I've owned four Corvettes over the years... a '57, a '64, a '69, and a '99. The '64 was my favorite, had a fully built engine, ported, polished balanced, cc heads, Crane roller cam, and a bunch more. A buddy of mine built it as a street racer, very successful in the North Jersey, New York area. I bought it in '67 when I was discharged by Uncle Sam. Best I could do at the track was 12.2 with Atlas Bucron street tires, which was pretty good back then. The '57 was fun but the '64 was a small block beast.
My son and I went to the NY Auto Show press day (he was/is in the biz) and saw the unveiling there of the C7, and like many others, the only complaint I had was the tail lights. Several former corvette owners openly complained to the product team about losing the round tail lights. But otherwise we all liked the direction. Love the new C8, my son said the mid engine was Zora's dream car, and some dealers are seeing people selling their current C7's to get the "ultimate" Corvette. Steve thinks the smart thing to do is buy a C7 at "distress" prices kinda like John did. It's like the iPhone craze only worse, some people are willing to take a hit on their current car because their value is not going to go up or even stabilize. Smart people can get a helluva nice used Corvette for very reasonable if they just pay attention to the market. Just gotta be ready to pull the trigger when you find the right deal. And of course, if you have the money, don't mind the automatic, get a C8... absolutely great bang for the buck in the world of two-seater sports cars under $100K. Can't wait to see the ones behind the curtain. Supposedly a 700 HP model is ready to go, an 1100 HP beast is being looked at.