Purchasing a new car is an exciting venture, but how exciting is it to purchase a built C6 Corvette Z06? One New Zealand man did just that, except it didn’t go quite as planned.
Stuff.NZ reports David Jackson purchased the built C6 Z06 from seller Michal​ Peter Huriwaka Ball in New Zealand, after the Corvette was brought in ready to break the country’s top speed record. The Z06 featured a highly built, twin-turbocharged variant of 7.0-liter LS7 V8.
After putting down an $11,000 deposit, and picking the car up for a total of $110,000, Jackson filled the tank with 98 octane. After driving the C6 Z06 for some time, the engine began to misfire and overheated. Spark plugs were changed out, and Jackson continued his journey only to have the Corvette eventually die.
Mechanics were shocked to see the engine ran some 1,500 miles before completely dying. Estimated costs to rebuild the engine range around $55,000.
Ball insists Jackson did not understand or know “hot to drive” the C6 Corvette, while Jackson states the seller said 98 octane was approved for the build. Thus, he filled it with 98 octane, rather than 110 octane as Ball now states.
The claim was sent to the Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribunal, where the panel dismissed Ball’s claims of improper vehicle usage as “nonsense.” Jackson was awarded $100,000 as a refund, still shy $10,000 of his initial purchase price, but the maximum allotted by the tribunal.
Ball stated he will be appealing the decision at a Manukau District Court hearing in August.
For now, it seems we will never know if the C6 Corvette Z06 would have broken a New Zealand land speed record.
Comments
It didn’t break the “Land Speed record”, but I bet it broke the “Lawyer’s Speed record” for the claim against the dealer!
It’s an interesting legal case. I think the tribunal may have erred in calling it nonsense. If you build a car to break a land speed record, 110 octane makes sense as a requirement. There should be some documentation of the owners communication when the car had issues, too.
The new owner should have immediately contacted the prior owner, when he had issues – not blindly began replacing spark plugs. Documentation of that communication could be key, if there is any. Lack of communication could benefit the prior owner’s case.
Regardless, this underscores why you should document any modifications to a car, in your Craigslist post or wherever you sell it. That way, nobody can come back later and say you didn’t brief them. Had the owner put 110 octane required in the car overview or sales documents, this wouldn’t have happened.