Broken Speedo - 1966 Chevrolet Corvette Long-Term Road Test

Shortly after being repaired, sort-of, the speedometer in our 1966 Chevrolet Corvette broke again.
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Shortly after being repaired, sort-of, the speedometer in our 1966 Chevrolet Corvette broke again.
Comments
i respectfully disagree kirkhilles1. i am sure their budget (like everyone's) is limited and i'd rather see them spend that on something else for the car.
speedo app for longer trips and be done.
Meanwhile I will add a reinforcing mental note to my prior mental note to never buy a Corvette from the guys you used.
Oh, and I don't see how you can justify adding totally superfluous side pipes for $2,500 then fail to fix the speedometer.
Now you're stuck figuring out how to fix this gem appropriately. I say spend away, because that's what it takes to keep 50-year-old classic cars running as DAILY drivers. Normally, this car would come out only for Sunday car cruises.
".. Mershon's, a family-owned and -operated classic car dealer in Springfield, Ohio. Mershon's deals in Corvettes mostly and has a solid reputation."
Seeing the numbers of issues they did not disclose to you when you bought the car, they don't seem so solid to me.
The purchase of this car is useful as entertainment but much, much more if you approach this car like a normal buyer of a classic $50,000 car would. Fix the damn thing and treat it like it should be treated. That means proper maintenance, running it hard when it's warmed up, and finding out what it's really like living with.
They've got the money and if this is going to be a useful blog, they need to fix it. The advantage of a 50 year old car is that you don't need to take it to the dealer. Find some shop that will do it cheap. I'm sure it's VERY straightforward, probably just a whole lot of screws. Now is the time to find that independent shop (just like you have your independent tire shop) that'll charge a decent hourly rate and is trustworthy.
I get it. You guys wanted a car that you could do those fancy photo shoots with, but again, unless this is just an art project that will sit around for 2 years, then fix it and move on. It won't be the last repair that you do on it, but hey, anyone could've told you that.
Still not one word from Edmunds about the people at Mershons who sold you the car with this $1K to fix, obvious broken item. Why not? Have you called them to discuss / complain / ask for them to pay for the fix? What is the law about selling a car with a broken speedometer and odometer, isn't there some disclosure required? And, yes, as noted above, you will have to disclose when you sell this on that you don't really know the actual mileage because the odometer was out of service for an unknown period of time and miles. So sad........ Who is going to pay the big bucks like you paid Mershons with this kind of disclosure?
Sorry but the more we hear about how Edmunds handled this purchase, the less there is to like. At least fix the darn thing properly and move on as best you can.
Like any individual shopping for a classic car they really need to settle on a plan for ownership. Is it going to be a daily driver? Or a weekend fun car? Are they going to try to keep (make) it as perfect as possible or ignore and bandage problems? Are they going to upgrade items like brakes and tires or just continually post about how bad they are? What is the purpose and plan for this car?
The most disturbing thing about this article/update is not that they bought a car that has and continues to have problems but they're deciding *if* they will fix it. The correct question should be *how* they plan to fix it (weekend project, independent mechanic, Corvette specialist, dealer, etc.). Since I don't own one of these cars with this specific issue I don't really care about what's involved to fix it yourself (as different repairs on different cars are likely going to require different effort, tool and skill level), but from the perspective of journalism providing consumer information it might make a good article to see quotes of what it would cost to repair using various options.
For example, this would be a good opportunity to show the differences between an independent shop and the dealer. Can a modern dealer even quote an accurate estimate on an older car? Are specialty shops that handle particular old makes and models going to be more expensive than an all-makes, all-model independent, etc.? The sample size might be small but it would add some generalizations and give consumers some food for thought when evaluating different options if they can't fix something themselves.
http://www.nhspeedometer.com/
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