Road trip: drive it or drag it?

[GTOger]

Alrighty folks... soliciting some opinions.

Planning on a little trip to Henderson Performance Tech down in New Braunfels. I'll be leaving from Dallas. The ZR-1 will be receiving a few upgrades.

We're also taking the 92 Firehawk, and this is what my question is about. The forecast is currently calling for rain, or at least a strong possibility. We're a week out, and this is Texas, so that could change at any point. But the Firehawk, in 23 years, has never been driven in the rain.

The plan had been to drive both cars down, have Corey & company work on a couple Firehawk related issues, then drop the Corvette and drive the Firehawk back home to Dallas. The wife drives the ZR-1, I'll pilot the Hawk.

Now I'm torn: drive both cars and risk getting the underside of the Hawk wet after 23 years of not? It is, after all, a car. It was built to be driven. A little wet muck under the wheels and in the suspension and underside is the price of admission for driving a car. We're in a Southern clime so no worries about residual road salt getting up in there and causing corrosion or anything. And it's not like the car is never wet. It gets wet every time it's washed. I've even run it through car wash tunnels.

OTOH, it's spent 23 years not being driven in the rain. This will already be its longest trip, having only covered a tad over 6000 miles since birth. It's got 23 year old wiper blades! I have a car hauler and a truck. I could put it on the trailer and drag it. It's an open trailer, so the car would still get wet, but not the same as if it were on the ground, with its big meaty tires throwing nastiness off the pavement up on the undercarriage.

There's no guarantee I'll take anyone's advice. And I may change my mind a thousand times between now and next week. But I'm curious to know what folks think.

So I'm asking... what would you do? GO!

[efnfast]

If I was buying the car, I wouldn't believe you that it had never been driven in the rain. I might if it was an extremely low miles car. Here in the North East, it's almost unavoidable. They tell us 0 percent chance of rain, then it does.

[GTOger]

Whether to believe me or not... well not much I can do about that. I don't plan on parting with the car anyhow so I'm not really concerned with using that for resale. It's more for... well, I don't know! It didn't get rained on in the first year we had it, and that turned into another year, turned into 5 years and then it became "a thing". Don't drive the Hawk in the rain. It's just sort of always been like that.

Again, I'll fully cop to the car has been wet. Car washes, puddles... in fact here is some evidence:


The rain is totally avoidable for your average around-town kind of thing.

As for extremely low miles, I'm not sure if 260 miles per year constitutes that or not. I guess that would be a relative and/or subjective response. I wonder how many miles the other 25 Firehawks in the world have.

[JimZRyd]

Personally speaking , if you have the ability to haul it, haul it. Treat it special as it should be. Yes these cars were meant to be driven but that doesn't necessarily imply in the rain. Not 100% my 94 Z ever saw rain but if I can't help it, she won't. That's what my DD is for.

[efnfast]

Originally Posted by GTOger

Whether to believe me or not... well not much I can do about that. I don't plan on parting with the car anyhow so I'm not really concerned with using that for resale. It's more for... well, I don't know! It didn't get rained on in the first year we had it, and that turned into another year, turned into 5 years and then it became "a thing". Don't drive the Hawk in the rain. It's just sort of always been like that.

Again, I'll fully cop to the car has been wet. Car washes, puddles... in fact here is some evidence:


The rain is totally avoidable for your average around-town kind of thing.

As for extremely low miles, I'm not sure if 260 miles per year constitutes that or not. I guess that would be a relative and/or subjective response. I wonder how many miles the other 25 Firehawks in the world have.

I hope you didn't take that as an insult, or me calling you a liar, not what I meant. I would consider 6000 miles extremely low.

[GTOger]

Originally Posted by efnfast

I hope you didn't take that as an insult, or me calling you a liar, not what I meant. I would consider 6000 miles extremely low.

LOL, no worries, man. Sometimes I don't realize what I type doesn't come with the benefit of inflection. So I can tend to be "tone deaf" in that regard. It's all good!

But I think I'm gonna drag it now. Don't wanna.... but I think it's safer.

[Z06scentair]

Under no circumstance drive the car if you can transport....keep the miles as low as possible.

It's one thing to get wet on the topside, the bottom side is a different story.

Once they have been on wet roads it becomes nearly impossible to rid the evidence.

The true collector would be looking for that residual grime if for some reason you decide to part with it in the future.

Beautiful Car.......preserve it for what it is!

[GTOger]

Cool - so there's one for drive, one for drag. You guys... I'm so torn! I want to do both!

[FU]

Those are the original tires ? If they are I wouldn't drive on them period. Let alone in the rain. They would make a hell of a ride. Just my experience.

[GTOger]

Hey Frank - nah, this car is on it's 3rd set of tires. Right now it's wearing the same Nitto meats as the ZR-1. (NT-555). It *should* be wearing Firestone Firehawk tires, but those are no longer a performance tire. The Firehawk brand has been relegated to tires suited for your Camry or Focus.

Safety-wise, I'm not worried. Although, there are reliability questions that do make me consider the trailer. I simply don't have enough miles under my belt with the car to have a great deal of confidence. So there is that.

In 6000 miles this $42k Firebird has gone through 3 sets of tires, 1 air conditioner, 1 headliner, and let's not forget the replacement ZF transmission. Value for the dollar proposition it ain't! LOL