Great question and everyone's story is either humorous and/or interesting.
I would like to answer your question since no one has yet regarding the car choice for the Will Smith movie "I Am Legend". The movie was produced/made in 2007. The C-6 Corvette in 2007 had a 6.0 litre engine producing 400 horse power. That same year the Shelby GT500 however had a potent 5.4 litre engine putting out a smashing 500 horse power. My recollection is that those were big numbers back then and to have that menacing "Cobra Snake" emblem on your front quarters and grill was ever so intimidating to any challengers ha ha.
I also agree with Derek being that Dodge Vipers aren't seen in the same way the American public views the Mustang and the Corvette. The Dodge Viper also didn't produce a 2007 model and simply extended the 2006 model production having a 8.3 litre displacement producing 510 horsepower. So not surprisingly the Shelby GT500 (Mustang) was selected for the movie!
So why did I buy a Corvette? I have been a car guy ever since my first car ride in the family car ha ha. When I was just a teenager each September I would get on my bicycle with my best buddy and we would cruise the dealership lots for the new arrivals. You see back in the sixtys the dealerships would always hide the new model years inventory at the back of their lots, whether that was to continue to retail last years inventory or simply to better prepare for the big event showcasing the new models, I don't know.
I was still a teenager walking home from the corner store and the kid who lived up the streets' older brother was backing out of their driveway. He was driving a dark blue almost black 1964 C-2 with "Sidewinder" pipes. When he completed backing up, now he was directly across from me, some 20' away. I remember he looked across the passenger seat at me (I was on his right), smiled at me, and then he let it rip. All I remember was that it was a standard transmission, he shifted from first to second but with all the tire smoke, and screaming of the engine the car looked as if it was standing still. I also recall seeing two strips of rubber, then none, then two more strips when second gear kicked in. Well that was the beginning of, "I gotta get me a Corvette!"
My first car which I purchased in 1974 off my mechanic friend with whom I worked was a 1970 Challenger T/A 340 Six Pack! Oh how I loved that car! It was totalled in 1979, while parked in front of my house by a drunk driver.
Jump ahead twenty years, married now with two children, those being a twelve year old daughter and nine year old son. After nagging my wife for years about buying a sports car she finally caved in and said go buy it. Oh how I wanted a new Corvette, however my dilemma was the wife said any sports car you want as long as it has a back seat for the kids. Well I purchased a brand new 98 SVT Cobra Convertible. It wasn't a Corvette however it was still a fun car, that at the time I thought had good get up and go!
Oh I forgot, back in 1969, along with four or five other Boy Scouts on a weekend venture to Detroit to catch a baseball game, I was billeted by someone who had connections at one of the local GM Dealerships. The morning before the game we were treated to all go view new cars at the dealership. I remember in the showroom there was this magnet of a car, calling out my name. There in the front showroom was this "Gold" 69 C-3. I recall asking the salesman if I could sit in it, and surprisingly he let me. That feeling of, "I need a Corvette" struck again!
Jump ahead twenty more years, its 2018 now. I had been literally hammering my wife for about six months now requesting her permission to let me go buy my dream car (Corvette). So much time passed that the 2018 Waltkins Glen Grey was no longer available. You see I was building my car on GM's website almost daily. Configure it this way, then that way! Well so much time passed that now you could no longer order a 2018 Corvette and the Watkins Glen colour was not available in the 2019 model year. So I started building a Long Beach Red Metallic Tintcoat, ha ha! I was considering retirement and it was October now. I went to my wife and said look, I'm retiring at the end of the year however if you let me buy my Corvette I'll stay on and work another year to pay off the car so that I'm not dipping into the nest egg. This was October 03rd, she had enough of my nagging and she finally said, "go buy it", but she didn't mean it, she was just fed up with me. Well October 04th I was at the dealership and ordered my new Corvette, ha ha. Car arrived late April just like they said!
No regrets, and the wife likes it too..........just took her a while ha ha.
Cobra
When you decided to buy you sure went all out - good on you!!! We only go around once.
