I began looking through the Auto Trader and came across a mint '99 Silver 6 speed Coupe with just 4,000 miles on it. The fellow had leased the car with the intention of buying it at the end of the three year term, but two new babies arrived within that time period making the Corvette less than practical. He was willing to let the car go at the residual value plus a few thousand dollars for himself. Deal! We bought the car and on the drive back from the dealership where we had it safety checked I decided that I HAD to have the Z06. After numerous negotiations with my wife, she reluctantly decided to let me negotiate on a new Z06.
It was September 2001 when I started visiting dealerships in search of a car. Z06's were still commanding full retail at this time, but I was fortunate to find a local dealer through a contact in my Corvette Club that discounted the car $2,000 for us. On top of this, we had bought the '99 right, so we actually got $2,000 more on the trade in value than we paid for it and saved an additional $9,000 in sales tax. All in all, not a bad deal! We ordered a Quicksilver on Black car with every conceivable option. The dealer told us that if we were lucky, we should be able to take delivery just before Christmas. We could hardly wait!
I got a call from our sales rep, Joe Pietracoupa, on December 5th telling me that the car had arrived and asking if we wanted to see it before it was detailed. I think I arrived at the dealership before the sales rep even had time to hang up the phone! He took me downstairs were the car was safely stored away. Here is what I found...
She was absolutely beautiful! I inspected the car and arranged to have the car detailed by the lot supervisor rather than the "kid" that normally does this. She promised to take very good care of the car and not to buff the paint or apply any wax. True to her word, the car was spotless the following day when I went to pick it up. Here's what it looked like...
My wife and I were fortunate enough to get one Sunday drive in before the snow began to fly and put 60 miles on the car before tucking it away for the Winter. I have to admit that it was very tempting to bring the car out for a drive when we had days with no snow on the ground, but I resisted the temptation and kept it safe and sound in our garage until the Spring arrived. By mid April the snow had melted and the roads were clear of salt, so it was time to take the car out of storage and give her another good cleaning. As you can see, she cleans up real well...
This is absolutely the fastest car I have ever owned. 405 horsepower, 12.4 second quarter mile times and 0 - 60 in 3.8 seconds...awesome! Special thanks to Joe and all the nice folks at Towne Chev-Olds in Oakville, Ontario for their help in making the purchase of our dream "date" car a reality.