The Pick of the Day is a 2004 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 listed by a Wisconsin dealership on ClassicCars.com.
When you’re a broke college student, you have a great appreciation for things that cost little to no money. I remember months of eating Taco Bell burritos for lunch every day when I attended Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. Back in the mid-2000s, my school had a place called Boko’s Living Room, where I was able to check out a CD, plop down on a couch, put on some headphones, and tune in to the channel the album I selected was playing on. I don’t recall getting a lot of studying done there, but I did learn to like the music of Harry Connick Jr. and Lyle Lovett. One night while my buddy Jake and I were out and about in South Austin, the driver of a C5 Corvette Z06 (very much like the one you see here) gave us both a generous gift without even knowing it.
Jake and I were stopped in his car at a red light when we caught sight of a middle-aged guy in a black Z06 waiting to turn onto the MoPac Expressway. The second we laid eyes on the car, both of us instantly started chanting “Please, please, please,” hoping he would rocket away from a dead stop and blast onto the highway. I can’t remember if I even had a car at the time, but either way, the only kind of “living” I could do on my budget at that time was the vicarious kind.
To our surprise, it seemed as if the driver of the Z06 had the same thing in mind. The second the light went green, he shot off and let all of the horses in the engine loose as he zoomed north. The Vette owner probably burned through a few dollars of gas doing that; the memory he gave me and my pal was priceless.
That was about 20 years ago, when this Torch Red Corvette Z06 was a new car. Not much has changed since then, especially its mileage. In the last two decades, it’s only covered 4,041 miles, which comes out to a little over 200 a year (I don’t know if that’s willpower or masochism).
That restraint shows in the cockpit. The Torch Red and black leather seats look nice and fresh. After all, the driver’s seat has only been occupied for the equivalent of a few long road trips. Someone missed out on the experience of living with this car and enjoying all of its comfort and convenience features shown on the window sticker, which include a six-way power driver’s seat, a head-up display, a tilt steering column, a leather-wrapped shifter for the six-speed manual gearbox, and an AM/FM/CD radio with Bose speakers.
Despite its low mileage, this fifth-gen Vette did receive a couple of mods. The taillights wear red louvers and an aftermarket ram air induction system has been added to the 405-horsepower LS6 5.7-liter V8. Everything else, including the distinctive wheels and the titanium mufflers and exhaust outlets, was left alone.
This peak C5 is just begging to be driven more. If you pay the $49,900 it takes to become its next owner, just know that somewhere out there, college students without cool cars of their own will be hoping you to launch it hard and keep your right foot down. I know from experience that it’ll make their day if you do.
Click here to view the listing for this Pick of the Day on ClassicCars.com.
Source: www.classiccars.com