Sometime in early '95 I bought the Gotti five-spoke wheels and I replaced the worn Michelin tires that were on the car with Goodyear "GSCs", although I would have purchased the Gatorbacks if they were still making them.
The only problem I had with the Gotti wheels was the fact that they were a pain in the butt to clean; they were three-piece units with a multitude of little fasteners around the rim - nearly impossible to clean! Impossible that is, unless you liked having sore fingers and thumbs. Never again!
In the above image, you can just barely see the slash-cut exhaust tips. I really liked those tips; you don't see many of those anymore.
The next addition in the continuing personalization of my Corvette was the "Side Effects" exhaust system from Lawrence Keech, Inc. The exhaust not only gave it the appearance of sitting a little lower, it also sounded real good! You did have to be careful going over speed bumps and sometimes you did hit. When you hit, it sounded as though you bashed-in the entire rocker panel cover, or perhaps broke it to pieces. In reality all that hit was the extension for the factory lift point which is a requirement when adding side exhaust to a fourth-generation Corvette.
The only reason I got rid of the side exhaust was due to the new engine and its much higher horsepower; it could not be quieted enough no matter what I added to the system. I added every silencing device L-K offers but to no avail. Now it's a three-inch dual system exiting through Flowmaster 40-series mufflers.
Ten years after the introduction of the fourth generation Corvette I finally had one of my own. The introduction of the radically new Corvette was due in 1983 but was delayed for release, as we all by now know, until 1984. In 1994, I bought my very first Corvette ~ a 1987 silver coupe. It will also probably be the last Corvette I ever buy; I have no intention of ever selling this one, and I have no money with which to buy a second Corvette, so there you go.
Initially, I approached Corvette ownership as one does any new car; I wanted to preserve it as the General built it, that is, appearing as though it was "straight from the factory floor." I was so intent in preserving it that way that when it came time to replace the front Y-pipe, I replaced it "in kind" with a factory piece, installed by the dealer needless to say!
Replacing the Y-pipe, by the way, was only part of the repairs that needed to take place shortly after I purchased the car. When I say "shortly", that's an understatement if there ever was one; I had it back in the dealer's service bay less than two weeks after I purchased it. The list of what was wrong was a mile long, but at least I had a thirty-day, fifty/fifty warranty, so it didn't hurt as much as it could have. It was still a pretty penny though, believe me!
Things that went wrong shortly after the time of purchase included: a leaking intake manifold; catalytic converters gone bad; cooling system hoses that needed to be replaced along with the water pump; and a clutch master cylinder as well as the clutch pedal (Why I don't exactly remember now. I thought it was the clutch but...) Six months later I had to replace the radiator as well.
It surely was a used car, and although I was only the third owner at around 71,000 miles, the car was seven years old and it showed.
It's now got some of what I call "work shoes" as a second set of wheels/tires.
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