#288 has officially made it home (4/25/2012 @ 4:05 am ET)!! Vin: 2G1FS1EPXC9800288
I am going to try to conform to Becky's rules with my back story and pictures
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I placed an order with a local dealer that I had previously purchased cars from. They originally wanted a 10k premium and dropped it to a 3k premium since I was a returning customer. I didnt want to pay a premium but every Maryland dealer I talked to was doing the same so I just figured it was the norm and I really wanted this car. So I placed my order/took over an order they had already ordered as stock for the lot (was rally yellow w/ black rims and black stripe). They informed me the order was waiting for production and should be produced any day. I sat for a while and tried not to bother them and eventually stumbled across the ZL1 forum where I learned about GMConnects. After getting hooked into GMConnects (beginning of April) I found my order was in status 1102. Obviously I was concerned and called my dealer to explain my frustration. I stated I was concerned if the car would even be produced and I had given a rather large deposit ... which they required for the ZL1. After over 2 weeks of back and forth and never returning any of my calls without me calling them repeatedly (even by the GM of the dealership) I decided I would keep my order in place and begin searching for another Yellow ZL1 that was not purchased at another dealer. This was a lot harder than I ever expected it to be. I called every dealer in MD, VA, NJ, DE, PA, NC and numerous dealers in Ohio, NY, and various other New England States. I found no zl1's available and even more discouraging I found that very few yellow zl1's had even been ordered.
I started searching autotrader.com and cars.com several times a day and calling every new dealer that popped up on the list. I eventually found a Yellow ZL1 on order at a dealership in Michigan that was in status 3000 and not spoken for. Unfortunately this one had the polished rims and black rims was a definite for me. They were too worried to change their order so it was back to the drawing board. Last Tuesday (4/17) a rally yellow showed up on AutoTrader.com at a dealership just outside of chicago. Luckily I had been keeping a long list of all the dealers I called because when I first saw the name my memory told me I called that dealer and I went back to work. After a few mins my paranoia kicked in and I decided to check my list of called dealers and make sure I had called them. Sure enough they weren't on the list and I called them skeptically, as every other call to the dealers produced a "Yes we have that car but it was on order by a customer and is already sold". This time was different ... surprisingly the car had just been delivered the day prior to the dealership and had not been spoken for or sold. I immediately put a deposit on the car and began the ball rolling and canceled my current order frozen at 1102 since February. By midnight that night I already had plane tickets for a friend and I to fly out there on 4/24 to arrive early in the morning and drive the car back that same day.
After a week wait it was finally the a.m. of 4/24 and the day to go get it. Flight was to leave the local airport at 7:20 am and arrive at the dealer at 8:35 am CT. Flight landed 30 mins early and by 9 am central time we were at the dealer. My sales guy was not there yet but someone else at the dealer took us back to see the car. Pictures just dont do this car justice. I was impressed and in love at first sight!!! Sales guy came in and we went over the car and we just had to wait for the business/finance guy to get in to sign all the papers and hear the spiel about an extended warranty. Finance guy arrived at 10:30 and took me back at 10:55. By 11:05 we were done and he stated ... I just have to log in to the DMV system and print you out a drive away tag and you will be on your way. Thats where things went downhill! When they tried to print out a tag from the Illinois DMV it error'd and said invalid VIN, year, make combination. After several phone calls someone at the DMV said someone from the dealer would need to come do it in person. So ... at noon CT (1 pm ET) they sent a porter to the dealer. Long story short we pulled out of the dealer at 3 pm ET and the problem was that the Illinois DMV could not handle the new VIN sequence and their system needed to be updated and they got around it by registering it as make "OTHER" instead of chevrolet camaro. We had an 800 mile drive ahead of us and my buddy that came along is a police officer that HAD to be at work the following day. So we had no choice but to drive our 800 miles straight. 13 hours, 15 mins, 3 stops for gas, and 1 stop at the local airport to pick up my other car and the ZL1 was home and in the garage (4:05 am).
The drive was incredible and only the last 2 hours of fighting sleep sucked. It has so much power, is well put together and overall just an absolute joy to drive for both long trips and short trips around town.
Chevrolet really did it right with this car!!!
For anyone in the Illinois/Chicago area ... Jennings Chevrolet in Glenview is awesome and incredible to deal with. Everyone from the sales staff to the GM were excellent and A+++. I wish local MD dealers had the same level of courtesy and respect for their customers.
~glenn