QUICK SHIFTS: MT Car of the Year Finalist, C8 Turns Hater Into Fan, Z06 Steering Wheels, Grand Sport History, Corvette Trivia

Quick Shifts is a content feature here at CorvetteBlogger featuring links to Corvette and automotive-related stories of interest. The weeks on the calendar that feature auto-shows are the hardest weeks to find unique content but we still managed to find some excellent things to share with our rabid readers!

Check out these automotive quick shifts featuring finalists for Motor Trend’s Car of the Year, the C8 converting ‘Vette haters, a possible C8 Z06 steering wheel picture, a deep dive into the front-end-lift system, 1963 Grand Sport development, Corvette Trivia, a look back at the final C6 off the line and are those C6s becoming collectible already?

FIRST GEAR

The 2020 Corvette Stingray is a finalist for Motor Trend’s Car of the Year! Our new mid-engine hero may have had some minor hiccups in its first large group test but it checks all of the boxes for MT’s coveted “Golden Calipers” award that was last won by America’s Sports Car in 1984 and 1998. Will the most significantly revamped version of America’s Sports Car bring home the title for the third time? Stay tuned as Motor Trend should do some sort of big reveal next week.

Read their Pros and Cons piece HERE.

SECOND GEAR

Motor Trend’s sister publication, Automobile, whose C8 First Drive was featured in Quick Shifts a couple of weeks ago, ran a great opinion piece this week. The author, Alexander Stoklosa, admits that he was never a big fan of Corvettes and then goes into detail about the epiphany he had while piloting the C8.

Check it out HERE.

THIRD GEAR

The internet was abuzz earlier in the week over a sketch that possibly revealed new C8 Z06 interior details. The/Drive took it a step further when they shared a picture found on the world’s most reliable website, Reddit. The picture shows a pile of carbon fiber steering wheels that appear to belong to C8s. They look exactly like the ones in the drawing, all the way up to the red center stripe. A center pad featuring the Corvette logo can even be seen in the background. They look legit to us but take this with a small grain of salt as nothing is official until it is official.

See the full post HERE.

FOURTH GEAR

For fourth, we will send you over to Jalopnik. They had an interesting piece about the unique engineering behind the C8’s front-end-lift system. Apparently, the team behind the mid-engine Corvette came up with a solution for lifting the front over dangerous obstacles that uses brake parts instead of the methods employed by other manufacturers with similar systems. It is a good and quite educational article that we recommend to anyone who is curious about “how things work.”

Prepare to learn something HERE.

FIFTH GEAR

Fans of older ‘Vettes have to be getting so tired of all the C8 content! Don’t worry though, Chevy Hardcore and Andy Bolig have you covered with a great long read about the history of the 1963 Grand Sport program. No matter how many times you take a look at the development of these legendary cars, it is always entertaining! Perhaps the filmmakers behind Ford v. Ferrari could make this their next project!

Get “Hardcore” with Zora and the ’63 GSs HERE.

SIXTH GEAR

Corvette Trivia! This week we want to test your knowledge of the little details that can help a ‘Vettespert identify different model years. Take a look at our close-up photos and see if you can name all 20 corvettes that are represented.

Flex your brain muscle with Corvette Trivia #7.

REVERSE

With the final example of the C7 rolling off the line this week, we thought a look back at the final C6 would be a fun way to spend “Reverse” this week. It really is hard to believe that C7s are already out of production and that our first article from AutoWeek is almost seven years old! It details the final 2013 Corvette to be built (an Arctic White 427 Convertible) in Bowling Green. We also included a good piece that Hagerty published over the summer about C6 collectibility. Enjoy and have a fantastic weekend, Corvette fans!

Remember how time flies HERE and look forward to the impending appreciation of your C6 HERE.

Previous Quick Shifts:
Corvette ZR1 Send-Off, CCR Bassist, No C8 Manuals, LT2 Deep Dive, Corvette Trivia
Corvette Movie Trivia, PCOTY Flashbacks, Automobile Reviews the C8, Early C8 Mule with a Porsche PDK Transmission
Corvette Racing’s Doug Fehan, Best Driver’s Car, 2009 GT1 Special Edition, SEMA Preview, Corvette Trivia