• October 6, 2023
• By: Steve

I got the itch to be back in a V8, so I spent the summer deciding what I actually wanted. I looked at a lot of cars, like Dodge Chargers, Challengers, Mustangs, etc. I couldn’t really decide if I wanted something newer that wouldn’t need much done or something older that I could modify and restore. Tough decisions. I finally decided it was time to own a Corvette even though I wasn’t ready for extra-wide New Balance shoes and Hawaiian shirts. No offense, people.

I originally chose to look at a 2008 Corvette Z06 at [name redacted] dealership in Minnesota. It looked nice online, so I arranged to look at it on October 3rd, 2023. I drove the 3.5 hours to the dealership expecting the world of the car only to be, well, disappointed. The car was not well-presented at all. It had not been detailed and there were some easy-to-fix things that were left undone. The car really had three things that turned me off immediately. The driver’s seat was torn, the paint was not well-kept, and the tires were bald. None of these were the dealership’s fault, but I would have at least fixed the seat and had paint correction done and a detail before presenting a car for sale at top dollar. They wouldn’t work with me at all on the price. Yes, they had a rare car, but it wasn’t worth what they were asking. I took a lunch to mull it over with my girlfriend.

At lunch, I was 49/51 on the car and my gut was telling me I wouldn’t be happy with the car. It wasn’t in a condition people would be used to seeing me in because everyone knows how I keep my cars. Yes, I could have fixed it up more, but if I am plunking down 40k+ for a car, it needs to be what I want right now. That said, we searched some apps for cars in the area since there were none available at home base. We ran across a 2014 1LT silver Stingray at another dealership about 30 minutes away. I went back to the Z06 dealership to tell them my thoughts on what the car needed and what I felt a fair price was. The sales manager kind of laughed at me and challenged me to find a Stingray that was better. I took the challenge. Honestly, I didn’t like his elitist attitude, which was strike 4 on that car.

I went to the dealership that had the Stingray and was immediately taken by the silver exterior. It was REALLY neat and well taken care of. Same for the black interior. Whoever owned this base model took very good care of it in its 31k miles. No flaws at all and the tires were new. The only strike against it was that it was an automatic. That strike went away when I drove it. Honestly, it was nice to just be able to hit the gas and go after having manuals for the last 20 years. I ended up getting into negotiations and we hit a very attractive price. I agreed to the deal and I was on my way, pretty happy with my decision. No knock on the C6, but the C7 interior is light years ahead.

The car was delivered for free to me the next day and I was one happy guy. I drove around for 100 miles just enjoying the heck out of it. It goes in storage with the first snowfall, so I might have four weeks.

One of the first things I did since I am a do-it-yourselfer was to add some aluminum jacking pucks to the car. That way, you and everyone else know the proper place to put a floor jack pad or lift pads into place. The pucks keep the jack pad from contacting the fiberglass panels.