[Orange Krate]

Now that I have a start on my blog...

I am pleased to announce that FINALLY after waiting 5 years reading, wishing, working...working...and working more, my wife and I went down to the local Chevy dealership today, plopped down some cash and submitted our specs for the new baby! Orange Krate's order should be submitted tomorrow morning by the dealer! As I texted to my peeps... "I AM STOKED!!!!"

Orange Krate will be a 2011 (obviously) SS/RS, LS3, HUD, IOM/IO interior, Hurst, Orange Engine Cover, Ground Effects, 20" polished wheels... pretty much all the gingerbread, sans the sun roof, as I am well over 6 feet and need the head room. We loved our test drive! I was really surprised at the power of this beastie.

Oh BTW... did I tell you I am friggin' STOKED!!!! Now the countdown begins and I will be restless until my baby comes home.

As part of this blog I thought I would give a few comments about our experience and perhaps help someone out that hasn't bought a new car yet. This is the first one we have ever ordered from the factory. We have bought new vehicles off the lot but never ordered one.

Many people are impulse buyers. I am! I had to restrain myself and with my wife's help we decided to just order what I want and quit looking for the elusive IOM with specific attributes.

First...visit the Chevrolet website http://www.chevrolet.com and build your car online (several dozen times like I did) and memorize it until you know the cars options inside and out.

Then visit as many dealers as you can and if you are a frequent visitor/member of this website, print out some of those neat wallet cards and talk to sales people and tell them about the site and how awesome the info is here for new car owners and would be buyers. I think I have been to about 12 dealerships between Sacramento and Carlsbad, California. I tried not to be a pest (accept for Dave Perry who put up with me).

When order day comes printout your cars build sheet from the chevrolet.com website and take it with you to the dealer you have decided to do business with and talk in depth with them about your choices. They should know the cars options by now since we are in the second year of production. If they haven't sold many Camaros you may have a chance to tell them some stuff they don't even know about the car! I LOVE CAMARO5.COM!!! Refer to the Reference Section for RPO numbers etc. YOU FOLKS ARE GREAT!

Finally, GUTS! Put the money where the heart is and go for it. This economy is scary for everyone but this is one purchase I can say I will not have buyer's remorse over, even if I only owned the car for one day! Heaven forbid! It is better to have had a Gen 5 and lost it than not had it at all. After giving up my 1969, they are going to have to pry the Hurst shifter out of my cold dead hand to get my Gen 5 away from me!

Then after making your deposit and securing an order make sure you read the section on tracking your order! I am looking forward to this part of the transaction, build out and delivery.

Owning a quality car, keeping it up, driving it, enjoying it, documenting everything is what makes a car a classic keeper! It may not make it a collectible but lightning can strike twice and although I have heard debate in the Forum over people saying these are the next Yenko's and such... there are ways to protect your investment and make it retain maximum value. Even if it were a Yugo! Hey... just being a Camaro is value added right?

The photo below is a photo of the two gentlemen who assisted us in the new baby order. I want to give a special thanks and shout out to Mr. Dave Perry, Customer Relations Manager (dressed in black) at William L. Morris Chevrolet in Simi Valley. He literally spent hours, on several days, over several months, talking with me and introducing me to the people behind the scenes at the dealership. The other gent is Mr. Chris Caumartin who took my deposit and drafted and submitted the Chevrolet Order Workbench. You can see additional info about this process, comments and photos in my photo section.

If you are in the So Cal area you might want to give them a jingle if you want to buy a vehicle or RV. They swear they won't be undersold. So far so good! The dealer agreed to let me document the purchasing and delivery process starting with me writing out a check for the deposit!

Also included below is a photo of the 2011 Camaro Sales Booklet that was given to me by the dealer.