Owning a 1966 Corvette - 1966 Chevrolet Corvette Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.com

Owning a 1966 Corvette - 1966 Chevrolet Corvette Long-Term Road Test

Much of the appeal behind owning an older car, like our 1966 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray, is the personalized list of quirks and nuances that accompany it. Here are a few.

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cobryson

The way you guys keep glossing over, joking about, or complaining about the failures of this car is borderline disrespectful to your readers. Honestly, it's as if you guys had some major buyer's remorse and are now trying to find ways to cope with it and justify it, rather than owning up to a poor, seemingly rash purchase and bringing this car up to the standard it deserves.

texases

I have no problem with their purchase, any 50 year old car will have a raft of issues, now or later. But fixing them is the key, the reason to live with a car like this.

p.s. - regarding the tach, it's driven by another cable, I think this one is from the distributor, probably just needs a new one.

zimtheinvader

well said, cobryson.

If they were in Colorado I'd call this a 'joint' effort. "Dude, lets get a classic Corvette", "Yeahhhh, that would be great.", "This one is niiiice. Lets get it", "Whoa, should we have someone check it out?", "What, no way. these people look honest. Lets just have them put side pipes on it", "Pipes, that's funny.", "Pipes", "Pipes"

In all seriousness though someone there should do what any average person would do if they found this car in their garage:

1. Start hitting the forums for help on diagnosing and fixing issues. Alternately and possibly along with that find a good mechanic that is familiar with these and doesn't cost a fortune.
2. Decide if it will be a daily type driver and if so replace the tires (/wheels if necessary) and upgrade the brakes

cobryson

Just to add a little more food for thought-we're probably all so critical here because, for the most part, a lot of us would like to have your jobs in some way or another. For most of us, cars are a hobby, a strong interest, but not our main way of making a living. You guys, at least from an outsider's perspective, seem to have found a great way to marry the two, and get to drive and work on many things we don't. As a result, it's natural for us to criticize, think we could do better, and heap scorn on any and every decision we disagree with. In reality I would probably make plenty of mistakes in the same position, but I'd certainly try to keep in mind that the reader is going to have such a strong opinion.

throwback

50 year old cars are not going to drive live modern cars, period. To really evaluate this car you have to accept it for what it is. A weekend fun car that requires you to DRIVE, not chat on the phone or eat McDonald's. It's a mechanical object as opposed to today's digital cars with all the safety nannies to protect you from your own dumb behavior.

allthingshonda

I don't think they're being critical of the old Vette, it seems to me that they're kind of enjoying her personality. New cars are not the same as old cars, old cars have a soul. Old cars are as close as you can get to a time machine. The old girl requires all of your attention all the time because it's all manual. A 2015 Stingray can be engaging when you want but most of the time you sit back in the 8 way power leather covered seats, with the auto transmission in Drive, cruise control engaged, automatic dual zone climate control set to your preferred temp, iPod connected to the Bose audio system, stability/traction systems and Onstar on guard, automatic Bi-Xenon headlights at the ready to light the road and the navigation system as your trusty co-pilot all while having a conversation on your phone via the car's Bluetooth connection.

saulster

I am with cobryson and zimtheinvader here.

The "value" of this car is it's originality ( ie matching numbers etc. ). You need to fix the "little" details you keep glossing over and keep the car "nice". Otherwise it is not so valuable or desirable so why did you buy it and spend all the extra for such originality in the first place? Just another "driver" with 50 year old car issues is a whole lot less car. Take care of it and quit making excuses.

I agree that for your regular driving, you need some fresh wheels and radial tires. Store the original wheels and bias ply tires until it's time to sell on in original condition. Or show off at a "meet".

And, again, I don't see any comments on the dealership, Mershons, selling you an expensive original car in such condition. You keep finding more and more problems and issues. Now the tach probably needs some attention, unless you check the forums and other available information and find this is "normal". Let us know, please. The steering wheel and driver's seat "creak". The rear view mirror "vibrates" over 3K RPM. Yeah, I know, it's 50 years old and I agree his kind of issue is to be expected. So, again, why didn't you have a thorough pre inspection done and find out everything before spending your ( well, Edmunds' ) money for a "needy" car? Regardless, fix it and make it right.

expensivehobby

The seat, the wheel, stuff like that comes with an old car. The tires, brakes, mirror are safety items and to me really go to just how Edmunds intends to treat this car. As a "pull out ont on a weekend and drive 50 miles, then back in the garage until next weekend" vehicle, okay, standard brakes and bias ply tires I guess would do. But if Edmunds plans to actually drive the car more than that, I think its a bigger safety issue.. If you're driving it more than as a weekend showpiece, modernize them. As to the speedometer, doesn't it defeat the feel of owning and driving a classic old car by using a smartphone to gauge your speed? The bouncing tach I can live with--shoot, I remember bouncing speedos and tachs on 5-year-old vehicles back in the 60s. But no speedo? Either use none or fix it.

herbiedriver

I love following this! This is a great example of driving an older vehicle, and this 'Vette is not quite totally restored but falls in the 'driver' category. If it were restored all the mechanicals would and should work as new (speedo, tach, etc.).

I drove a 64 Bug as a daily for several years, and I would cringe at the people that would want advice for buying a VW for a daily to save gas. I did it because I had it, and it did save gas (sort of), and I loved it! Driving it daily was a challenge, 50 years of abuse takes its toll, it felt like a victory when I would make it to work in the morning or made it home at night! But the joy of driving something unique, that I maintained and loved is something that my newer cars just don't have.

Leave early, show up late and you smell like gas, that means I drove my Bug that day.

Keep up the good work, and remember, all of these quirks are what makes the car a bit more special, it's not like you bought this CPO.

kennypi

For the bouncy tach you should check the end play on the distributor main shaft it can be shimmed up, if the tach drive gears are eaten up replacements are available easy fix.

ttopjohn

Pretty excited to find this long term test car - I thought y'all had abandoned the "cool older car" category when you never updated with a wrapup story on the CL65. So, whatever happened to the concluding writeup of the CL65?

stever

This is the Wrap Up for the CL65 @ttopjohn. There's a list of all the long term blurbs for that car at the link.

ttopjohn

Thanks stever! I was looking under "new updates" thinking it would show up there.