My Corvette Story (Long Version)

[Figure8it]

I purchased my first Corvette in 2001, a 1995 Black on Black 6-speed coupe with 17190 miles. The night I bought it, it was snowing. Snowing? Snowing. I called my buddy Brian and asked if he had any room in his garage. He moved things in all areas to get me a space. This was the first of many garages she lived in under my care.

First order of business was to get things checked out, fluids changed and make sure I had good tires. When she went in for service that spring, there were already signs the water pump was failing so a full water pump, Opti replacement and tune up and fluid change it was. The car ran fantastic. Later that year I noticed some oil on the garage floor right where the motor and trans meet. Doing some research with a friend, we found the leak to be coming from the rear seal on the intake manifold. This was my first experience opening up any motor and it built my confidence to work on the car. I had the service manual and followed the process. It was a cool job because all you really had to do was take the intake off, flip it onto the windshield, clean off and replace the old seals, put a new silicone bead on each side, put the manifold back on and toque it down. Never had an issue with it the remaining time I owned the car. I never had any other issue at all with the car.

It was a great car to own and enjoy. We took it to local car nights, test and tune at Route 66 (ran 13.5?s all day long) and even the occasional trip to the grocery store. Kept clean and always ready for a drive. It even inspired my Dad to buy a 1990 Red Corvette, which was the last car he ever drove. Sadly, he was on a business trip out of town when he passed. He took the Corvette to the airport, I had to find it and drive it back to his house. It was September and he had a Johnny Mathis Christmas tape in the tape deck. He loved Christmas. I was promised an opportunity to buy the car but somehow that never happened. Life went on. (Pic below)

The time came when we had to make some family decisions and one that needed to be made was selling the car. Many of us have had this experience for one reason or another but (usually with the hopes that one day we can have our cars back) we make it in the best interest of our lives. I sold my Corvette with about 33190 miles, almost exactly 16,000 miles driven in 8 years. It was a sad day to see the car drive away but I?m hopeful that she went to someone that loved on her like I did.

It was the right decision to sell the car. It would have sat and never been driven. We had no time for ourselves, let alone hobbies, with a daughter. Then we grew our family even larger with the birth of our son. We built a home, settled into a great neighborhood and it was the best thing that we could have done for our family.

My professional life was not so good at the time. I had a good business and a bad business partner. It took an almost 10-year lawsuit to resolve it, but finally it was all done in the spring this year. FREEDOM

At the end of 2020 we had a tragedy in our family. My wife lost her father and stepmother in an accident on Labor Day weekend. It was and still is so hard. One of the things my wife?s family did as she was growing up was camping. These were experiences that were very important to her, and our family decided to give it a try. We bought a used RAM 2500 truck in December 2020 and used travel trailer in January 2021 and set out to be campers in 2021. WE LOVED IT!!!

This past year we camped in SIX states (WI, MI, IN, KY, TN, and NC) and saw the country. It was fantastic to drive and enjoy the wonderful USA! We found great places to stay and relax. We stayed in Boling Green and went to the Corvette Museum. A dream come true for me.

Towards the end of summer, I was realizing that my 2013 Subaru Outback that I purchased new and used as my daily driver wasn?t being driven. It was because I was driving the truck and the Subaru became more of a 3rd car. A 3rd car that only I drive. A 3rd car with 191,000 miles that was worth like $2500 at the beginning of the year and is now worth 3x-4x that in the market. I found a dealership that had a 1996 Collector?s Edition and was looking to trade them straight up for the Subaru. My wife was not thrilled about the idea of a 6-speed car (that she doesn?t know how to drive stick) that was only two seats but was accepting enough to let me buy it if I wanted. The 96? was in tough shape and we did not make a deal but after the drive I was set on buying another Corvette. One thing my wife said to me was not to settle on something and to ?buy want you want? or maybe that?s just what I heard. I listed the Subaru by owner and sold it in a week.

The search was on. My goal was to find a 1995 ZR-1 that was not a show or collector car. I wanted to find something that was driven each year and used. I used $30k as a number to target. Now I?ve bookmarked sites, I?m contacting people, posting on the forum and trying to find something not for crazy dollars. My sense is that many owners that purchased their 1995 ZR-1?s new, are not for sale often or are in collections that are not used. Many extremely low mileage cars available but not what I was looking for. I then adjusted my search to include 1992-1994 and found a few that I considered. I was so serious about a car 1000 miles away that I had a Lemon Squad inspection done but I ultimately passed on that car. ***Side note about Lemon Squad? I felt they did a decent job, took videos and pictures which helped me decide on the car. If I had to inspect a car again, I would look for an appraiser that does mechanical inspections local to the car. This way you get a value and a mechanical inspection but if not available, Lemon Squad would be sufficient. ***

Now it?s been a couple months on the search and nothing new coming up. I started looking at local Corvette clubs and found a classified ad for a local 1992 ZR-1. It was an older ad and when I called, they said the car was still for sale. I went over for a look and knew it was the right car. They were the second owners and had bought the car in 2018 to be used it as a backup car for autocross racing. I asked questions and they provided documentation for maintenance records. There were also some visible signs that I noticed that gave me a good feeling about the car. We agreed on a deal and setup another time for me to pick it up. I'm now the proud owner of a 1992 Polo Green ZR-1 #145 with 43k miles!!!!

When I drove the car, I found out the gas pedal was broken. I knew that it had the original fuel injectors and it was running a bit rough. Everything else felt as solid as my 95?. My buddy has a local shop so we fixed the pedal the first week. I was finally able to put my foot into it?. And it felt stronger than the 95? but not ZR-1 strong *sigh*. I planned for another time to swap plugs and video scope the cylinders. It was at this time when I started looking back at the documentation to see what was done to the car. At the beginning, there were many Chevy receipts for service but then it started going to Doug Rippie Motorsports for work. I had receipts going up to 1999 but nothing after it. Since dealing with it myself, I figured they had to do a system upgrade because of Y2K. I called DRM and asked if they had any additional information. I received a call back later that day informing me that in 2001, the DRM 500 (475hp) package was installed. So now I know for sure this car is not performing anywhere near what should be close to 500hp. I started looking around to see who could service it since DRM is in MN.

I kept hearing the name Marc Haibeck and when I looked him up, he was in Addison, IL like 20 minutes away from me. I made the appointment with Marc for an inspection with the plan to bring the car back to them when they have a spot. I replaced the plugs and found my #5 cylinder was dead (Marc later confirmed that and another were not working ? v6 ZR-1 anyone?) and took videos of the cylinders. I was able to show them to Marc and Bob during our appointment. I was so impressed by both Marc and Bob. We had a great conversation while they did their jobs and you can tell how much they both enjoy their work. We worked up a list and put me on the schedule.

The list included a few things I could tackle:
? Cigar Lighter Fuse
? Pads and rotors
? Upside down suspension bar
? Wheel hubs
? Ball joints
? Tie Rod dust boots and grease fittings

Yeah, that Cigar Lighter fuse was an easy fix in comparison. While apart, I cleaned up the aluminum and wheel wells. The My Corvette Life channel on YouTube was very helpful. Chris does a lot of maintenance work that you can learn and do yourself. I was diligent and made a step-by-step guide as I watched the videos. I also checked out other similar processes done on YouTube and used the forums to validate information like torque specs. It took me about 3 days in the garage to get everything done (I also painted caliper brackets and lug nuts so that took time to cure). The best thing about working on your own car is making notes when you find things missing or needing to be corrected later (I?m missing one Teflon washer ).

While I wait for my appointment with Marc and Bob, I?ll continue to clean and detail everything. I have plans to polish the Borla exhaust next.

The biggest concern I now have is the compression. I?m not sure how long it?s been running this way (or autocross raced this way). My thought was since there is no fuel, maybe there will be no issues. With fuel, I?m told there could be damage to the piston rings. I don?t know enough so it?ll be a wait and see for me. In any event, it will be going to the good doctors soon for a much-needed checkup and I can?t wait to see those dyno numbers when they are done 😊

If you made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read My Corvette Story. The Corvette has always been a love in my life and I?m happy to be living in the experience again. Looking forward to meeting members in person and enjoying a drive!

[JThomas]

Great story, and it shows you definitely have the Corvette passion!

[jcruz]

Originally Posted by Figure8it

This past year we camped in SIX states (WI, MI, IN, KY, TN, and NC) and saw the country. It was fantastic to drive and enjoy the wonderful USA! We found great places to stay and relax. We stayed in Bowling Green and went to the Corvette Museum. A dream come true for me.

This is me next summer. I visited Bowling Green back in the 90's when I had a '92 Z07...I think the NCM had just opened. I'm looking forward to getting back and seeing how the museum is these days.

Do they still give tours of the plant?

Cool story!

John

[kz098123]

Originally Posted by jcruz

This is me next summer. I visited Bowling Green back in the 90's when I had a '92 Z07...I think the NCM had just opened. I'm looking forward to getting back and seeing how the museum is these days.



Do they still give tours of the plant?



Cool story!



John

Plant tours are suspended due to Covid, last I checked a couple weeks ago.

[evolutionross]

Thanks for sharing your story! I was so excited when you wrote that the car had a DRM 500 and then let down when the two cylinders were diagnosed. My heart goes out to you! But, you are in very good hands with Marc and Bob! Every time I drive my car, I am deeply awed by their work. Can't wait to hear the follow up after the car is seen by the Doctor.