"Silver haired men protesting C7 from their burrito stained arm chairs?"
 

Today I stopped by Barnes and Nobles to read the article about the C7 in the latest issue of Road&Track magazine. In an article written by Lawrence Ulrich, he comments "One thing's for sure: The Internet commentariat, rising from burrito-stained armchairs, will profess to hate every inch.

Now I know why I do not subscribe and pay for their magazine. This is in response to the above statement, to their Editor in chief.

Dear sir(s).

For years your magazine's and other similar publications bias towards European made cars were always evident. You have used every chance to belittle and derogate Corvette and now it is very obvious that your on-going contempt and attitude towards this car now carries over to insult present corvette owners and people who choose drive them. Despite its undeniable and continued success both on the road and track in comparison to exotics costing 2, 3 times more which you so adore, I might add.

Let me tell you about myself sir. I have lived 22 years in those countries, and most of you obviously have not. USA is the car lovers paradise, like anything else in this country, it is a land of freedom, I have never been able realize my passion and hobby of cars if I was still in Europe for reasons too long to list (hopefully you know something's about).

I do not own a arm chair, sit in front of TV and eat burritos. Myself and long list of people I know and do not know rather be in their garage working on their Vettes (or any other cars they might own), may that be maintenance, aftermarket mods or detailing. Besides having the (by far) best performance for the buck in its class (so we mostly over look the shortcomings because we are laughing all the way to the bank), I also have purchased this vehicle because I (we) can still turn a wrench on it. Unlike the European cars where an access to service manual costs you $30 per day, that is if they will allow you and you can, I can and have purchased a complete set of shop manuals for my vette (and all my vettes before) for a very reasonable price and I know everything about my car and more. This is probably another very good reason why this car attracts people like me and others. And probably like me, who can afford to own many other exotics, but choose the cerebral Corvette instead.

The now silver haired men were grew up during the time where this was a norm and a national pass time, unlike most of the new generation now who prefer to hand their keys to some service rep, as they do not want anything to do with the servicing and maintaining their car, they have other things that are more important, B, it is not the culture anymore. There are not that many cars left in the world no that turning a wrench in the privacy of your garage is even possible now, unless you have access to service manuals, many specialized and very expensive mechanical and electronic trouble shooting and programming tools.

Us silver haired men love technology yet simplicity, and as Corvette drivers have in heart only the very best wishes for the Corvette and pray for its continued existence and success. We grew up in the best of times, experienced other freedoms due to lack of technology, without automotive nannies and complications in its purest form. Now younger people spend their lives, work, communicate, love, be loved and be entertained from behind of a 4 inch screen, and the new products always seem to reflect that life style, and that for us is sad. Having been there with both, they have no idea what they are missing. Actual touch, feel, human Interaction.

Hopefully this will add to your enlightenment, and please do not forget, it is this country that invented and made common all those technologies, therefore please use your common sense and have some respect for this country, its products and people who prefer to own them.:salute:

ditto..i read "vette or corvette mags...who cares what the euro junkies think.............

I have an armchair and I eat burritos while watching TV...wait...are they talking about me? :D

That was great man. Wonder if you'll get a reply :D.

GM had a hard job on their hands. I fully understand the need to expand the Vette's demographics. But on the other hand, most of the young kids I know from my 2 daughters, don't really care about cars anymore. So GM better not have alienated their 'silver haired' customer base, since many of us can still buy a few more cars before we have to trade cars for virgins, or whatever the heck we'll find after this life :rofl:. I'm also put off big time by all the electronic crap now present in every new car, so my '12 GS might be the last Vette for that reason. I might buy a 991 911 Carrera S, since Porsche finally got it right enough to justify buying one. But only if I'm impressed by it. With the hydraulic steering gone, the main reason to buy one might not be there anymore. We'll see. If that's the case, then I'll keep the GS for many years, then buy a proper sedan for my age, along with an arm chair, and start eating burritos :lol:. Have a good one folks.

Interesting, however, as I qualify for the silver hair group but not having enough hair to become silver, I do not think about that!
Additionally, I have either owned or driven every iteration of Corvette from C1 to the C6.
I embrace all of the improvements including the use of high tech and other generational improvements. These things show forward thinking and progressive views towards the future. Why try to please us old fuddy duddies, that are, lets face it, a dying breed! The future lies with getting more young people to buy into the Corvette program, a group that can possibly buy 4, 5 or even 7 or more Corvettes in the future. The older age group may only live long enough to buy what, one more generation of Corvettes...!!??? I say hooray for GM & Corvette, keep it up! And those that bitch; get over the square tail lights and what ever you dislike about the C7! GM ain't going to change it for you, Grandpa. You are no longer their primary target audience..!!

Quick, reach for the "Grecian Formula".

Seems GM does not want the gray hairs and " successful plumbers " buying the elite new C7.

They are meant for the young and beautiful people on the coasts who make more than 150k a year.

All others need not apply.

I actually prefer a rocking chair and Fritos. :D Who cares about R&T anyway. :woohoo:

Eh, not so sure of the above generalization : my older son makes that kind of dough, he & his wife could be considered of the beautiful people set, plus he was raised around fast cars! However, he would never buy a Corvette, not even as a second car!

I'm eating a chicken taco right now... does that count too?

mardyn

:willy:

Stereotyping from both the magazine and the guy who wrote the letter.

Not all old men like burritos, have poor hygiene and are apposed to change and technology.
Not all young folks prefer looking at a 4 inch screen over human interaction, both need to get real.

'Posted from my iPhone5' :lol:

You do not subscribe nor BUY their magazine but you will go to a store to USE their copy, that the store is paying for, to read it cover to cover. What Barnes and Noble is a leanding library existing for tightwads......... and then you write to the mag to complain about their content....

Dude it is one thing to be a low class cheapskate but another to announce it to the internet.

:thumbs: Thank you! :cheers: Well said. :flag:

Serious.

Wouldn't one have to first fit the description in order to be offended by it, anyway? :lol:

If it wasn't for the silver haired old men there wouldn't be a Corvette at all. Not only those today, but others like Duntov himself.

I would respond but the burrito grease is gumming up my keyboard.

:yesnod::lol:

I wish I didnt have gray hair

Your comments are true and well said KX, we all know that to be the case, I welcome your response and thank you for it. It however entirely misses my point. I am not criticizing the C7 or want to be seen as one. I am trying to stick up for Corvette in its past, present and future form. I am trying to point out that the corvette's biggest criticizers (and regretfully the enemies) are, and always have been, the press it self, magazines like Road and Track and 3 of their sister publications due to their elitist attitudes. One cannot help but notice this writers complete disdain, albeit trying to look like he is praising the new car. All these years they can never come up and admit, not even once, that the car in its past end (and future) present form is a unmatched accomplishment, for its time, in performance and price point (always a comprise). Anybody can make a 4200 LBS $180,000 car, not many can make a 3200 LBS $64,000 car that matches and exceeds the reliabilty, ease of service, usability and the performance of a vette (let alone customer satisfaction index). People are influenced by what they see and read, sometimes rightfully and many times wrongfully, other wise we would not have a all new generation of young people who think beauty is being under-nourished looking 90 LBS of stick looking like the cover of one of those fashion magazines

I guess I also have to get used to lack of truth in advertising, highly biased opinions, gone are the days of true and god honest reporting. Everyone now is an expert on something they have never owned or done before. It however does peeve me. :thumbs:

Nope, I live in a classy neighborhood of Boca Raton, Florida, the Barnes and Noble here expressly provides tables for you to browse their magazines (or even books) while you are sipping your starbucks latte and having your coffee cake or whatever your poison. And everyone does it, it is the style and practice of this particular store and few others in south Florida . Nope, did not read the entire magazine, only the article on the C7, only upon the insistence of my Corvette buddy. I pay/subscribe for my two corvette magazines, what they write about usually interests me. I guess it will take some time for civilization to arrive in your parts.

Man, lot of people are missing my point entirely.

I eat my burritos at the dinner table!

:flag:

My guess is that if the "all others" don't buy the C7, GM will lose a ton of money on the car.

:iagree:

Sometimes you need to be careful of what you ask for...

Oh my gosh! That last fart was bad. Honey, bring the Lysol!:ack:

The C7 will be purchased by more taco and burrito eating types than by the supposed "beautiful people". The beautiful people look down their noses at Corvettes and consider them to be cars for gear heads, beer belly slobs and others of that ilk! The beautiful people buy Porshe, Audi, Mercedes and the like. Owning a Corvette does NOT mean that you have "arrived".

the point of his post, I think, was that the mags need to get their heads extracated from down below, and show some love for the vettes accomplishments.

Yes, but like a liberal and the NRA, they'll never get it.

Do you think that there might just be a chance that the European cars are actually better in the subjective assessment areas?

what's a burrito?

Kind of hard to get any context with just one sentence.

I just read the article in its entirety online and have a completely different take on it than you do.

I found the article to be informative overall [but would concede that the paragraph you refer to wasn't very well written]. To me, the author was referring to the relentless, uninformed internet commentators who post meaningless drivel regarding the corvette. I don't think he was attacking the "boomers" referred to in the previous sentence. He seemed to be lauding GM's willingness to go beyond the status quo.

I was quite encouraged by what he wrote. He compared the vette favorably from a value perspective to the much pricier 911 [..."a compelling value edge" to the vette], he used adjectives like "lusty" to describe the V8, and even criticized the folks who think european cars are better due to their sophistication: "Europhiles will titter over the quaint pushrods and two valves per cylinder, as they always have. Yet, the small-block remains a compact powder keg, four inches shorter and 40 pounds lighter than BMW's similarly potent 4.4-liter twin-turbo V-8."

Everyone interprets things differently, but when the title of the article about the new vette is "Magnificent 7," I'm heartened by it. :flag:

Like the general populace, many Corvette owners have poor reading comprehension skills, are insecure, and take offense easily; this is simply a sign of our times.

The problem with all the magazines it has to be German.I bought my 2007 c6 for 32k drove it for four years and sold it for 30k.then I bought a 2013 c6 and love it.put that in blown muffler magazine.

:iagree:

My 38 year old daughter just happened to stop by at the time the reveal was just starting. I have driven corvettes since I was 17 and have owned all 6 generations so my 3 kids have grown up around them and all of them like corvettes.

She owns a very successful business and would definitely qualify as the target group they say they are now going after. She is actively shopping for a new car and has been looking at BMW and Audi so she was very interested in seeing the new vettes. Her first comment after it rolled out on the stage was she thought the wheels looked cheap and was left cold by the car in general and disappointed. Her comment to me when it was over was keep your C6 convert.

My son who is 43 also watched it and when I talked to him the next day had pretty much the same comments as my daughter had.

If they end up turning off the average 58 year old new vette buyers who have been the corvettes main buyer group for many years they will never hit GM's stated target of 30k C7's sold a year.

It is sad for me but if they cannot sell 2-3 times what they have been selling since 2009 I think that the C7 will be the last vette generation. 1984 was the biggest sales ever with over 50k sold followed by 2007 with over 40k but the last few years they have struggled to sell 10k. The Porsche Boxter model alone which is about the same price as the vette sold nearly as many of just that one Porsche model in 2012 as all 4 corvette models combined sold so obviously people are still buying expensive sports cars.

:yawn:

:beatdeadhorse:

The article's author didn't do his homework very well either.

"The base 2014 model will be known as the Corvette Stingray - one word, as used from 1969 to 1977."

There were no Stingray badges on the 1977. Those badges were last seen on the 1976 model.

As for the other comment, there has been a lot of internet hate spewed towards the new C7.