clutchdust
Millionaire Playboy
I know that kind of goes without saying here on this board. We're not Corvette owners and members of this forum simply because the car is a practicality.
But, despite the worn out exterior and bare fiberglass, the rotten weatherstripping, the interior that desperately needs refurbishing, the car has a style that simply isn't seen today short of the hypercar.
No other car on the road today, save the hypercar, is as extreme looking. They can't be. These classic Vettes, whether the first gen, the "mid-years", or the "sharks" were designed back in a time when no one had ever imagined a Cd or CAFE requirements. The designers were free to draw big, swoopy fenders and long hoods to their heart's content. What mattered less was how well it cut the air, and more how it looked doing it.
From every angle, the c3 is sexy. I can't say that of the newer cars. Any of them. I like the c5 and c6, and I really like the c6z's. But there is unquestionably the element of compromise in those designs. How can you get a car that meets certain requirements to be attractive? It's simply not a concern the designers of the early Vettes ever even considered.
When I look at the newer models, I can find things that were obvious compromises, at least to me. On a c5, the front was a compromise, the high rear haunches, the massiveness of the ass end. Similar things can be said about the c6. But to my eye, the c3 just looks right from any angle. With only small modifications, a c3 could be built today and look as wild and outlandish as anything on the road. Put in a powerful engine, six speed gearbox and air conditioning that actually worked, and it would be a $100k car.
I love the way mine sounds too. Unlike the c5, it talks to me every time I drive it. The c5 is clinical, almost sterile, going about its business. Sure, it does absolutely everything better than the c3 does. It's tighter, it rides better, shifts better, is more comfortable, gets better gas mileage, the list goes on. But what it doesn't do is encourage me to drive it, i mean really drive it. I can drive the c5 all day and be comfortable. I could use it as a daily beat-around-town car. I could drive it just lie a Honda Civic. I even do sometimes.
I can't do that in the c3. Every time I get in the car it begs me to get in the gas. It teases me to throw it into a corner. Where the c5 goes around any turn I can find just like it was designed for that specific corner, the c3 taunts me. It challenges me to do it and rewards me when I do it well. It chastises me when I do it wrong too. Even driving it on the highway, it just feels like it's begging me to press the pedal down further, further, further!
I love this car. I love it not because of how excellent it is, but because of it's flaws. It's loud and obnoxious, but it makes no excuses for it. It's as flamboyant and as sexy as Angelina Jolie in a swimsuit, even if she just woke up at 6 in the morning with a hangover. It can't help it. Every time I walk past it, I look. When I take my dogs for a walk, when I run down to the mail box, just picking up trash in the yard, she calls to me.
"Hey, let's go for a ride".
But, despite the worn out exterior and bare fiberglass, the rotten weatherstripping, the interior that desperately needs refurbishing, the car has a style that simply isn't seen today short of the hypercar.
No other car on the road today, save the hypercar, is as extreme looking. They can't be. These classic Vettes, whether the first gen, the "mid-years", or the "sharks" were designed back in a time when no one had ever imagined a Cd or CAFE requirements. The designers were free to draw big, swoopy fenders and long hoods to their heart's content. What mattered less was how well it cut the air, and more how it looked doing it.
From every angle, the c3 is sexy. I can't say that of the newer cars. Any of them. I like the c5 and c6, and I really like the c6z's. But there is unquestionably the element of compromise in those designs. How can you get a car that meets certain requirements to be attractive? It's simply not a concern the designers of the early Vettes ever even considered.
When I look at the newer models, I can find things that were obvious compromises, at least to me. On a c5, the front was a compromise, the high rear haunches, the massiveness of the ass end. Similar things can be said about the c6. But to my eye, the c3 just looks right from any angle. With only small modifications, a c3 could be built today and look as wild and outlandish as anything on the road. Put in a powerful engine, six speed gearbox and air conditioning that actually worked, and it would be a $100k car.
I love the way mine sounds too. Unlike the c5, it talks to me every time I drive it. The c5 is clinical, almost sterile, going about its business. Sure, it does absolutely everything better than the c3 does. It's tighter, it rides better, shifts better, is more comfortable, gets better gas mileage, the list goes on. But what it doesn't do is encourage me to drive it, i mean really drive it. I can drive the c5 all day and be comfortable. I could use it as a daily beat-around-town car. I could drive it just lie a Honda Civic. I even do sometimes.
I can't do that in the c3. Every time I get in the car it begs me to get in the gas. It teases me to throw it into a corner. Where the c5 goes around any turn I can find just like it was designed for that specific corner, the c3 taunts me. It challenges me to do it and rewards me when I do it well. It chastises me when I do it wrong too. Even driving it on the highway, it just feels like it's begging me to press the pedal down further, further, further!
I love this car. I love it not because of how excellent it is, but because of it's flaws. It's loud and obnoxious, but it makes no excuses for it. It's as flamboyant and as sexy as Angelina Jolie in a swimsuit, even if she just woke up at 6 in the morning with a hangover. It can't help it. Every time I walk past it, I look. When I take my dogs for a walk, when I run down to the mail box, just picking up trash in the yard, she calls to me.
"Hey, let's go for a ride".
