I am not a rich guy either but I am very lucky in the fact my wife works full time
and unlucky in the fact we have no children. Luckily, both those facts work in
helping me keep my '69 on the road every dry day. I thought I would save some money
by purchasing one that had a receint frame off. Well, that idea did not work well.
I have owned the car for 2 years and have already put over 5K into repairs including
a complete new brake system. My garage goes up next month and I hope it saves me
a ton of $$$ in shop repairs. My first project is taking out my original 427 and
replacing it with a worked 454 ( I am lucky enough to belong to a club with members
who still have connections ) that will only cost about 2k for parts and hopefully
less than 500 in labor ( beer and pizza for the guys ). There are plenty of
parts houses out there for inexpensive parts and salvage yards for even less
expensive parts.
Keep on Vettin' !!!

I fit into this category as well.

I know that ''we'' have 2 Corvettes....but that only happens AFTER we got married.

I bought the '79 when I really shoudn't have...but it was ''love at first sight''..and I just had to have her.

this ''customizing project is a ''stop-n-go'' thing...I refuse to go into debt for this...*chuckle* so I save up some money ...buy a part... put it on....save up money again..buy another part...I will NOT let my Hubby pay for any of it..this is MY project!!

WE had given up a few things in order to keep both Vettes going...but we both are pretty good ''back yard mechanics'' so alot of things we can do ourselves..

I think the key is to keep up the maintenence....There are always gonna be some little things that never seem to get done...like my signal switch....got a piece of ducktape wrapped around it...but it isn't HIGH on the priory list right now....so it can wait and the leaking washer fluid reservoir.

But we have be very lucky with our Vettes...NO real major problems other than the tranny in the '94 a few months ago.

All in all we kinda sorta live paychecks to paychecks but all the bills are paid and we both drive pretty decent Corvettes.
Life don't get much better than that!

I can definetly relate to this, My 72 LS5 is an expensive toy, but I can remember when I got the FEVER, A friend of the community that looked after me while both my parents worked ran a daycare center and was very sucessful. He purchased a 1972 LS5 that year I think it was war bonnet yellow, I HAD NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT . I told myself oneday I will have one of those I was seven. That day came in Dec 2001. I love to work on it. There is just something about it, Its hard to explain but the car helps me to, well I guess its therapy. When my little one`s are tucked in their beds asleep I can retreat to my garage and find that little seven year old boy and remember life at a simplier place in time. It`s amazing to me what was happening at that time here in the U.S it take`s your breath away sometimes. If you can`t remember visit a library and read some newspapers from that timeperiod, AND TODAY WOW. Oneday my children will be driving this SYMBOL OF AMERICAN HISTORY. I am looking forward to those Highschool Homecomings until then Daddy will be doing the driving. I just hope my children will have something that will enable them never to lose or forget their childhood and I hope`s its ME!

|UPDATED|3/29/02 11:08:29 AM|/UPDATED|

Ok so I got mine as a present, but with my Daugther just finishing college last year and getting married in June and my son in his second year of college, I'l way past being in deep. But little by little I'm working on it. First it was the elect. door locks, then the radio, alarm system, console rebuild, new carpet, redoing the seats (still need foam & upolstry) , replaced rear compartment doors & trim & bucket, oh yes new battery, & lots of electrical repairs. Seams the car was sitting for a long time somewhere along the way, have removed 3 mouse nest & repaired wiring the little suckers chewed through, steering wheel & horn components, cruse control, rear break cable. About to repair door panels & dye interior. Still need to fix the clock, then start on the suspenshion, and finnaly the engine! It will be a few years but thats the fun of having it. In my younger years, was a 52 Chevy, then two 57 Chev.'s, a 62 SS, a 68 Camero. There was also building dirt track cars (built from joining a Chevelle front frame with a 55-57 rear frame. The last car we built was an asphalt car, but never saw it run (wife said race car or her). Then getting married, kids, house, kids cars, their college, and so on. Yes I understand completly!

PS I'ed give mt right *** for a garage, I hate laying on the ground, especially after growing up in a 14 car professional garage.

|UPDATED|3/26/02 10:53:32 PM|/UPDATED|

Thanks to all who replied to this thread so far, I have to commend each and every one of you for your resourcefulness, ingenuity, sacrifices and I’m sure at times your downright stubbornness in order to enjoy the one thing that we all have in common, OUR CORVETTES. Each of us probably have had many setbacks in our lives and with all that is going on in this crazy world we have managed to hold on to a little bit of that so called American Dream. And although they may not be the prettiest or the fastest, or the most expensive Corvettes and maybe all the numbers don’t match, take heart in knowing that you are part of an elite group of hard working, family oriented, church going, tax paying sons of guns proud owning Corvette Folk.
Now who wants a slice of good old American Apple Pie ?

*Apple76.…I bet you don’t even miss those lunches.
*Taffyjones….Don’t give up on that 77. And judging from your pics the people that look down their nose at you are probably jealous, or scared to make eye contact with you. You look like you could snap them in two like a twig.
*Guitarguy9858.…Thanks for giving up the ‘62 to help defend this great country. And thanks to all our servicemen and women for their commitment in keeping this nation free.
*4webers….can’t wait to see your vette in person, great setup.
*Silver 80.…the Antarctic??? And a Vette??? I am not Worthy, I am not Worthy.
You are the king of vette nuts everywhere.
*TJRed76.…Don’t forget to charge for those rides, you can make enough money to rebuild you engine.
*Mr69vette….getting my vette to look half as good as yours is my goal. My original color is yellow, but I have a year or two before I can join the yellow jackets.
*Madjaxs….how are you making out with getting your vette painted ? Let us know your progress.
*Dyza77.…I too belong to the Visa Vette Club….not to mention master card, discover card, american express and various credit unions.
*Swampy….age 60 is not old….O.K. maybe it’s a little old….but it’s not old old. When your 80, now that when your old, but 60 ?…..not old…matured !!!
*Glenns….sounds like a plan to me….keep us posted on the engine swap and when the kids do finally arrive you can always get a second job, and don’t be afraid to send the kids to grandma’s for a couple of hours while you and your wife go for an afternoon cruise. That advise is in chapter 7, third paragraph of the Poor Man’s Corvette Chronicles Handbook, entitled How to keep your Corvette with 7 Kids, 3 Dogs, 2 Cats and a Goldfish.
*LacostaRose….there is nothing wrong with using duck tape on a corvette, this is an acceptable means of temporary corvette repairs practiced by many a corvette owner. I have a new book coming out soon entitled “1001 Uses for Duck tape on your Vette” I will send you a signed copy.
*Frank Watson….I too was smitten by the vette bug at a tender age. It wasn’t until I was 25 and had two kids that I was able to own my first vette. My wife and I were so thrilled we went out and had another kid.
*Milkman….I also long for a garage, heck, I’d settle for a carport. I’ve had mice problems also when I live in a rural farm area and parked my vette and covered it up for the winter. I had nests in the air cleaner, the storage compartments and the exhaust system. Nasty little creatures really did some damage.