So I want to veer off down a different road here because I had so much fun with this car I think you guys will enjoy the story. When I got involved with the Buicks back in the late 80s I was on the main Buick forum and I met this girl.
Long story but she became my GF and she lived in FL. Yes. How convenient. So for you Canadians out there if you have never gone out with an American girl, all I can tell you is you better have a strong rope and a stronger horse!
So 1 day I'm getting bored and I wanted to get away by myself. I couldn't just say. Well. I think I will take a little trip and I will see you in a couple of weeks and I don't know where I am going. Oh ya sure. Have a wonderful time. lol.
So plan B was to start a fight and see ya later. Works every time. Geez. I hope she isn't reading this. I had a buddy who owned a nice motel in Tampa. So off I went from Ft Myers. It was the middle of winter back home. No way was I going there. So I hung out going to the show, the dog track, and looking at cars for sale. I hadn't owned a Vette except for a rough 67 coupe. Another story. There was one of the largest used Corvette dealers in the country in Tampa so off I went. Man. I had never seen so many used Vettes before. So I decided I was going to spend somewhere around 20K and a C5 would work. You could pick your color as there were that many. I liked Magnetic red so I started hunting I had about 5 cars to choose from but nothing really got me excited. The girl running the place said she didn't have anything like what I wanted. Now, this dealer had it down on rebuilding Vettes. They would buy a crashed Vette tear it apart and cauterize all the parts. 80% of the crashed stuff was thrown out. Then they would sandblast a frame and powder coat it. The driveline is next and all body mounts and small stuff are new parts When you buy a used Vette not many guys replace body mounts, belts, plugs, wires, bulbs, hoses, windshields,etc.All such stuff is replaced with new. Because they have done it so many times the car goes together like clockwork with all quality stuff. These people take pride in their work and do it all right. All good body parts are picked out and assembled. The color of the car is decided and into the paint shop, it goes. After painting about a 1000 Vettes these guys knew their shit and every car came out almost perfect. The interior goes in next. If you have ever worked on a Vette you realize that the car is almost built to be easily assembled. Most shops drop the chassis out of the body to do a re&re. I did it once. Never again.
So I'm walking out of the yard and go by the shop and there it is. A Magnetic red(burgundy) coupe and it's just being finished. I look inside and it is an auto with tan leather and a virtual dash. So I go into the showroom and ask the girl what the story is and was expecting her to tell me it was sold. She told me to sit down and goes into the shop for about 10 minutes. I really don't think she knew a lot about the car. She comes back and says. Sorry! Oh no. It's sold! Sorry, Ken. I totally forgot about that car. She was the sales manager which I like as I would rather work with just one person. She gives me a number which of course is more than I want to spend. I try all the tricks and she is not moving. I think she started at 26500 and dropped to 25900 which was cheap for a nice C5 this clean. But even though this car was amazing it was BRANDED. Even though the car had no major parts rebuilt it still is branded. I told her I had 2 other cars to look at and I WALKED! I know. I can't believe I did it either. Remember. I have never owned a late model Vette and this car was like new. I was a bachelor on vacation in Florida. When I got back to the motel my message light was flashing I knew it was her.
We ended up settling at 24500. I went back to the dealer to settle up and she told me the car would be ready in two days. Two days later I'm on the patio of the motel waiting for the car to arrive. After having lunch I see the car coming down the street. It looked great, especially with the 5 spoke wheels that I added into the deal. Two guys get out of the car and one guy hands me the keys. He told me he has driven over a hundred C5s and that this one was as good as any of them. The other guy shakes my hand and says nice car. After they leave I take the car to the back where my room is to check it out. The car was like new. The tan leather went really well with the Magnetic Red.
04-19-2022 03:58 PM
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