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[sigung86]

Larry,

Any person, gearhead, computer geek, college student, etc. Who goes in and plunks down her or his bucks contributes to making the Corvette an Icon. And yes, we do live on the legends, and many of us, including the gearheads, thrive on those legends. That’s not a bad thing.

With rising production costs and valuations of the dollar, it is inevitable that the cost for something like the Corvette is going to go out of reach of what you call “Blue Collar”. That is, unless the blue collar is a highly paid specialist or close to it in some other way. One of the appeals of the Corvette is that they are not as numerous as Pintos were.

Further, not being a gearhead, has little or nothing to do with driving and enjoying our Vettes. It’s not about oneupmanship. It’s about kinship and the lifestyle of Vettes, the brotherhood and sisterhood that goes with belonging to a group of discerning people. One doesn’t have to be a gearhead to drive and enjoy the Corvette or be in the brother/sisterhood. That is a limited vision that would, if real, limit the production of the Vette even more… And then we could talk about the cost of the car being out of the ball park in a very real fashion.

Not everyone who buys a Vette does so with the idea of making the screamingest machine on Earth. We do, however, get into the mindset, for whatever the reason, of owning what is, to each of us, the coolest car going. And not everyone who buys a Vette has the desire or need to be a gearhead. That is what some, like myself, depend on the Brother/Sisterhood for. When my cold air induction does come in, I will be going to see my friends/brothers, Frank (fcalmes) and George (Black Magic). They know how to do it the right way. I haven’t a clue, I simply know that I want one for my own personal vision of what my Vette is to be.

I really hate to see divisive issues like gearheads versus computer programmers. Each person in the wonderful world of Vettedom, regardless of her/his social status, technical prowess, driving skill, sexual origin, or even political affiliation, makes Vettedom what it is. There is much room for diversity here, and that is what makes this forum and Corvette people some of the coolest, best folks to be around.

No… You really can’t make social distinctions within the kindom. There are people here who can buy and sell me ten times over. They know stuff I’ll never know. I know stuff that they haven’t an inkling of. Still, I wouldn’t hesitate to call on them or to, in turn, lend a hand where I can …

That’s the beauty of this forum. People like you, Cemo, Frank, George, FastDog, Janet, JC, FRC Tom, FUBU/Les, Paul, RetiredSFer, Ranger, Zippy, and on and on, can make a difference in my life. We are, in sum, greater than the total of all of our parts. To try and divide it is to diminish what we are hoping to become and limiting the vision of the forum and all that it entails. When you involve yourself with folks like these, even in a distance situation like our forum, you forge bonds that can and often do last a lifetime.

Take care,

Dan Farmer