Being a bit glib as this is Corvette number four for me now, but I came home with a convertible on the weekend. If you live in Arizona you have to have a convertible. The climate is just too sunny, too mild and gorgeous for a majority of the year.

While Queensland and California are being drowned by torrential downpours and flooding, and the United States North East is getting global warming style climate fluctuations where a snow drift is burying cars, houses and the occasional sky scraper; the photo above was taken during a warm sunny depth of winter Sonoran day. About 70F.

When I came to Arizona I upgraded my C5 Corvette to a C6 Coupe. I wish I had bought the convertible there and then. I ummed and ahhed about it, but ultimately thought the Targa top would be enough. It is not. A convertible is a totally different driving experience and there is nothing in Arizona which suggests you have to go the Targa/Coupe route.

It is a beautiful car. The convertibles have better lines than the coupes when the roof is down. When it is up they look a bit odd. Have to put Billy Boats on this one too. Since the C5 I have been buying Route 66 Billy Boats for the vettes. Gives them a deep down throaty American muscle car growl.

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Corvette No.3, Black C6 Coupe with black interior. The C6 is a better car and more powerful but it leans toward the muscle car style of power rather than the sports genre. Cars are getting bigger, wider and bloated and the C6 is no exception. You sit higher and more upright than in the C5 but you have more power and better handling for it. The C6 is a way better car than the C5 but I hope the C7 rediscovers the sports car side of the Corvette rather than continuing with the muscle car direction.

Corvette No.2, Black C5 Coupe with oak interior. The C5 is a really nice sports car. It is low to the ground - more so than the C6 - and has wonderful seats. The jump between the C4 and the C5 is pretty drastic in terms of what a car is.

One of the things I can't live without now is the Heads Up Display [HUD] that was introduced with the C5. It is only available in the LT3 trim but it is worth the extra cost for it. I never glance down at the speedo or tacho anymore. The speed, revs and g's are all displayed in the window like a modern fighter jet.

The HUD makes driving so much easier I am lost when I get in a car without it as I have been trained to see it in my peripheral vision rather than glance or look down.

Run-flat tires were also introduced with the C5. These are hard walled tires that can go for 50 or so miles at a maximum speed of 55 mph with no air in them. When I was driving on Rt.287 in New Jersey I had what would have been a blow out in normal tires but the run flats handled it well. you could stick four fingers through the hole that was in the tire but instead of a blow out I drove to the next town on the run flats. Worked well.

Corvette No.1. Silver C4 with grey interior. This was a money sink. I spent a tonne on that car fixing the transmission, fuel system, electricals and everything else with this car. It even got egged one night and needed a respray.

I still think the C4 has the best styling of all the Corvettes. Sitting in it was like being hemmed into an F16 cockpit. It is cramped with the 1980s style of digital display that is right in your face. The nose is long and the tail is always at risk of being out at 45 degrees even when you are traveling at 25 mph in a straight line. The yellow Trans Am in the background was one of John's summer cars.

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