[VIDEO] MotorTend Head 2 Head: 1967 Corvette 427 vs 1968 Porsche 911L

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[VIDEO] MotorTend Head 2 Head: 1967 Corvette 427 vs 1968 Porsche 911L

We’ve seen all kinds of road tests with the 2014 Corvette Stingray going head to head with many other competitors over the past few months.

Today, though, we take a step back into the past with Motor Trend’s Head 2 Head, hosted by Jonny Lieberman, senior features editor at the magazine.

He puts a 1967 Corvette with a 427 V8 against a 1968 Porsche 911L with a 2.0-liter flat-six.

We won’t tell you who won this battle of the icons.

Just suffice it to say both cars have their strong points, but the glorious sounds coming from the dual side pipes of the Corvette, which made 435 horsepower at a time when Ferraris were still in the upper 300s, plus the classic design of the Sting Ray leave Lieberman constantly smiling and laughing and basically just having a ball.

He’s like a kid in a candy store, though he does brush his teeth one time and point out that the Corvette’s outdated steering and brakes don’t quite live up to all that power.

The Porsche, on the other hand, doesn’t generate nearly as much horsepower (only 130), with Lieberman comparing the sound of its puny engine to “an angry sewing machine.”

Despite the lack of oomph, Lieberman notes that the car’s light weight (around 2,000 pounds) means that it doesn’t take as much horsepower to move it around the curvy roads of California.

In fact, Lieberman admits that the Porsche is “such a delight to drive” along the Pacific Coast Highway, with a man-machine connection that isn’t there with the Corvette. The steering almost feels like that of a modern car, he notes, though the 911L is 46 years old.

Numbers-wise, the Corvette is – surprise, surprise – the clear winner, going from 0-60 in 5.5 seconds versus the Porsche’s 8.8 and doing the quarter in 13.8 seconds at 104 mph compared to 14.6 seconds at 95 mph for the 911.

Lieberman concludes that he can see why people love Porsches, but he doesn’t feel like he himself is in love with the car, calling it a “lovable oddball.”

The Corvette, on the other hand, is at the top of the Corvette pyramid, he says, adding that the Sting Ray “just screams cool.”

In fact, he further describes it as an “incredible car,” “a high-water mark,” and “a masterpiece.”

Well, while we didn’t tell you who won this battle of the icons, we will tell you that it should be pretty obvious that Zora Arkus-Duntov and Bill Mitchell would be pleased with the final outcome.


Source:
Motor Trend

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Top Gear: Corvette Stingray vs Porsche 911
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