Corvette Conundrums

While some people characterize Corvette enthusiasts as aging hot rodders over-reacting to middle age, here's an exception to that perception. Jeff Gooss is just short of 30, still in his prime. So while the intense orange hue of his C5 looks like a brilliant sunset, he's not settling down for the evening of his life. It's 6:00 a.m. and this Vette is a wake-up call.

Full Blown
Which makes all the difference, because this guy doesn't know when to quit, and won't let obstacles beat him down. He ran into plenty of in the buildup of his supercharged C5, pressurized by Kenne Bell blower to stomp with 800-plus horses at the rear wheels. And that's just the engine, because he dropped more money than he can count on the rest of the project, and he's still not done.


Where does somebody get this sort of ambition? He had always admired customized Corvettes, even though he worked as general manager of a custom motorcycle shop in Las Vegas. Seeing all these mega-buck bikes rolling out the door under his watchful eyes, he started getting this uncontrollable desire to buy a toy, but with four fat tires instead of just two. It also had to be loud and fast, so it gets more attention than a showgirl on the Strip.


Evidently his fiancé (and now wife) understood his needs and gave him the green light on the project. With no hurdles on the homefront, Gooss jumped into the project with both feet. "For the next few weeks I was a man on a mission," he recalls. "I did as much research as possible and finally located a beautiful yellow 2000 C5 coupe with 20,000 miles in Colorado."


After a little negotiating with the owner, they came to an agreement, but Gooss had never been to the Rocky Mountain state, so he wasn't really sure about driving back through the snow-covered passes. That's when a crazy impulse took over: "Rather than take a couple of days off and scramble to get the car back to Vegas, I wanted to savor the drive home. I walked into work the next day and quit my job," he laughs. "Just like that, I had bought a Corvette and quit my job all within 24 hours."