May 11, 2000

Correspondence between Mike DiCola and Gary Batson (Part 2)

When Mike DiCola was looking to sell the Corvette in 2000 he corresponded with several interested buyers. The following text is part 2 of a series of emails sent to Gary Batson, the person who ultimately purchased the car from Mike. Note: The assembly manual and Corvette news manuals mentioned below are still with the car, as are the spare engine mounts.

‍

The brown bottle named LEXOL is the leather treatment for the seats, usually I just spritz some of that on the seat and use a very small piece of cloth/rag about 6" X 6" and coat the leather with it then let it sit for a few hours while the leather soaks it up…once done, the seat is a bit sticky but once you sit in it the stickiness goes away. its really good stuff and its a good idea to do it every 2 weeks or so, it keeps the leather real soft. the black bottle called 3M Gloss enhancer. I use one of the white rags and you just spritz some of that on the paint, rub it in with the rag and dry it right away with the rag..the directions are on the bottle…do it while in the shade on cool paint, not hot paint. If you can get some cloth baby diapers that are very soft, they would be better than the rags I supplied to you.

There are 2 extra motor mounts, 1 right, 1 left and 1 of the 2 is a aftermarket locking type which is not original...there are 2 new ones in the car now as I put them in last year, but the chevy mounts are known to break with age and when they do, they have a tendency to let the motor lift up under hard acceleration...the locking mount won't allow that to happen, which is why I bought it. you should not have to worry about it for quite a few years.

Also in the boxes is the assembly manual and a number of corvette news manuals with all sorts of updates...takes forever to read, but is quite interesting. there are also a few corvette catalogs from companies that I have used.

Oil used is Valvoline 10/40…brake fluid used is Dot 4 type, any brand will do, but I just flushed the brakes last fall, you probably should do that service every year...rear end takes normal GM gear oil and should you change it, you will need to add the GM positraction additive available at any Chevy dealer, its something you should keep your ears open for as the posi additive does fade away over time, what you will hear is a chattering of the rear end while making turns, thats what signals the time to replace the rear gear oil and the posi additive. I did that service last year, so you probably won't need to do it for another year or so…in the area behind the seats is a storage area, there are 2 hammers, tire lock (I never had the spare down, so I can't even tell you what it looks like) plus the California license plate that came with the car when I got it.

The radio and electric antenna…if I remember correctly, there is a switch under the dash, not sure which side its on as I never used it…but I think you need to have the antenna up first before the radio will work….check the owners manual first on that just to make sure.

Also check the manual for the heater controls, not that you will need them down there, but the controls are a bit complicated and take a bit getting used to.