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.
One Comment
Hi,
I was watching you install the Dynamat and Dynaliner on you YouTube channel and noticed that you also used the jute underpad. I was wondering if you glued the jute to the Dynaliner and Dynamat when you were installing your carpeting?
I’m restoring a 1977 MGB roadster and my carpeting kit has come with carpet snaps. I was thinking of installing the Dynamat and Dynaliner and then snapping the carpet with jute underside on the floor panel instead of gluing it down. Do you think this method would work? Would it be too thick under the seats with all of the padding?