I think I've started my last three build threads before picking up the cars in question, so I figured that I'd start this one early as well.
On Saturday I'm flying to Dallas to pick up a new 2014 CTS-V wagon. My wife tried to convince me that I can't possibly need a build thread for this, but they say that a new supercharger pulley and a tune will gain you 100 HP. At the wheels! That's eventually going to be hard to ignore.
There probably won't be much build for a while, just the adventure of picking up and driving and living with a pretty neat car.
How did I get here?
I tried to buy a Callaway Aerowagon. Ordered it, GM built the C7 and delivered it to the museum for Callaway to pick up and everytning. Only then did Callaway tell everyone involved that they weren't actually building them, at least not now. A plain C7 is nice, but not what I wanted, so someone else got a car that had my name on a plaque and I just ended up sad. I thought about buying a few other things. I tried to buy a Nissan van but the finance guy was an a-hole and even though it was a nice van, I didn't want to have to stand in a room with him again.
Then my friend who is the media guy at Hennessey posted up a picture of a new CTS-V wagon with something stupid like 1200 horsepower. Wait. I thought they stopped making those? A quick check showed that they are actually in the process of using up all of the leftover parts. It's late enough in production that you can't order one, but you can still buy them. If you can find one.......
Cadillac style. Will Fergus be up for adoption soon, or are you going to fill up the grosh with cool iron?
^ is jealous . . . We demand pics when you get it!!
TRoglodyte wrote:
Cadillac style. Will Fergus be up for adoption soon, or are you going to fill up the grosh with cool iron?
Fergus is staying. My 10 year old is getting excited about working it. Interestingly, they're both wagons, both weigh about the same, and both have manual transmissions. Fergus has waaaaaaay more cargo room. I'll do a tuba comparison next week.
Thats a good comparison. Will a tuba fit?
hrmmmmmmmmm
.....once I figured out they were still making them I did a local search and found a dealer who had eight on their website, five of which were manuals. Sweet! Friday was a day off for the kids so I loaded my tuba playing son and his tuba up and headed down to the dealer. The tuba is important. You see, I have four kids that I drop off and pick up from school every day. Last year I did that in my dearly departed Mazda2. It was awesome. I loved it. Driving the kids to school in that instead of the truck made my life better. I was a happy man. Then school started this fall and my son decided to play the tuba and suddenly I was back to driving my soul sucking truck every day because the tuba wouldn't fit and I was sad.
When the 2 died it didn't change my day to day driving because I wasn't driving it day to day and there wasn't anything I could find to replace it that would fit a tuba. Then the Aerowagon and the van and all of that and now I found myself at a Cadillac dealer thinking that I might have found the perfect car! All I had to do was make sure the tuba fit, pick out which one I liked, talk my wife into it and ride off into the sunset. I'd have a totally sweet car that I could drive every day and could park my truck until it was time to do truck stuff.
Well, it turns out seven of the eight cars on the site weren't real. They were either cars that had already been sold, or were cars at sister dealerships. One of them was there, but it was an automatic, and it was sold. The new owner was going to pick it up the next day.
Well crap. I explained the tuba situation to the salesman. He said he was sure a tuba would fit.
"Can I check?"
He was a little surprised that I had the tuba with me and even more surprised when I pulled it out from behind the seats in the 911......
......but he was up for the experiment and we hiked back to the back lot and retrieved the already sold car and brought it around front. It fit, but barely. The back of the CTS wagon is very sloped and even though it looks like there's tons of room back there, when closed the glass is only a inch or so from the tuba case.
Is it time yet to tell how the 2 left this world (or did I just miss it)?
You should have had your son with the tuba on standby to play the price-is-right losing riff incase any deal at the dealership fell through.
I like how arbitrary this is. "I was going to buy a Nissan van, but the guy was a jerk, so instead I'm buying an over the top Caddy burnout wagon".
turtl631 wrote:
I like how arbitrary this is. "I was going to buy a Nissan van, but the guy was a jerk, so instead I'm buying an over the top Caddy burnout wagon".
That's magazine-worthy right there.
mazdeuce, I am eagerly awaiting said burnout picture, maybe even with your kid playing tuba in the foreground. Something like this picture:
OHSCrifle wrote:
Is it time yet to tell how the 2 left this world (or did I just miss it)?
The statute of limitations for public discussion is still in effect. You can PM me if you're itching to know.
bluej
SuperDork
4/25/14 8:11 a.m.
mazdeuce wrote:
OHSCrifle wrote:
Is it time yet to tell how the 2 left this world (or did I just miss it)?
The statute of limitations for public discussion is still in effect. You can PM me if you're itching to know.
when does THAT expire? Sure makes one curious!
......so my son and I drive away from the super posh Cadillac dealer with our sales guy assuring us that it's just a matter of finding the right car and getting it to the dealership. He's happy, I'm happy, we're all happy. I head up to put shingles on the roof and come down in the evening to the news that he's found one in Dallas that he can get me. Sweet! I'll take it!
The next morning is kids soccer and I'm all smiles until a message dings in telling me that the car was sold the night before. Then another one telling me that the only ones they can find nationally are in Florida and that dealer won't trade them.
Crap.
I'll just check autotrader. There are four manual transmissions listed nationally. Four. One is at the dealer I'm at which is not real. One is in Dallas where I was just told they sold their only one, and the other two were 1200 miles away.
Crap.
I told my wife all of this and she handed me her phone and ordered me to call up to Dallas to make sure they had sold the car. Well, it turns out that they sold A car, but not THE car. They sold a white one which left them with only the black one and when that happened they were no longer willing to send the black one to Houston. I, however, am willing to fly to Dallas.
So now I have a check and a plane ticket and an insurance card and I'm just waiting for the plane to take off tomorrow. I will say that if you're thinking of buying one of these new, do it now. GM is no longer accepting order from dealers. The wagons in the pipeline are all they are going to build.
Pictures tomorrow.
mazdeuce wrote:
Pictures tomorrow.
As RexSeven suggested or we will hunt you down.
My buddy's got a supercharged CTS-V wagon with the manual transmission. So much want.
Driving home from Dallas with a wagon. Seems like an opportunity there. Drugs? Illegals? Brisket? Seems like you should be hauling something home. (If you were buying it in Texarkana, the choice would be obvious)
mazdeuce wrote:
OHSCrifle wrote:
Is it time yet to tell how the 2 left this world (or did I just miss it)?
The statute of limitations for public discussion is still in effect. You can PM me if you're itching to know.
When it's time, we'll find out. I have patience like a grasshopper.
mndsm
MegaDork
4/25/14 12:12 p.m.
I know what happened.
In another note, I am stupid jealous. You have a giant garage, a wife that makes wads of cash, and now a ctsv wagon.... Which is the holy grail of holy grails.
In reply to mazdeuce:
I hate you so much right now.... so much.
Bobzilla wrote:
In reply to mazdeuce:
I hate you so much right now.... so much.
I'm kinda proud of Mr.Mom, I wonder what the Cadillac dealer would think if he showed up in a battered straw hat and grungy cutoff bib overalls, just to see their jaws drop. Tell em you're going to use it to run parts for your salvage yard.
In reply to TRoglodyte:
Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm proud of him too. I just wish I was the one flying into Dallas to pick up a new CTS-V wagon to drive home.