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Pre-Owned C7 Corvette Reveals Its Bodybuilding Past When Wet

It’s important to always do your research before buying a used car, but sometimes, a professional inspection and car history report don’t quite cover everything. Occasionally, a car’s past will show up in unexpected ways. Such is the case for the new owner of this used C7 Corvette.

Decal residue on the rear glass of a used C7 Corvette.

Recently making the rounds on social media, the new owner reports that their used C7 Corvette shows an odd design on the rear glass, apparently the result of some decal that was removed prior to the sale. For those readers that can’t make it out, the design shows the name “Rich Piana” in cursive, under which is a large “5%.” The design only shows up when the car is wet, likely indicating that the decal left some sort of residue on the glass after it was removed.

Rich Piana was a bodybuilder that accumulated a number of titles and competition wins over the course of his career. Piana also launched a line of nutrition products called 5% Nutrition. Piana died in 2017 at the age of 46.

It’s unknown if the previous owner of this C7 Corvette was a fan of Piana, his nutrition products, or perhaps the previous owner was even Piana himself. Regardless, the current owner is definitely not a fan of the residue seen on the back glass of the sports car, which apparently only shows up when the car is wet.

“For the love of god can someone tell me know to remove this imprint on the glass,” the new owner implores on social media.

Some of the responses include applying some sort of water repellant to the glass, as it’s possible someone previously applied a spray wax when the decals were attached. Another post suggests applying an adhesive removal product, while another suggests applying a clay bar. Either way, it’s gotta be an annoying discovery for the new owner, who says they already removed some fake Z51 stickers from the body.

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Jonathan is an automotive journalist based out of Southern California. He loves anything and everything on four wheels.

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Comments

  1. Safelite repair, Safelite replace!

    And now, for REAL News…

    Reply
    1. We had a local shop with local contact and they were actually pretty good to work with. Then they switched and you HAD to go through the national 800 number to schedule.

      I’ll spare the details. Just will say the IRS complaint line probably gives better service, and the car’s owner would be better off buffing it out himself.

      Reply
  2. All it needs is a buff job on the glass and it will no longer show.

    Reply
  3. Forget about the glass right now and clean out your messy garage!…you can’t even park one car in there. And whatever is leaning on the side of your house needs to go too. While cleaning out the garage, you might even find some car care products in there that you forgot about.

    Reply
    1. That’s what garages were made for, to store lawnmowers , garden tools and cars.🙄

      Reply
  4. The easiest way to remove it is to use blue. Dawn dishwashing soap and OOOO steel wool. It will not scratch the glass and will easily remove the residue. Furniture is polished with OOOO steel wool for gloss.

    Reply
  5. The detailed area is the clean part I believe actually the rest of it is the residue around it…. for all the time of waxing and dirt accumulation around where the decal was is now showing. Kind of like shampooing the carpet but it seems to be cleaner where the furniture always was placed you don’t need to keep shampooing where the carpet is the rest of it needs to be evened out.. Maguire’s has a really fine polish that will work just fine on that…. nothing to take the coating on the glass itself off just enough to take all the dirt away that’s stuck to the rest of the glass

    Reply
  6. Use a medium cut foam pad and some medium cut polish with a DA. That will completely remove it.

    Reply
  7. KETCHUP AND VINEGAR, WORKS EVERYTIME

    Reply
  8. Cleaning the garage out will take longer than removing the left over adhesive…

    Reply
  9. Use a ball peen hammer.

    Reply
  10. try some chicken soup – it voun’t hoit !

    Reply
    1. Really, start by cleaning out garage as mentioned. Bon-ami works on glass and won’t scratch. Guess the product didn’t help Rich? 46 yo? Sad.

      Reply
  11. FIRST OFF, JUST LEAVE IT, YOU ONLY SEE WHEN WET, ITS UNIQUE AND A GREAT CONVERSATION PIECE. IT WONT LAST LONG FOREVER ON BACK WINDOW. I MEAN SEEING YOUR GARAGE, I TEND TO THINK THIS CAR WILL BE LEFT OUT IN ALL THE ELEMENTS, RAIN SNOW ETC…. IT WILL EVENTUALLY WEAR OFF. MAYBE THIS CAN BE A GREAT EPISODE OF THE SHOW “HORDERS’.

    Reply
  12. News Flash: Rich Piana never even owned a Corvette!

    Another piece of truth: you can BUY a vinyl decal of that exact logo from his old company, 5% Nutrition. Anyone can buy that vinyl graphic and place it in the window of their car! That doesn’t make it Rich’s car.

    Clickbait BS article.

    Reply

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