Driving Observations - Ocean City Vettes

[David B.]

Today I drove east on Rt. 50 toward Ocean City, MD on the last day of the VetteFest. It was a beautiful sunny day. In the stretch between the Cheseapeake Bay bridge and Salisbury, MD (a distance of about 73 miles), I counted 176 Corvettes driving westward, returning from the OC weekend activities. It reminded me of the recent discussions on the Board about driving and enjoying the olders cars. I thought this informal data that I collected might be interesting in that regard.

>176 total Corvettes seen driving westward on Rt. 50 during the 2 hour drive
Of those:
>4 were in 60's era cars (63 conv, 65 coupe, 65 conv, 67 big block coupe)
>7 were in the 70's era
>the remainder (165) were 80's on up. Approximately, 80-90% of those were 90's on up I would guess.

Also, two were trailered (64? and 69?), which are not in the above tallies.

There are a lot of thoughts that one could say about this. I will leave that discussion to others. But it sure was fun to see them all regardless of the vintage!

By the way, I have driven over 300 miles on my 57 in the last two months. I (re)built it to enjoy it.

Dave B.

[Verle R.]

Re: Driving Observations - Ocean City Vettes

Dave,

I see the same thing and probably the same statistics on models. I have driven my 57 about 14,000 miles in the last four years and plan to drive from Oklahoma to Boston for the National Convention next year.

Keep driving your car, great fun.

Verle

[Philip C.]

With Love your nuts

I give you guys credit I couldnt drive one of my C1s 30 miles without getting paralyze and Iam a mini-guinea! (well 5 8 195lbs) Phil 8063

[David B.]

Re: With Love your nuts

No offense taken Phil, lol. I am 5-11 and 200 lbs myself.

Radial tires, good shocks, and years of deadening my rear on a motorcycle result in a pretty comfortable C-1 ride for me. At least any discomforts are more than made up for by the enjoyment! The worst part for me is the constant concern that some negligent driver will run into my cherished car - other than that, its great!

Dave B.

[mike cobine]

Re: Driving Observations - Ocean City Vettes

There are a lot of thoughts that one could say about this. I will leave that discussion to others. But it sure was fun to see them all regardless of the vintage!

I think one contributing factor is insurance. The collector car insurance price is too tempting to pass up, but as a result, many non-collector cars end up being treated (i.e., not driven) like collector cars.

And unfortunately, the regular insurance companies have driven many to the collector insurance due to rates, repairs, payments, and treatment.

The last year driving my '79 I found it was a rare car on the road, and they built over 50,000 of them. Apologies to those who own one, but we all know that the '77 - '81s are about as low as you can get in price, with possibly the '84 to ?? cars.

[Roy B.]

Re: Driving Observations - Ocean City Vettes

You would think in Ca. you would see more C1's NO! few C2's but mostly C3's and up.In 25 years never seen a 55 driving.

[Mike M.]

Re: Driving Observations - Ocean City Vettes

when i get our 55 finished, lea nad i are gonna head out your way and drive back and forth past yer house all day long. you be acounting the times ya see a c-1 on the road as i'll be keeping track. then we'll get the two gold 55's lined up on a deserted county road and have at it.my 55 will be the bubble-head, er bubble-top less 55. regards, mike

[Mike M.]

Re: Driving Observations - Ocean City Vettes

PS: with all those dealer installed or roy-installed accessories, yer 55 probably comes in at 150 # heavier than our bone stock puppy, which should be good for .2 seconds in the 1/4 mile run-off.mikie