I just realized the OP is in Australia. This is a much bigger deal down under!
I'll bet you can buy two very nice V-8 Holdens for the cost of a Vette there.
I believe Corvettes suffered a huge luxury tax.
Those cars are much more available here, and there is a brisk trade in them.
People quickly discover the downsides, and most folks can't deal with it.
I've looked at 10 year old Vettes that had had 6 owners. But they are much loved, and many are with original owners for 20+ years.
Personally, I'd much rather have the Australian 6 cyl OHC MOPAR than any GM V-8.
My Chevrolets were powerful, comfortable and stylish. They also burned about 50% more gas and 3x as much oil as Plymouths and Fords. Certain models had the high nickel content cast iron and were much more durable. My 369 Cadillac had that, and it only burned 10% of the oil compared to my 283 Chevy Belair or the 350 Caprice. The Caddy had over 220k miles when I sold it due to a pesky water leak. Still ran good and burned almost no oil. After 50k both Chevrolets were starting to use oil and by 100k were smoking quite blue on a cold morning.
So if Ray is really lucky, this clean old Vette also has the good cast iron. Many did, but were often replaced with the softer Mexican engines, when the originals wore out. I know nothing about the cars we exported though. The specs may have been quite different from domestic vehicles.
