Roc Rinaldi

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Oh Yea. Jerry Lee is still rockin', only a bit softer now. He is the last man standing, sitting and laying on the floor. Give him credit. The liquor and drugs didn't kill him yet. Go Jerry Lee..............Great Balls Afire!!!!

.................but I like it!!!

I love my car.

She is covered in a garage. Double waxed including the door jams, underhood and hatchback area. Picked it up on 10/16/07. Has 289 miles so far. Last driven 11/22/07. Can't say how she is until I get my 500 mile break-in done. How frustrating to find instructions that say "Don't go over 55 and no flooring it until break-in is done." I think there is no break-in period. I think Chevrolet is saying this to save lives. The lives of those who think they can handle the power but really can't. The break-in period might slow someone down a little, and give them a chance to get to know the car. Of course, it won't slow me down. At mile 501 I will report on how she is. I am 61 so I do plan on keeping this one until I die, and then of course, my wife will have it to drive, hopefull alone. I don't like sharing my wife nor my cars. Then again, the pictures I have seen of the 2011 C7 look mighty fine. If the performance doesn't slip, maybe I would be interested in a 2011. They will probably have nine speed automatics by then.

I guess that there is no hope.

Thanks for making me feel welcome. I'll visit when I can.

Sorry to hear that you trickled all the way down the road. It must have been a shockingly charged experience!!!

Thanks Daddy. I have dreamed of having a garage all of my life, but I never thought that I would get one. My wife Janet has been wonderful in supporting my dreams. As you can imagine, she needs to approve of whatever I get involved in. I may have to withdraw her name from the offer to trade her for 2 FORTE IIs. I still sometimes feel like I am dreaming when I pull up to the house and see the garage there. For me, it is a dream come true. And lucily I have something worhty of a garage to put in it. Take care Daddy.

Thanks for the advice. BTW, your 2005 looks like you really take care of it. It looks great.

You know, I was in my 20s when I bought the new 1971 model. It was my first new car and it was a new Corvette. Four speed on the floor. I only had it for 18 months. It was my family's only car, at the time. My family was me, my wife Janet and my son Rocky. A bit cramped, I might add. Yes, we put Rocky between the two seats on the ledge. I know, I know, not very safe nor legal but that is what we did for 18 months. You should have seen us all coming out of the grocery store with bags and bags of groceries and nowhere to put them. Anyway, I bought that 1971 for exactly $5,200. Sold it 18 months later for $5,000. Not bad value. What I realize is that I now know why I didn't even consider another vette until now. I believe that basically until the 2005 C-6 hit the streets, I really didn't want to own a Corvette due to disappointing power, performance and to a lesser degree disappointing handling. I mean think about it. The CAFE gas efficiency standards really put a damper on horsepower in engines starting in the mid 70s right on through the early 2000s. The Corvette, I believe, got all the way down to 185hp in the 80s. Do you realize that a Honda Civic Si has the same hp as the 1984 Corvette? I really didn't want a Corvette from 1972 all the way through 2004. And the government is at it again. More stringent CAFE standards are definitely coming over the next 10 years. GM has already canceled a 700 hp future vette engine. Predictions are that the new CAFE standards are ruining the current resurgence in higher hp for high performance cars. Sad, sad, sad. However, when they brought out the 400hp C-6 in 2005, things started getting right again with Corvette. Man, 400hp makes for a really fast Corvette. I test drove a 2007 with 400hp and I was impressed with the speed. My car has 436hp. I have yet to experience the improved quickness because mine isn't broken in yet for full throttle use. But it will be soon. And the icing on the cake is the "dual mode" exhaust. With a switch I bought, I have full control over muffler vs. straight pipes. This feature I love. I would rather listen to my engine than listen to music while driving. I'm 61 so what am I saving my money for? I need my vette now while I can still enjoy it. Listen outside your windows and try to differentiate between the sounds of my two JL Audio f-113 subwoofers and the sounds of my Corvette engine. Both sounds are very BAD. I mean good BAD. Bye............I got a car to drive.

SWEET RIDE ......... The '71 is no where near the same league as the '08 ..... No Contest, a real driving machine, Lucky Dawg' !!!!! Thank you ob.

436hp 428 ft. lbs. torque Quickest and most powerful automatic Corvette ever made Most aerodynamic Corvette .28 coefficient of drag ........and "NO" I didn't opt for the Bose sound system. I just couldn't do it. I do have seven speakers but it is just the standard system for the vette. Gotta go. Maybe, weather permitting, I might get to actually drive it soon. I have 289 miles on it so far. I need 500 miles for break-in. Imagine the frustration of not being able to go over 55 mph nor mashing the accellerator until it is broken in. I have never had to exercise such restraint before.

0 - 60 4.3 seconds. Top speed 190mph 6 speed automatic

Angel