08-18-2014 at 12:24 PM.
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Great thread!
#19
Melting Slicks
Congrats!
Great story and write-up and welcome to BC!
With a 100km round trip commute, that should put you in the Abbotsford/Langey area. If your interested in Corvette clubs, there are two near there. BC Corvette club meets in Langley (dues) and Central Valley Corvettes meets in Abbotsford (no dues). I'm leaving for the caravan to NCM on Thursday and will be back by September 9 in time for CVC meeting (really it's a coffee and jawjack night!) September 10. PM me if you're interested.
Peter
Great story and write-up and welcome to BC!
With a 100km round trip commute, that should put you in the Abbotsford/Langey area. If your interested in Corvette clubs, there are two near there. BC Corvette club meets in Langley (dues) and Central Valley Corvettes meets in Abbotsford (no dues). I'm leaving for the caravan to NCM on Thursday and will be back by September 9 in time for CVC meeting (really it's a coffee and jawjack night!) September 10. PM me if you're interested.
Peter