Topic: Patience and Perseverance, my curious Solstice GXP Coupe saga . . .

[tekenaar]

Just joined here a bit ago and, since I've already posted elsewhere here, thought I'd better get around to some introductions in the proper forum. I am in Plano and will relate my curious Coupe purchase experience - originally written a while ago - below.

A little over a year ago - end of July, beginning of August - GM's Pontiac Division announced that a Solstice Coupe would finally be introduced in October of 2008 in addition to the Solstice Roadster/Saturn Sky (convertible models) already in production for several years. I'd been waiting for that Solstice Coupe to be produced since January 2002 when both Solstice Coupe and Roadster concepts were driven out to center stage at the Detroit Auto Show by Bob Lutz himself!
 
October came and went and the release of the Solstice Coupe was first pushed back to November and then to December of 2008. Around Christmas, rumors came that the release date was now February/March 2009 . . . those came and went, also without any actual Coupe being available. About the middle of April, GM announced that the Coupe would be available Summer 2009 . . . "Due Dates" were becoming more and more ambiguous and GM went through bankruptcy, got bailed out, and "emerged" from bankruptcy about a month later.
 
I still didn't know for sure whether Pontiac was ever going to release the Coupe, so I went to my local dealer in May and put some "earnest money" down for "right of first refusal" on a Coupe. May came and went and still no Coupes delivered anywhere. June came along and, while no Coupes were delivered during the first few weeks, I discovered from I-net sources that the Delaware "Kappa chassis" line - Solstice/Sky, among others - was shut down permanently on June 12th with just ~2,000 Solstice Coupes produced.
 
Long story, short . . . no-one could really "order" a Coupe, you could only buy whatever was produced in that production run. Since I had put down some "earnest money", at least I should've been able to get my minimum Coupe requirement, a GXP with 5-speed standard! Ewing had several Coupes allotted to them and being shipped to Arlington, the GM delivery depot for this area. I chose the slate gray metallic (Sly) GXP Coupe with the 5-speed scheduled for delivery to the dealer at the end of June.
 
My Coupe arrived at the Arlington depot near the end of June . . . and was then mysteriously and without ever any explanation sent back to the Delaware plant! It took GM Distribution two months plus to get my Coupe back to the dealer for my "first look"! It arrived in Arlington on Wednesday and wasn't delivered to the dealer until that Friday, late afternoon, with two hours dealer prep yet to be done! I saw "my car" for the first time at 17:45 that day!


 
I finally took delivery Saturday morning, the next day. It's perhaps interesting to note that the Solstice Coupes are, and will always be, a very limited production, single-year only, "instantly collectible" car.
 
All in all and after all was said and done, I'm a very happy camper now!!  
 

[2kwk4u]

let's see some more pictures!

[DeepBlueGXP]

Great story, glad you were able to get a Coupe. Welcome to the forum.

[Critterman]

great looking ride, welcome

[BigSal]

Welcome to the best forum for Kappas. Sweet car!

[U4EA]

Congrats on the coupe! Welcome to Kappa Performance, bunch of good folks here! Maybe we will meet you and see your coupe at Cars-n-Coffee last Sat of the month @ Classic BMW Plano!?

[1LILNDN]

tekenaar---->  Welcome to the Kappa Performance Forum     the Best FORUM this side of Anywhere &Everywhere on the Internet    

[Treeman]

That was hard fought for!  Congrats and welcome!

[wspohn]

Impeccable taste!  (I own the exact same car!)

[Gentleman Jack]

Welcome aboard.  Lot's of helpful info and experience here.  Let us know how we can help!  Any ideas of what you might do other than smile every time you dirve it?

GJ

[Rogue]

Welcome to the forum.   
From one coupe ownwer to another   

[chuckdoc]

Welcome to the forum.  It is not unusual for cars to be called back before delivery when a short run develops a potential problem.  They call them back to be fixed at different places.

[LiquidPT]

Welcome to the forum.  It is not unusual for cars to be called back before delivery when a short run develops a potential problem.  They call them back to be fixed at different places.

In this case, we know a bunch of coupes got held up to check the tops (there's a TSB about the headliners coming unglued). That's probably the case here.

[wspohn]

In this case, we know a bunch of coupes got held up to check the tops (there's a TSB about the headliners coming unglued). That's probably the case here.

Yup - I had the dealer print out a history on my car and it had that done. Must have got a bad batch of glue!

[tekenaar]

Thanks for the welcomes, guys (generic Yankee term that includes both sexes) . . . uh, just curious, but did anyone click on the underlined link in my first post? Links to original AutoWeek article reporting on the 2002 Detroit Autoshow where both Solstice Concepts - Coupe and Roadster - were first shown to the public by Bob Lutz himself! . . . lots of pix from the show!

[LatinVenom]

Welcome to the forum.

[SolNut]

Now that your driving your new Coupe sign up for Kerrville X and Canton and Razorback 2010!! 

WE need more Coupes!   

Steve
 

[GXPinKC]

Thanks for taking the time to explain your delivery sequence on your 2009 Coupe GXP.  My dad used to say "the longer the wait, the sweeter the joy"!  Welcome to the forum tekenaar.   You will find a very good group of owners who reside in the great state of Texas.  Have fun and hope to see you down the road.

GXPinKC
Ron