Mrs. PHPaul had a doctor's appointment today. As we were preparing to leave she said "Do you want to take the little red car?" (the Corvette).

After I got over the shock I said "Sure, why not?" The appointment was at the local clinic, about 7 miles away and it was a perfect day for a ride in a convertible. She's never expressed any interest in it before, hence my initial confusion.

This being the third Summer I've had it, I've pretty well perfected heaving my wrinkled old ass in and out of it.

Mrs. PHPaul will be 83 in August and has ZERO experience with the necessary contortions. Getting in involved a certain amount of grunting and groaning but amazingly, no bitching.

The "not nice" part came when we got to the clinic and I instructed her on the least painful way to get out. I managed to maintain a calm and helpful exterior, but it would be an understatement of the Finest English Sort to say she was not amused.

Repeating the process at home elicited a "You can have the damn thing"

Just tell her "Practice makes perfect" and schedule her for one-a-days and she'll be good to go in a week or so. I'm sure she will appreciate your efforts in the matter.

Sports cars have some advantages over motorcycles but getting in and out of them sure isn't one. The worst thing for us "elderly" is taking a sports car to run errands. Best to drive them long distances to minimize the number of ingress and egress's.

My departed father always commented that my first Corvette was a kidney bean shaker. He only had one arm, so getting in and out of my Corvette was somewhat difficult for him until I finally taught him how to do it.

Maybe this will help you too.

Have her turn around with her rump facing the seat and literally almost fall into the car while you’re already in and guiding her in and slowing the descent. Then she pivots to the left and all is good.

As far as getting out, have her pivot to the right, while still in the seat, with her feet on the ground. Then you can push gently with your hand on her posterior.

Of course, none of this really matters if she won’t ride in it again.

@h2oys

That is precisely the process I use and talked her through. And no, I don't see her asking for another ride...

@ridewv

My plan exactly. Had a guy that looked to be about my age complement me on the Vette in a parking lot. During the brief conversation I said "I love driving it, but I'd hate like hell to make a 10 stop errand run in it!"

I like that she calls the 'vette "the little red car". That made me smile.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:

@ridewv

My plan exactly. Had a guy that looked to be about my age complement me on the Vette in a parking lot. During the brief conversation I said "I love driving it, but I'd hate like hell to make a 10 stop errand run in it!"

Same with the S2000 I had. And while it was a delight to drive on twisty, hilly, smooth, roads, not many of the roads here are smooth so the ride was jarring.

Give her more time. She will change her mind on a beautiful day for a Sunday ride.

Get your wrinkly old ass over there and offer her a hand! In and out.

We sold our S2000 because of our difficulties getting in and out. We’re in our mid 70s. Not wanting to abandon convertibles (after 5 of them) we bought a new BMW 430i. Wonderful car - but not an S2000.

I would suggest selling the Corvette and looking for a 2016 to 2019 low mileage Ford Fiesta ST. Because it's on either the Road and Track or Car and Driver's List of the finest Sports Cars of the past 20 years.

Yes it does look like a Grocery Getter. You can also use it like a grocery getter and if you stay out of the turbo it gets great fuel mileage. However it was a high performance model that was only offered with a 6 speed manual transmission. As for the performance it will do 0-60 in 6.4 seconds, has a top speed of 143 mph, and the handling in the corners is spot on perfectly balanced with just a bit of trailing throttle oversteer. If you put track tires on it on a really tight and twisty track you can stay right with a Porsche GT3 which will drive the Porsche owner flat out nuts.

Downsides. It's front wheel drive with lower ground clearance and sort of sucks in the snow. The engine can also be an issue if you are constantly thrashing it. Too much Turbo for Too long at higher engine temps and they will blow a head gasket which most shops won't repair because it's a royal PITA. It is why I have an aluminum Mountune radiator in mine, the temps is glued to 195 degrees where the engine was designed to operate at. BTW the thermostat is another PITA and putting in a 160 degree thermostat will cost 4 mpg in fuel economy and reduce the power by about 15 HP. I will also note that a 160 degree thermostat will NOT prevent overheating because the stock radiator is a bit undersized. The best nods for this car are a larger intercooler and the Mountune radiator. The third flaw is that this is a direct injection engine and the intakes can carbon up badly. This summers project is to figure out where I can fit the tank for the Water/Methanol injection kit I have for the intake. It is designed specifically to feed a weak bit of mix during part throttle operation to clean the intake valves.

Yeah, a fair bit of work but it's work I expect you can do and the reward is the most fun you can have with your clothes on.

If I had got to borrow one of the cars mentioned above for a short summer drive in the country it would be the Model T. I’ve never driven one but I don’t need to own one.

I just tell my wife to "hop out" and she does. Not.

quote:

Originally posted by jed7s9b:
If I had got to borrow one of the cars mentioned above for a short summer drive in the country it would be the Model T. I’ve never driven one but I don’t need to own one.

Get back to us after you've had the chance to actually drive one!

Throttle and spark advance on the steering wheel, transmission shift by one of the floor pedals (I forget which one), I don't know if they ever put an electric starter on them. I've seen movies of women trying to start them by jumping on the crank, and getting launched into the air by a backfire. Brakes on the rear wheels only.

The list goes on, and there's a reason the Model A was so much more popular.