RHD Corvettes
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Discussion

535d

Original Poster:

157 posts

240 months

Saturday 28th January 2006
quotequote all
How many in the UK, at a guess?

ZR1cliff

17,999 posts

270 months

Saturday 28th January 2006
quotequote all
two

mark387mw

2,198 posts

288 months

Saturday 28th January 2006
quotequote all
I've seen a yellow one advertised in the classic mags.

Edited to say I found the ad but no longer the on website, www.grange-classics.co.uk , it was an X-reg 2001 converted RHD car with 7000 miles and reg X3 VET @£28995. Anyone know it?

>> Edited by mark387mw on Saturday 28th January 21:59

>> Edited by mark387mw on Saturday 28th January 22:00

ZR1cliff

17,999 posts

270 months

Saturday 28th January 2006
quotequote all
To tell you the truth i dont really know,but it is very few.

888usa

2,211 posts

261 months

Sunday 29th January 2006
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I saw the car a few years ago at a show it had to be the worst thing I have ever seen done at that time the car was still new! Why would you want to do it!!! It just looked awful.

Boosted Ls1

21,200 posts

281 months

Sunday 29th January 2006
quotequote all
RHD vettes seem common in Oz but the conversion adds to the cost.

Boosted.

535d

Original Poster:

157 posts

240 months

Monday 30th January 2006
quotequote all
888usa said:
I saw the car a few years ago at a show it had to be the worst thing I have ever seen done at that time the car was still new! Why would you want to do it!!!


Why?

Simply so that the steering wheel is on the correct side for this country!

I can never understand why the Mustang and Corvette is not available in rhd, bearing in mind how many countries would then buy them in much bigger numbers than at present. I know loads of people who would have a Mustang, but for the LHD.
Australia, UK, Eire, South Africa, Japan, to name a few.
It is total madness to only offer LHD.

mrvette

973 posts

248 months

Monday 30th January 2006
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Looking to the plus side, it keeps them more exclusive!

535d

Original Poster:

157 posts

240 months

Monday 30th January 2006
quotequote all
There is that!

I am negotiating at the moment for a vgc, 96,000 miles, 1973 Corvette, 454ci, automatic and fully loaded for £8000. It seems way too cheap for so much car, but i have to take a look at that price.

ZR1cliff

17,999 posts

270 months

Monday 30th January 2006
quotequote all
535d said:
888usa said:
I saw the car a few years ago at a show it had to be the worst thing I have ever seen done at that time the car was still new! Why would you want to do it!!!


Why?

Simply so that the steering wheel is on the correct side for this country!

I can never understand why the Mustang and Corvette is not available in rhd, bearing in mind how many countries would then buy them in much bigger numbers than at present. I know loads of people who would have a Mustang, but for the LHD.
Australia, UK, Eire, South Africa, Japan, to name a few.
It is total madness to only offer LHD.



But they sell large numbers in the U.S.,which is the market they are more concerned with,to build RH drive they would have to retool with different machines,which means more space and more workforce.
Would the numbers on top of what they sell in these countries at the moment warrant enough $$$$$'s to build RH drive motors,they dont seem to think so,but hey chevrolet have started to sell their smaller cars here in RH drive so lets see.
On a personal bassis i dont care as to me its part of the cult following and i like my vette LH drive,ive driven LH drive for over 20 years now.
Hope this helps and welcome by the way.

BTW,all vettes in Australia will be RH drive as it is a legal requirement for their roads.

535d

Original Poster:

157 posts

240 months

Monday 30th January 2006
quotequote all
Converted once they reach Australia? I bet that costs some.

c5ragtop

1,610 posts

269 months

Monday 30th January 2006
quotequote all
3 or 4 years ago I was talking with an acquaintance who was doing a right hand C5 conversion for a third party who felt there was a niche in the UK. The cost was £10/£15k and there were numerous problems one of which was getting the Heads Up to project correctly on the other side. Extending the wiring loom was also a major amount of work.

535d

Original Poster:

157 posts

240 months

Monday 30th January 2006
quotequote all
I reckon any aftermarket conversion has downsides.
It really should be a factory thing and American cars lose out in rhd countries by only being available in left hook.
I think they'd sell lots of 7.0 Corvettes in rhd.

yellowshark454

578 posts

262 months

Monday 30th January 2006
quotequote all
535d said:
There is that!

I am negotiating at the moment for a vgc, 96,000 miles, 1973 Corvette, 454ci, automatic and fully loaded for £8000. It seems way too cheap for so much car, but i have to take a look at that price.


Could be the bargain of the century, but... Check the VIN no on the driver side windscreen frame, the 5th character will be a Z if it is a true big block. Also redline on the rev counter should be 5600 for a 454

anonymous-user

75 months

Tuesday 31st January 2006
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535d said:
96,000 miles, 1973 Corvette, 454ci, automatic and fully loaded for £8000. It seems way too cheap for so much car.
Not when you can pick up recent (post 2000) low mileage C5s from the high £teens,000. Stunning value.

L81

314 posts

268 months

Tuesday 31st January 2006
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535d said:
Converted once they reach Australia? I bet that costs some.

It does. We stopped at a Vette specialist near Brisbane (Queensland Corvette??) & were talking to the person who either owned or managed the shop. He told us the cost of a conversion & it was astronomical, putting the total cost well out of reach of most sane people. For that amount of money you could get a nice V8 powered RHD Aussie (I really liked the SS Ute's) & have enough cash left to run it for a few years! The bloke I was with (a local) was seriously interested in a C5 until the price of the conversion was mentioned, at which point he started mumbling about getting a Ferrari for the same price (with several other F words in the sentence ). Can't remember the date at which cars had to be changed, but he was saying that the older yanks were fetching healthy prices as they didn't need the conversion (seeing the excellent condition of them, they were probably worth it). Even so, people were still buying converted Vettes as they're objects of desire. If & how the handling was affected after the conversion, I don't know (he was hardly going to admit it if they weren't quite as good). Why GM don't make RHD versions to tap the obvious market there, & elsewhere, is a mystery (maybe they feel that they can't make enough for their existing market?), but one thing that stood out was the public perception of Vettes as it was so different to the blinkered Clarksonisms prevalent here. Of course, none of these problems wouldn exist if the Americans didn't drive on the wrong side of the road
Cheers

franv8

2,212 posts

259 months

Tuesday 31st January 2006
quotequote all
Reason most of the other Chevrolets are available in RHD is that in the main they are just rebadged Daewoo's, so already built in RHD form.

Bearing in mind the demand for cars such as the Z06, GM is seeing no problem in terms of demand here or anywhere else - just look at the waiting list. There is relatively little reason for them to look at the extra costs of RHD cars.

I would guess too, that despite there being more sales for RHD cars, we mustn't forget the Vette is still a Yank car, and all the lovely friends of the Yank from outside this forum (or on TG for that matter...) will still turn their noses up at our cart sprung cars that only go in a straight line...

...oh and only have simple overhead valve engines

In other words, it might tempt a few more buyers, but I don't think it would make a significant peak in GM Corvette sales.

(Sorry - off on one...)

LuS1fer

43,112 posts

266 months

Tuesday 31st January 2006
quotequote all
Most American car drivers prefer LHD. I don't know why but it's part of the whole thing. I drive a RHD euro/Jap car but a yank must always be LHD. Part of the being different thing. A RHD yank is like a chavved up Bentley - plain wrong.

535d

Original Poster:

157 posts

240 months

Tuesday 31st January 2006
quotequote all
5USA said:
535d said:
96,000 miles, 1973 Corvette, 454ci, automatic and fully loaded for £8000. It seems way too cheap for so much car.
Not when you can pick up recent (post 2000) low mileage C5s from the high £teens,000. Stunning value.


Difference being, post 1982 they stopped being Corvettes to many people and became like a lot of European cars. But i agree, the later ones can be big bargains.