Car Rental – Just For Fun?

I can’t remember just where my train of thought derailed tonight, but it wandered off the track and into the territory of renting a car just for the pure fun of having control of that machine for a while

27 June 2009 - Cool Cars

Looking back, I think one of the very few things I miss from my time in the world of retail automobile sales has to be grabbing the keys to a car with well over 300 horses under the hood and a manual stick shift real gear box, dropping the top or yanking the T-tops, turning the key (oh the joyous sound of a proper V8 engine!), and standing on that gas pedal while trying to keep up with the gear changes as the speed builds on the freeway on-ramp  My favorite event of this sort was the time I was asked to volunteered to leaped at the chance to take a brand new black 2002 Corvette six speed roadster from San Diego to Lake Elsinore and bring a metallic red version of that car back to the shop  There was this one on-ramp…  OK, I’ll admit that I found out that the top end of second gear is at 80 miles per hour or so and that I never quite found the top end of third gear, but I’m pretty certain it’s over 100

Corvette encounters, while fun beyond belief, were also very rare.  Much more common were outings in Camaro Z-28s.  Still, 305 ponies and a six speed made it more fun than I’ve had in a car in ages.  I won’t even get into my time with Nikita – my ’88 IROC…

So yeah, I’m jonsing for a horsepower fix.  I’m thirsty for acceleration, G-force, and ludicrous speed through some corners.  Trouble is that while my wonderful HHR is great for hauling rifles and ammo, it’s not exactly, well, fast.  Or very agile.

So if I can’t have an hour with a performance machine for the asking, maybe I can rent one.  It’s not like I’m going to a house of ill repute, right?  I mean, brothels are legal in Nevada and all, but that’s not something I’m into.  Renting a hot car is different.  Right?  Help me here!!!

I even went so far tonight as to check into the price of such an adventure and while I’d have to save up and postpone something else, I’m awefully tempted to take a C6 Corvette roadster (stick shift even!) out for a day.  $245 for 24 hours sure beats $$$$ monthy payments, massive insurance costs, and astronomical registration fees…

I think I’ll keep this one on the back burner for now, but it will still be on my mind for a long time