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New car for me

gmorrell

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Nov 21, 2006
Messages
1,101
Location
Colorado
First new car purchase for me in 20 years, and as my neighbor frequently says, "Go big or go home."

2019 Corvette Grand Sport, Elkhart Lake Blue, 1LE, 7-speed manual gearbag, dry-sumped LT1 6.2L V8, 460HP/465 ft-lbs, 6-piston front brakes, 4-piston rear brakes, competition sport bucket seats, Grand Sport heritage package and a few other odds and sods options.

I was conflicted about this purchase for awhile, and before pulling the trigger, I had a long chat with my older brother in Ohio, and he confessed to me that he'd owned a 2015 Porsche 911.1 GT3 for 3 years, and had been open tracking the Hell out of it. He went through a similar period of "What am I contemplating?" and "What have I done?", but he said to me, "Gary, you're 60 years old. If not now, when?" That was all I needed.

What an awesome car to drive on the street, and I can't wait to put this beast on some road courses, because that's what God intended the Grand Sports to do.

Going to keep the 99 SVT Contour for awhile, as I'm winter driving it for this season, but I need to thin the car herd.
 

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Daaaaaaaang. Envy is the only word that comes to mind. Of course I'm only 39 so I have some time to come to that same decision. I'm not a Chevy guy at all, but I've always had a thing for Corvettes. Not sure how I feel about the new mid engine design. It hasn't grabbed me yet, but I'm sure it will. Beautiful ride. Congrats!
 
Also not sure what I think about the C8 2020 Corvettes, they're definitely a technological tour de force, they're proving to be very fast and ultra-capable handlers, and at least for 2020, they're priced very reasonably, but I don't expect that to last in succeeding model years. I'm not sold on the looks of it yet, it seems a bit of a Ferrari-ish mutt to me, but I need to see one up close. Pictures, I believe, don't do it proper justice.

Thank you.

A lot of things went right over the years to allow me to buy that car: Being an engineer, having good employment and a decent salary for many years, saving and investing, and living below my means - like daily driving a 1999 Ford Contour for 20 years. If over those last 20 years, I had been the typical "I need a new car every 3 to 5 years" lemming, I'd have spent more than I dropped on this Corvette. Patience has its rewards.

And one thing went very wrong: A bit more than 2 years ago, my wife of 26 years lost a 3 year battle with cancer, malignant soft-tissue Sarcoma. And well, Carol had always said that I could have a new Corvette if I wanted one, so it's as much for her, as it is for me.
 
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Well I'm truly sorry to hear about your wife, but it's good you had her permission. :wink:

The C8's likely are not done justice by photos, like you said, but there is just something not extremely appealing so far. The proportions are there, but yes so far it's not a car I want the way I have previous generations of 'vettes. I'm willing to bet that would change if I drove one though.

I'm heading down a similar path as you. I make a good living, and instead of living in a huge house and having brand new cars I'm paying off student loans and our current mortgage, for hopes that some day I can splurge on my one truly special car. Until then I have a blast driving my 20 year old contour.
 
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