CURRENT VEHICLES
My daily driver, the wife's daily driver and the project vehicle.
2018 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 (#60)
I got sick of Jeep. Simple as that.
It was amazingly fun to off-road, but it leaked, it sucked to drive, it was all over the road. So I traded it in on this Silverado. It was 6 years old and had 92,000 miles. Beautiful leather interior and that awesome Chevy 5.3 liter LS motor. I swapped out the ugly oversized wheels and tires for these elegant polished ones, removed an ugly dented push bar and I have been enjoying the nice ride, but not the horrible gas mileage.
2001 Chevrolet Corvette (#59)
After selling the Viper, I was jonesing for another sports car. My buddy Eric had a C5 Z06 that he let me drive a while back and it was so easy to beat on and so predictable to swing around corners, I decided to get one. My first corvette.
I never liked them before. I am an aficianado of all cars and trucks, but whenever I thought of the vette, I got that image of the old man with the pull over shirt that has an elastic waist and a big gold chain and big gold watch that is fat and acts like he is so cool because he drives a vette. even at my advanced age, that is the opposite of me.
This car was beaten. It barely ran and did everything wrong, but it was only $6k. In 2024 $6k for a C6 is less than half of what they sell for. So I bought it and with a little help from Eric and others we transformed it from an ugly duckling to the beauty you see here. I did have to do a few things to it...
$6,000.00 to Purchase Car, then
$443.00 Reupholster leather seats
$400.00 C6 wheels & tires
$300.00 Headers and X pipe.
$300.00 Labor (reseal motor) (2/2)
$216.00 Labor (reseal motor) (1/2)
$200.00 Paint front bumper
$143.38 New seat foam (1/2)
$115.83 Oil pan gaskets
$112.45 O2 sensors (2)
$110.00 Labor to troubleshoot no rev issue
$107.00 Key & Remote
$100.00 Parking brake pads
$86.00 Front rotors
$85.67 MAF sensor
$81.00 Rotors
$80.20 O2 Pigtails (2)
$77.68 Iridium spark plugs
$67.85 New spark plug wires & boots
$65.88 MAP sensor
$65.00 Replace tail lights
$64.92 Knock Sensor Kit
$64.04 Tie rod ends
$60.00 New seat foam (2/2)
$59.91 new door reflector
$57.52 Rear main seal cover
$51.06 Rear Brake Pads
$50.00 HP Tuners
$46.44 TPS Pigtail
$44.99 TPS sensor
$43.70 Motor mounts (2)
$42.79 Sun Visors
$39.99 Front pads
$39.17 Barometric sensor
$32.10 new window switch (drivers side)
$29.99 Front Brakes
$27.58 Micro-V Belt
$26.70 Badge for front bumper
$25.77 Oil Temp sensor
$25.58 Wiper blades
$25.00 Intake manifold gaskets
$24.56 Coolant Temp Sensor
$23.99 Valve cover gaskets
$23.53 new shift knob
$22.03 Headliner
$16.98 Rear main seal
$14.97 Jack pucks
$13.47 USB charge port
$10.69 Wire mesh for grill openings (Fail)
$9.50 Muffler gasket
$8.55 Blinker pigtail
$8.12 Door trim
$5.07 Front bumper hardware
$- Painted drivers door handle
$- Installed Stock mufflers
$- Cleanup marker lights
$- Glued the cracked climate control knob
$- Front end alignment
$(200.00) Sold old wheels
$(500.00) Sold Billy Boat Exhaust
That's $9,495.00, but this car has been COMPLETELY gone through and is in excellent condition! Knowing me, I'll probably sell it soon.
1989 Ford Mustang LX (#57)
I sold the Suzuki SV650 and the Hayabusa and had a pile of cash sitting around. Rather than save it and add to the pile like a responsible person, I bought another car. I was intending on buying vehicles to fix and flip with my buddy, but when I saw this pristine 5.0, I couldn't pass it up. It has a 302 and a 5spd, because I wouldn't buy one any other way. It has 122k on the clock and was from up north, but was garaged it's entire life. the floors are clean enough to eat off of on the underside. The quarter window trim is still smooth! Hell, my '88 quarter window trim was like sandpaper back in 1992. It needs some basic maintenance, but has a mild cam, an off road H-pipe, flowmaster type exhaust, an intake and a shifter. All in all I am smitten with it. Hopefully I will get the funds to do some fun stuff with it.
Update 3/18/24: I lowered it on springs, which took me three tries to get it right (i.e. the way that I wanted it to sit) becasue the first set of springs were defective and then I installed the second set without the isolaters, which I found it really needed. I also bought and refurbished a set of Pony wheels, new tires and after three attempts, a shifter that fits me (with my 8 ball on top). I am still loving it. Gears are next and then maybe nicer wheels and probably tint...