Drive Your Corvette Dammit! Avoid the "Garage Queen" Title!
Written by: Darrin Nepinsky
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Time to read 5 min
"Mileagephobia – The fear of putting miles on your not-so-classic automobile. Fear that the car will not appreciate. Opposite to the fear of fun."
Do you know Corvette owners who treat their Corvette like a precious thing? And if they actually drive it, it could lead to the ruination of the entire vehicle? Their solution? Don't put miles on it and leave it in the garage.
Perhaps that Corvette owner is you. Do you currently have a Garage Queen? In today’s post, I'll share with you my opinion about the lack of benefits when a Corvette owner chooses to not drive his/her car. So let's get started!
I’m always fascinated that a person can buy the Corvette of his or her dreams and choose not to drive it. He makes a large down payment and large monthly payments for it and then locks it away in a garage, thus creating the “Garage Queen”. He openly brags about his Corvette never being in the rain, never being on gravel, never being out at night, never having been hit by a bug or dive-bombed by bird crap, never having a rock chip, etc. He does not brag, however, that he has any fun in it. And as drivers of our Corvettes, we are not impressed. As a matter of fact, we feel sad for him.
The Corvette is not a super special car, but it’s the American Dream Car
The Corvette is the American sports car. It was never priced to be unobtainable, it was meant to be the American dream. To prove that point further, from 2011 to 2022, on average, GM produced almost three times the number of cars as Ferrari and five times the number of vehicles as Lamborghini. In other words, Corvettes are anything but rare.
Model year
Corvette
Ferrari
Lamborghini
2011
13,596
7,195
1,602
2012
11,647
7,405
2,083
2013
13,466
7,000
2,121
2014
37,288
7,255
2,530
2015
34,240
7,664
3,245
2016
40,689
8,014
3,457
2017
22,801
8,398
3,815
2018
9,686
9,251
5,750
2019
34,822
10,131
8,201
2020
20,368
9,119
7,430
2021
26,212
11,155
8,405
2022
25,831
13,221
9,233
Total Units Produced
290,646
105,808
57,872
Avg Global Sales per Year
24,221
8,817
4,823
Do Garage Queens Assist in Making Your Corvette Worth More?
In short, no. Perhaps the Corvette owner is hoping to reap the financial rewards of keeping his Corvette in near showroom condition. If he is using his car as a financial investment, he probably thinks that the lottery is a way to financial freedom. Let’s face it, if you have a supercar such as a Ferrari, Ford GT, etc., your car willappreciate and no one should shame you for treating it as a Garage Queen. But for the average Joe six-pack that has spent more money on his dream Corvette than he ever thought he would, sorry, it’s not going to happen. He won’t live long enough to break even with what he paid for his car, let alone make any money on it.
When you Garage Queen a Corvette, you are at a double loss. You’re losing value from a monetary standpoint but also from a memory perspective. So, when it’s time to sell it, you haven’t saved any money, you are simply giving someone a better deal. There’s also the issue that you could be doing harm to the car. Depending on how little you drive the car, here are some issues you could be facing:
Parts such as seals, hoses, belts, and gaskets deteriorate much faster if not used as they get no lubrication when the engine is not running.
Belts 'set-up' in the position they are left in for a long periods of time without moving. For a cam belt(s), that can be disastrous if it causes the belt to skip a tooth or jump off the pulley(s).
Weekend driver only types of Corvettes get deposits in the engine. Those short drives don't allow the car to get up to high temperatures to burn off those deposits as easily as a daily driver. My dad called it “blowing out the cobs”. Yes he was from Nebraska.
Electrical parts corrode quicker if left unused and develop issues that can be difficult and expensive to diagnose and repair.
Shocks and suspension bushings deteriorate and can 'lock up' from sitting for long periods of time.
Radiators corrode, leather dries out, and other moving parts like brake calipers can lock up due to lack of use.
Tires can go bad due to flat spots forming from not rolling for months.
Here’s some things you can actually do if you drive your Corvette. They're called “fun”:
Take your wife or girlfriend on a date with it
Go on a date with your Corvette by yourself
Join a Corvette club and go on weekend rides with people who actually enjoy their cars
Learn about your Corvette because when you drive it like a normal person, it’s going to break. There is a huge feeling of accomplishment by repairing your own car - even if it’s just doing regular maintenance like changing the oil.
Take it to the mountains, take it to some windy roads and drive it like you stole it.
And if you think your Corvette is that special, go to a Corvette car show. Here you will see other Corvettes and their owners who think their car is special like you do. Only, they are enjoying their car.
Don't Waste Depreciation
Garage queening cars like Corvettes and Porsches is just wasting depreciation. You might as well drive what you bought or just not buy it. The whole point of buying a sports car is to drive it.
In closing, if you are looking to hold the value of a vehicle, you should look into a Toyota FJ Cruiser, Toyota Tacoma, or Jeep Wrangler, at least these could be driven (or could they??). Cars like Corvettes are going to depreciate whether or not you are driving them so why let them linger sadly in the garage? It’s like not sleeping with your hot girlfriend because you want to 'save her' for her next boyfriend.
Now, I’d like to hear from you. Do you agree with me that Corvettes are more fun to drive than to sit in the garage? Either way, let me know by leaving a comment below right now.
Darrin Nepinsky
Darrin is a long-time Corvette owner, Corvette money spender, and graphic artist. His love for Corvettes started when he was a professional road race photographer who then graduated to photographing models with classic, custom, and exotic cars. Darrin was actually named after the 1954 Kaiser Darrin (which was his father's dream car). Darrin makes his home in southeast Texas with his wife Cindy and their two dogs.
I understand completely. We have several friends who “garage-store their Vettes!” We have two (His & Hers). Ours are daily drivers for the most part, even though we have five vehicles total. We enjoy driving them as much as possible, only don’t on the rare days we have snow or ice, last month (Jan) we used alternate vehicles for just over a week. Our two vehicles (04 manual with 70k miles, and 07 auto with 11k miles) are enjoyable to drive and large enough to hold $650 with of groceries. It’s just my husband and me, we both have loved Vettes since we were teens, and enjoy them as primary vehicles. They are a normal part of our life. We maintain them well, do most ourselves. They are Amazing vehicles, we are very happy to have them, and they are our dailies. Life is just Too Short not to use the items you enjoy!
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