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Wanna Buy a Right-Hand Drive Corvette?

Posted May 29, 2009 6:00 AM by CarDomain

Here's a random conversion for you: some guy in Texas is selling a '79 T-top 'Vette that's been converted to right hand drive. Why? Reasons for the conversion are left unspecified. All the seller tells us is that he got the car from "a large collection" in Colorado, the conversion kit came from Australia, and between himself and the previous owner, $80K has been dumped into the project.

And now, after all that, he's trying to foist this right-hand weirdmobile on a left-handed public. I hope he gets some interest from over the pond, because I doubt he's going to get what he thinks it's worth from the American market. Check out the auction here.

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#1

Re: Wanna Buy a Right-Hand Drive Corvette?

05/30/2009 2:13 AM

A few of my racer friends have changed their cars to right hand drive. There is a bonifide reason to do it, I'm told, but I have failed to ever fully understand it. I think it has something to do with most sports car tracks going clockwise (lots of right hand turns) and the weight on the right resists roll, resulting in flatter cornering in the majority of corners.

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#2

Re: Wanna Buy a Right-Hand Drive Corvette?

05/30/2009 5:02 AM

I would love to have it here in Malaysia, but I am not going to give him that kind of money... Import tax on vehicles here is 100% so I guess he will have to find someone else with a lot of money ot buy it...

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#3

Re: Wanna Buy a Right-Hand Drive Corvette?

05/30/2009 5:11 AM

There are 56 countries that drive on the left, surely he could get it to one of them? Carribean?

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#4

Re: Wanna Buy a Right-Hand Drive Corvette?

05/30/2009 7:49 AM

LOL.............there are not many roads in the Caribean that a Vet could be driven on

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#7
In reply to #4

Re: Wanna Buy a Right-Hand Drive Corvette?

05/31/2009 9:08 AM

...but plenty of pretty girls to attract!!

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#9
In reply to #4

Re: Wanna Buy a Right-Hand Drive Corvette?

06/01/2009 3:15 AM

I forgot to mention earlier that even in the USA there are few places that such a car can be "really driven" too.........Most of the places I have driven in the USA allow a max of 65MPH on certain roads......I have heard that some states allow higher speeds, but not by much......that car is wasted in the USA, the same as on some Carribean Island.....but at least the driver would be on the right (left) side of the road!!

I live in Germany, where every year many citizens come from around the world, to get into a hired sports car and blast around on our Autobahns........some are 4 lanes and totally unlimited......!!!

Eat your heart out!!!

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#10
In reply to #9

Re: Wanna Buy a Right-Hand Drive Corvette?

06/01/2009 3:26 AM

and some of those car's wreckage look like pieces of art

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#11
In reply to #10

Re: Wanna Buy a Right-Hand Drive Corvette?

06/01/2009 3:38 AM

You say that as though in the USA nobody has high speed accidents........?

Here at least drivers are quite used to being able to drive quickly.......

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#12
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Re: Wanna Buy a Right-Hand Drive Corvette?

06/01/2009 3:59 AM

No but i have seen wreckage of cars going over 250km/h, not much left.

I went for work with with my Dutch colleagues by car to a factory in the Czech Republic and their dutch driving style on the German Autobahn was very dangerous, Dutch like to linger on the fast lane, very unhealthy. Most (wealthy) Germans like to drive large Mercedes, Audi's and BMW's, they would survive a high speed collision while i was sitting in the passengers seat of a Ford escort, i knew i would not survive.

So every know and then i had to urge my driver to the right , and quickly after that a BMW 7 series or similar would pass at around 250km/h

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#13
In reply to #12

Re: Wanna Buy a Right-Hand Drive Corvette?

06/01/2009 5:44 AM

You point out the real problem well, most Dutch people have not got a clue as how to drive on German Autobahns. Though their death statistics per 100,000 population are the second best in the world. But that is when they drive in their own country, abroad in Germany they are definitely not so good for example....

Their trucks are the most likely to pull out in front of a fast car without blinking or checking their mirrors while in Germany.

Why? Its quite simple they also live in a land where it is illegal to drive fast!!!! 120KMH is the max allowed, but mostly the Motorways in the Netherlands are posted at only 100KMH......that's around 65MPH......that's comparable to the USA roads.....

The UK is not much better with a blanket 70MPH.....not that anyone drives that slow in reality, most drive at least 80MPH.....

In Germany, with cars often exceeding 200MPH, you need to drive with careful observation and good signalling well in advance......

If you look here, you can see the road death statistics of most of the civilized world:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate

It is interesting to note that the UK, Germany and the USA have the following statistics for accidents per 100,000 people:-

UK = 5.4, Germany = 6.2 and the USA = 14.7!!!

So in spite of your "SLOOOOW" laws, the USA population are certainly not the world`s best drivers......

Only Greece, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have worse records in this area than the USA......

Interestingly enough, in spite of not having a blanket speed limit, Germany sits in the middle statistically of many countries that do.....

I am not trying to say that Germany has the best drivers, it certainly doesn't, but in comparison to the USA for example, I feel we can hold our heads up quite well!!!

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#14
In reply to #9

Re: Wanna Buy a Right-Hand Drive Corvette?

06/01/2009 9:28 AM

I wasn't the speed issue I was noting about the Caribean.............it is the fact that the roads are way too full of potholes, gravel, etc for anything with the ground clearance of a Vet to be driven on.....

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#15
In reply to #14

Re: Wanna Buy a Right-Hand Drive Corvette?

06/01/2009 10:14 AM

AH!

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#16
In reply to #14

Re: Wanna Buy a Right-Hand Drive Corvette?

06/01/2009 8:48 PM

That is why they smoke weed, to keep relaxed, we westerners would only get angry,

damn frickin &%##$ slow road

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#17
In reply to #16

Re: Wanna Buy a Right-Hand Drive Corvette?

06/02/2009 9:35 AM

LOL.............the taxi and bus drivers are the best..........

smoke ganga and you have no worries mon

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#5

Re: Wanna Buy a Right-Hand Drive Corvette?

05/30/2009 11:27 AM

Maybe someone who has a mail route would be interested.

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#6
In reply to #5

Re: Wanna Buy a Right-Hand Drive Corvette?

05/31/2009 9:02 AM

Yeah, we have a 'mail lady' in the area who's pretty hot (delivers more than mail to males). Bet she'd love that car.

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#8

Re: Wanna Buy a Right-Hand Drive Corvette?

05/31/2009 9:28 PM

I could use it here in Japan!

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#18

Re: Wanna Buy a Right-Hand Drive Corvette?

07/30/2009 7:46 PM

Hey, i'm 16 and left handed. I'm terrified of driving in a Left-Hand Drive car. I've been trying to find a Right-Hand Drive car. Its harder than i thought. How do you convert a LHD car to a RHD car? Can you just order it that way? Or do you have to do it yourself?

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#19
In reply to #18

Re: Wanna Buy a Right-Hand Drive Corvette?

07/31/2009 4:56 AM

Just go one of the 56 countries that still drive on the left and buy a car.......look on ebay for such cars (almost) everywhere.......search on the web using righthand drive or right hand drive for example, plus a name of a car that interests you best.....

Nothing simpler than that!!!

Unless a car was built to be either right or lefthand drive in the same chassis (most UK built cars at least), a conversion will be not easy, plus getting it approved maybe impossible......

If you detailed where you lived we could also help better.......

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#20
In reply to #18

Re: Wanna Buy a Right-Hand Drive Corvette?

07/31/2009 9:21 AM

"Hey, i'm 16 and left handed. I'm terrified of driving in a Left-Hand Drive car."

if you are that uncoordinated and that afraid of driving a left-hand car, maybe you shouldn't be driving. There are millions of left handed people driving left-hand cars

and, every day people travel to countries that have the drivers seat on the opposite side of what they are accustomed to. it takes about 5 minutes to learn to drive there, the biggest issue I've had was remembering to look in the correct derection when making a turn at an intersection (yea, i know you should look both ways ) and making sure that you get in the correct lane.......

most countris have their roads set up so that the drivers seat is arranged so that they can see better when trying to pass the car in front of them. (St Croix is one exception that I have driven in)

the problem with driving a car with the drivers seat on the opposite side of what is normal for that country, is that the driver is not in a good position to be able to see around the vehicle in front of him when he wants to pass....

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