Hello All!
I just wanted to take a minute (or 20) and introduce myself as I am new to ZR-1 ownership as of last weekend.
I've interacted with some of you over the last few months and I really appreciate all the help I have received both here and over at Corvetteforum. I have been looking for "THE" ZR-1 since mid last year or so, and started making offers and seriously considering cars starting in April of this year. I'd made offers on a few, but for one reason or another none of them had worked out until about three weeks ago when I made an inquiry on one and the pieces all fell into place so quickly it was scary. This was the car. It isn't my dream color combo (Black/Red), but it's got absolutely every other criteria met and I'm in love with it already.
My (new to me) car is a 1990 ZR-1 One Owner Red/Red with 25k miles (27k now that we are home in Indiana from driving cross country. Car is #2530.
I had wanted to tell the story of the trip in the same way that Jim (QB93Z)
normally does with his trips, but we ran into an incredible hiccup along the way and now must only recount it after the fact. (more on this in a bit)
I'm going to have this start with Day 1, and I'll do a separate response for each day after Totaling in 4 days.
Pre-Planning
So I had only seen photos of the car, and talked to the previous owner on the phone and everything seemed great. I arranged an inspection with the one and only, Man, Myth, Legend and ZR-1 Registry form member Demps out in Las Vegas. Ted looked at the car, we talked for quite a while and also emailed a few times after that, and I made the arrangements with the original owner (Don) to go out and get it.
This is the photo from Don's listing.
The plan was that we were going to fly out and drive the car home on Route 66 because it sounded like an awesome idea since neither of us had ever driven Route 66. I knew that weather might be an issue this time of year, so I took the weather very seriously. Each day a week before the trip I checked the weather forecast in every major city that we were going to pass though. In fact I downloaded the inRoute App for my iPad to help plot the trip and plot the weather forecast for our trip based on the dates we planned to travel. This is a screenshot of the app on Wednesday 12/9/2015. (I was flying out on 12/11).
The graph on the bottom I found super helpful as it had the options to tell me temperature, precipitation, humidity and a few other things in graph form for the duration of our trip based on mileage and date. The graph in the photo reads that right at the beginning there was a 100% chance of light precipitation in Arizona, but I could live with that.
I booked the flights.
Day 1:
(The view from my seat flying out of Chicago).
The plan ended up being that my wife drove me to the Indianapolis Airport at 4AM on Friday 12/11 for a 6am flight to Chicago, where I then flew to Las Vegas to arrive by 9AM. There I would meet with Don at the airport, look at the car, head to the BMV and then see Ted before heading to Scottsdale Arizona where my sister lives and where my wife was flying after work on Friday. To this point everything had gone very according to plan. Don was an incredible fellow who is/was very proud of his cars (he has a 95 Z still, and has a New Z06 on order). I couldn't have picked a better person to spend a majority of the day with. Unfortunately most of that time was spent at the BMV.
The Visit to the BMV should have been an indicator as to how the rest of the trip was going to go. At one point we had been there for 2 hours and the line hadn't moved. Security then took the line single file out the door into the parking lot and then moved us BACK inside as if they were trying to give us some fresh air. I don't have any pictures of the mad mess that was the BMV, but I can tell you this. If you are in Nevada; Avoid it at all costs.
When all said and done 3 hours had passed, and Don ended up loaning me his plates to get home because the BMV computers were down and the moving permit that they provided me was ONLY good in Nevada. Considering not a whole lot of Nevada is between Las Vegas and Arizona this could have really put a damper on the Trip. Don was my hero.
After leaving Don, I went to the Wal-Mart (yes I know) to get little things that I hadn't packed not knowing how much space I would have. These things would include:
-A small bluetooth speaker for the Cup holder since the radio didn't work.
-Windex to clean the inside of the windows
-A Can of Fix a Flat for just in case
-Some Microfiber Cloths
-Flashlight
Ted recommended that I drive the car around and get it to operating temp in the Valley before going to Arizona because my car has the Original Fuel Injectors in it and if there was a problem it would be good to know before leaving. Before I flew out, I had acquired 16 new Accel Injectors, Injector and Plenum gaskets from Jerrys, the LT5 service manual, AND Marc Haibeck's Plenum DVD in the event that I was in a bind. It may seem like I was paranoid about the injectors, but if something went wrong on this trip, I was SURE it would be the injectors. (more on this later also)
I let the car run in the parking lot while I cleaned the windows and went over the car in extreme detail, as I would check certain areas over different legs of the trip looking for any sign of trouble. I also took some photos of the car in the parking lot until I started getting accosted for change by a few folks passing through. Luckily that's when Ted called and I went to see him and his glorious collection of ZR-1s.
I could talk to Ted for days, and it took everything in my being to not take photos of everything in his garage. Ted is a Magical Space ninja and I am incredibly grateful that he was able to look at this car for me. I wish I could have gotten to him sooner to buy him lunch, but since I didn't it just means I owe him one the next time I see him either in Vegas or at a ZR-1 Gathering.
After Ted's I hit the road to Scottsdale and my new to me Z drove like a dream.
Got to my sisters at around 11pm and we went to get my wife from the Airport. Thus far the trip was going incredibly well and exactly as planned. I was excited to see my wife and what day 2 might bring.
(Day 2 will be next post)
