“Did you know that I can find my dad on the Internet?” That’s what my son said to his mother this past week. Let’s hope he’s not reading this site on a regular basis, because I’m about to tell all of you something that I haven’t told him: we are going to Woodward, PA so we can ride the Lot 8 and Cloud 9 skateparks. Since John doesn’t really have a bike that would work for this, I’ve ordered a Sunday Primer 16 for him, in Watermelon Green.
Alright, let’s get to last week’s contributions. And John, if you’re reading this, go clean your room!
Uncle Bark told the readers about the difference between ordering a car and buying one that’s already in dealer stock. He then went on just a tiny rant about Cadillac’s flexible fleet program.
Uncle Bark’s brother, meanwhile, also known as John’s dad, covered how to be a better driver on a worse tire and a quick opinion piece on the merits of a potential CVT-equipped Civic Type R. Finally, I considered the strange case of the Corvettes that don’t get sold or bought.
For TTAC, I complained about arbitrary speed enforcement and wondered who killed the Camry. Finally, I asked the readers if Faraday Future deserves the dogpile.
That’s all for now — it’s time for the Detroit auto show. But then it’s time for Woodward!
I actually did buy a used c5, 78,000 miles, one owner with normal wear and tear issues, stone chips and left seat bolster has a small hole worn into it. I cross shopped this car with a boxster, the I read this article titled something like Porsches deadly sins, outlining crappy interiors and an intermediate gear issue, that took the boxster off the table. The c5 has been solid with a couple of repairs. I don’t really understand the hate this car generates!
I purchased my C5Z with about 27k on the clock, fits the “not driven” stereotype to a T, but was sold.
Also, regarding the arbitrary speed enforcement article, maybe it’s just me, but I would throw out Chicago highways as being much more of a “people do whatever the fuck they want” environment. Metro detroit is positively civil in comparison
Really appreciated the corvette garage queen story.
Subaru’s got a CVT WRX or at least had it when the latest generation came out. Has anyone driven it? I actually perked my ears up about it for the exact reasons you brought up about the Type R. Plus, it makes the wife happy that she doesn’t have to learn stick.
Probably should have just googled before I responded.
http://jalopnik.com/the-2015-subaru-wrx-isnt-dead-with-a-cvt-it-just-smell-1660633327
Verdict… it’s pretty great.
Now it’s the choice of GTI with DSG vs. WRX with CVT.
BTW the bike for the kid looks sick. You guys are going to have a blast at Woodward. A buddy of mine spent a decade cooking there over the summers so his kid could go.
Similar to the babied garage queen vettes, I also seem to notice that Corvette owners with modified vettes expect to recoup the costs of their modification upon resale, and their cars also linger unsold… as if the modifications increased the value over a stock example. Even when modifications are done by reputable and well-known shops, that just isn’t likely to happen.
You can never recoup the investment you made in mods. Most folks don’t trust them (myself included). You’ve taken a car meant for the masses and made it just for yourself. And never EVER sell your car to a friend or relative.
I druther buy a rock stock Corvette and probably leave it that way for the most part. My C4 is mostly stock.
The speed limit article was fun to read; I actually wrote my senior thesis on this and why we pass laws that nobody follows (even those who are supposed to enforce it). It’s amusing at how stupid speed laws are and the fact that accident rates are higher on roads with lower limits.
I’m not going to parrot what everyone else said regarding the C5 market, but it’s definitely in an odd place. My friend has been looking for a “driver” quality FRC or coupe in the $15k range, and has had a hell of a time finding something that isn’t outrageously priced and sitting on the forum, has a host of questionable modifications, or completely beat to shit. I found him a clean 98 in Dallas that we were going to pick up over NYC (hence asking about driving in the snow), but the owner decided that it was “too much of a headache” and wasn’t willing to take any form of deposit. He was a mid-70s male who had his son as his intermediary.
I’ve caught a lot of shit from people over the past few years for how I drive mine. I’ve put a shade under 40,000 miles on it since June of 2014, it’s almost constantly parked outside, and I am lucky to wash it monthly. Mechanically it’s 100%, which is all that really matters. If I really wanted to pick up a “showroom” one, theres no less than 4-5 on eBay at any given time. They’re the sports car equivalent of commemorative dinner plates.
Kudos for driving it, mine will sit in my hangar or in my driveway with a cover on it, it’s not a daily driver, found it on eBay listed by a local dealer, they wanted 17,200, offered them 13,500, in the end of dec of 2014, this is the time of year to buy!
Thanks, I’ve certainly had (more than) a good time with it. Old garage is occupied by my first car, a 79 L-48 which has been in pieces for 10+ years. The 92 LX Notchback sits in the garage here.
I normally store it for winter, but it went from 55* and sunny with the top down to 6″ of lake effect snow within 18 hours. That’s #puremichigan.
We’ve been trying to find my buddy something along the lines of what you picked up, was hoping for someone looking to dump a car before the end of the year. A lot of flakey sellers and “I know what I have.”
Couple that fit the description on eBay in the vicinity of metro Detroit somewhat reasonable in price.
Ya know what? That young Bitcoinaire (about whom Jack recently wrote) who purchased the two, new M3s should have instead purchased something like Danger Girl’s Super-Vette for his track car instead of a “competition package” M3. Surely, it wouldn’t have been too tough to buy or build a clean V8 M3 with a bit of track prep. But it’s easy for me to spend someone else’s money.
I’ve had a C4 for 14 years and am still happy with it. But as time goes on, I have begun drooling over a C5Z. I don’t need a different car, but I sure want one. I read Dave MacClellan’s book “Corvette from the Inside” and although he was the primary reason for the directions the C4 took after the C3 had gone so far downhill, he really drools over the C5 and its changes. And he retired in ’92… And I’m lucky enough to have a wife who says, “if it makes you happy, go for it (except for having another woman!)”.
She doesn’t say the parenthetical part but it’s clearly there. 🙂
She never asks “do you really need that?” when I want to buy another woodworking tool or anything that “stays in the garage.” I’m the man and I make those decisions. Yup, I finally found a good one. lol
Well… if your C4 is a Grand Sport you should be able to trade it for a C5Z and get cash back!
Did you ever try the Continental CS21 on your Fox? It was the hot setup on my Festiva L, although my tires were 155SR12 instead of 155SR13s. I had trouble with the Pirelli P4s overheating and chunking their tread after only a day or two on the car. The CS21 was either made of sterner stuff or I’d actually learned something from getting 3,500 miles out of a set of front tires, 6,000 out of the rears by the time I found the Continentals. IIRC, I was trying to scrub them in before really leaning on them on a road called Twenty One Curves, which was part of my daily commute.
I never saw it for sale… I’d have given it a shot for sure, neither the Michelin nor the Pirelli were “great” tires by any stretch of the imagination.
Print version of R&T just arrived, read the article on the new continental, I have mixed emotions over the interior, maybe it will look not so glitzy in person, I don’t think the photography does this justice. I think the last time a Lincoln besides the MKS had a lot of power in a good looking sedan, or in the case of a two door, the mkIII, was in the late nineteen sixties with big inch v8 engines and very elegant sheet metal, with the mark III on a similar chassis, these automobiles were big and powerful and everyone knew it, maybe up until now, that is something that has been lost in the domestic market. Big personal luxury coupes like the Mark III and the Eldorado were very expressive cars of well to do people, every one knew these cars dint handle well, I think the appeal was in how well these cars insulated you from your outside surroundings, very much like your favored Cadillac Talisman sedan. Very nice article.