Engine
Buy a 2011 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 or ZR1, pay 5800 bucks more, and you can assemble the engine yourself ! (One night’s lodging is thrown in with the deal.)
Plan about six hours to put your LS7 or LS9 engine together with supervision by a skilled technician.
Other Goodies
ZR1 Corvette buyers can also attend a free Corvette driving course in Nevada or Arizona !
Vette buyers can also can pay a fee to have their baby delivered to The National Corvette Museum or watch the car being assembled at the Kentucky plant.
(None of these goodies include airfare as far as I can tell.)
Questions
Would you pay to assemble your own engine ?
I wonder if GM can void my warranty if the engine I build, breaks ?
What do you think about this new trend ?
Will people soon be invited to install cup holders in minivans or put lug-nuts on their hybrids ?
CSA
Personally, I think this is ridiculous. I have no problems building my own car. I’d prefer the body to be painted, but I can put the rest of the parts together. But I’m not going to pay someone else to let me do the work. If I’m going to do that, I want a discount… or for it to be a classic that I’m going to restore. Not a new car.
Besides, even if you could assemble a new car from all the base parts yourself, it is doubtful that you could save much of anything - by the time the extra shipping costs for all the parts adds up, you’re not far off the actual labor cost for a car anyway (not much over $1000 per vehicle nowadays). Let the pros do it and enjoy the time off… 
But whatever you do, PAYING to build your own engine when the pros would do it at no extra charge is absurd.
Gee, I didn’t know that Heathkit had switched from electronic equipment to Corvettes. In the old days of Heathkit, an electronic device (amplifier, receiver, transmitter, etc.) was about half the price in kit form as it was in assembled form. With the printed circuitry today, very few electronic devices are built from kits and it would probably cost more to send things out in kit form.
I would think that with today’s engines, as close as the tolerances need to be, that one wouldn’t want to assemble one’s engine.
Years ago, we used to call new cars “do it yourself kits”. The dealer had to put in quite a bit of time making things right. I had hoped we had left the era of cars in kit form.
Heard about this this morning on the way to work. I always enjoy a good laugh.
This is just one more way for people who have unimited financial resources to throw away even more of their money. Great profit generator for GM, although I feel sorry for the technicians who normally build the engines. I hope their tolerance level is high.
We can only wonder what the resale value of these Corvettes with owner-assembled engines will be. I seriously doubt anyone’s going to get his or her $5,800 back.
$5,800 to assemble an engine? For $5,800 I could BUY an engine.
GM is looking to get some of that hedge fund cash that disappeared in the 08 crash. Those people have money to burn I guess.
It is not that you are “making” an engine just some performing some level of assembley of one
Fun for the bored upper class. Hey, if people are willing to do this, why not give it to them?
Personally, I’m envious of those with the time and money to do something this silly.
The person who would do this has never seen an engine’s innards, has little or no mechanical aptitude, and is doing it for entertainment and/or bragging rights.
That’s a line-drive into the center field seats McP. I PITY the poor baby-sitters who must deal with these people…That’s a time-and-a-half job…
I’m envious of their ability to do so.
I’m surprised some folks here seem to question the ‘wisdom’ of spending $5800 on this. Guys, they’re buying a $70,000 - $120,000 Corvette! They aren’t making an investment, they’re spending money on something completely unnecessary in the first place. If someone’s enough of a Corvette fan to buy a new one in the first place, I’m not surprised that a few of them want to do this. Nothing ‘rational’ about most hobbies, right?
And given all the trouble they have to go through, I doubt GM makes any real money on it.
Reminds me of a sign that hung in behind the counter at an old independent garage I used to work at, it read
Labor Rates
40$/hour
60$/hour if you watch
80$/hour if you help
100$/hour if you worked on the car before it was towed in.
Keep in mind this sign was probably from the mid to late 80’s
I feel bad for the workers that have to supervise these customers, I really do.
Your right sir, I am envious too. However even if I had the money to burn I wouldn’t want to help assemble my own engine, I would rather pay the money to sit in a chair and watch the worker and yell at them from time to time.
And to think, I was feeling rich because I ran synthetic in the Sienna last oil change.
Its all about the ownership experience.
A program like this gives you a deeper involvement with the car.
Builds pride with the company.
Makes you much more likely to buy another one in the future when the new version comes out.
Just like paying to fly to Germany to take delivery of your Porsche or Mercedes, or to Italy to take delivery of your shiny new Ferrari. Then you get to drive the car on the roads around the factory, and then have it shipped home.
Its about building a relationship with the owner, the car, and the car company.
Its been working well for other companies for quite a long time.
I don’t see anything wrong with it, except the whole “Corvette” thing.
Don’t much care for Corvettes, honestly.
Too big and bloated.
BC.