Which Car To Choose?
The Cobra Coupe
Price: $35,000-$100,000+
$35K = 302 V8 & 5 speed,
Mustang suspension & solid rear axle
Engine, suspension, performance increases as the price increases.
Pros: Wicked fast & fun
Cons: Brutal to drive for 2,500 miles
Wet in the rain, even with hardtop & side window curtains
1966 Mustang
Price: $20,000+ coupe
$45,00+ convertible
$50,000+ fastback.
Engine: 289-200hp or 289-225hp
(289 hipo 271hp, $20,000+ premium).
Pros:fun to drive, parts readily available from auto parts stores & specialty suppliers, Windows & top! -- Coupe prices are respectable.
Cons: good convertibles and fastbacks in Corvette price range, and the Corvette is a much better car
1966 Corvette
Price: $60,000+, coupe or convertible
Engine: 327-300hp or 327-350hp
(427 big blocks priced even higher)
Pros: Iconic, Route 66 heritage all the way
Great car! Best all-around American sports car of the 60s
Parts readily available from auto parts stores & specialty suppliers
Cons: Price
The Choice is Clear
Or Is It?
Sometimes life interferes with the best-laid plans.
The ’66 Mustang was the winner. Except life interfered. I rent shop space, where I would be working on the car and prepping it for the journey. Except I got a 90-day notice to vacate.
Move out of the shop. Find a new location. Move into the shop. Set up the shop. Come down with Covid.
Test-driving a couple of ’66 Mustangs locally was a sobering experience. They looked good on paper, but when I test-drove them, it was scary. I didn’t want to drive them 100 miles, much less 2500. What about buying a car over the internet? Do I trust buying a car a thousand miles away without a test drive? If I fly somewhere, I have one chance to pick a winner with the clock ticking on my 66th year of life on this planet.
I changed the plan. A search on the internet for available AMERICAN cars that would be appropriate for a Route 66 cruise held several options. I checked on a few. I looked at one and bought it. A newer Corvette. One with 57,000 miles on the odometer, one that looks and drives like new. A 2003 in my favorite shade of red (bright blue). To top it off, it’s the Z06 model, perhaps the best track car to come out of a factory. And the best part: way under my ’66 Mustang budget. (That’s an intesting topic for a blog post!)
So here she is, my 2003 Corvette Z06, aka My Route 66 Road Trip Car.
It’s not a convertible, but I can still channel George Maharis and Martin Milner while cruising across the desert in air-conditioned comfort.
