Respdoc, Re-read what I said. True I was quoting an SRT6 coupe price, that they can be bought for now-a-days, not a roadster. But who said anything about a Base SRT other than you? And since I haven't been living in a spider hole for the last 2.5 years, I know the SRT only comes as an automatic. That's why I recommended "Doug Nash" to Golfdude.
That being said, let's go back and crunch the numbers, shall we?
I think it's a given, that a brand new, 05 SRT6 Roadster can be had for 40k. I have no idea what the final price would be to do an actual manual trans. swap, but you said that you doubted if it could be done for less than 10k, so just to be safe, let's say 15k. That still puts the Crossfire in at 10k under the BASE ZO6.
You are always very zealous to point out that the performance gain of a manual, over the auto is minimal at best. But as of yet, who really knows? There is a .5 sec. difference in 1/4 mile times between the stick and automatic Limited. So who's to say the SRT wouldn't be greater?
To me the topic at hand was Golfdude simply preferred a manual sports car over one that shifted for itself. Maybe I got it wrong.
I personally think a "Loaded up" SRT6 roadster, with a custom 6 speed trans. at 10k less than "Base" ZO6 Vette that would probably only be 1 sec. or less faster at the drags, still makes the Crossfire a bargain.
I'm not going to go into resale, desirability, dependability or anything else. I'm simply comparing "apples to apples" with no other variables.
True, if you want a 100% factory built sports car, then of course the ZO6 is the only game on the block (unless you consider Lotus). But on this forum, I think there are more people that prefer driving something really unique than just another Vette., and I really like Vettes.