Happy 4th of July, Corvette Nation, and welcome to Quick Shifts where we will be honoring America and its only true sports car! Quick Shifts is a content feature here at CorvetteBlogger featuring links to Corvette and automotive-related stories of interest.
FIRST GEAR:
Fireworks are fine and all but we prefer to celebrate our great nation with tire smoke and roaring V8s so before letting the clutch out on the best story that the automotive ‘net had to offer this week, be sure to turn off traction control and plant your right foot in the name of freedom!
This week, our friends at Car and Driver have been time-releasing content from their July issue online. In their most recent pages, C&D has been looking all the way back through their history to name the Greatest Cars of All Time, the G.O.A.T.s, if you will. The entire thing is a lot of fun and it has included a ton of content ranging from the greatest car they could imagine building with current parts (the Corvette contributes!), to the best test numbers they have ever achieved (again, the handling and braking portions are dominated by Corvettes!).
Back to the main list of cars, two of the chosen 33 wear the crossed flags (we think that is a criminally low number, but we may be biased). If you haven’t seen the list yet, we won’t spoil it for you but they can be found on the ’60s list and in the 2000s club.
The ‘Vette’s two selections are on par with the Mustang (they selected the original ’64 ½ and the current Shelby GT350) but lag behind Ferrari with four selections and three nods to Porsche (two to 911 models). The final piece of noteworthiness here comes in the form of C&D’s newest acquisition, Bring a Trailer, which was utilized to show values of the older cars on the list. BaT is already proving to be an ingenious addition to the Hearst Autos family that we could see rivaling Hagerty’s valuation tool with a little further development.
SECOND GEAR:
Speaking of Hagerty, the crown jewel of the stories that they ran this week centers around colonial, revolutionary, and Ohio town founder, Rufus Putnam and a car that is nearly two centuries his junior, the C5 Corvette. Follow along with Larry Webster as he takes us along Route 78 for a history lesson and an ode to American enthusiast driving; this one is a good time!
While we are on the topic of the Midwest, we would also like to send a heartfelt congratulations to all Ohioans because your state just removed a classic enthusiast car dilemma from your conscience. No longer will you have to decide between following the law and having your Corvette look as good as it was designed to look from the front because the Buckeye state just switched to a one-plate system. No more mandatory front license plates for you!
THIRD GEAR:
Syracuse Nationals, like the majority of large events, automotive and otherwise (now officially including the Dream Cruise), were postponed until 2021 but in honor of the Corvette’s birthday and this great northeast show that should have happened this week, Hot Rod posted an enjoyable gallery of the Corvettes that have graced Syracuse in the past that also comes along with ten facts that every fan of the Plastic Fantastic should know. Give it a look right here while you try to be patient for the next show to go on!
For further HOT ROD action, check out their outstanding piece speculating about the next generation of the Corvette’s big, little brother, the Camaro.
FOURTH GEAR:
Although your author is (obviously) a diehard fan of the bowtie brand and its GM brethren, I can’t help but respect the engineers and marketing team over at FCA! Just in time for the fourth, Dodge unveiled their 2021 performance lineup to the tune of 8,950 raging American horses. New additions to their portfolio include a 180 MPH, seven-passenger SUV with 710 HP and the ability to tow 8,700 lbs., a 797-pony Charger widebody, and an 807-horse successor to the Demon.
It is amazing how good Dodge has become at keeping people excited about new versions of the Charger (current generation debuted in 2011) and Challenger (around since 2008). We all know that these cars have been around forever but the bones of the LX platform (and its derivatives) that they ride on is even older than most think, tracing a good amount of their heritage back to Mercedes-Benz. In an industry where customers demand that everything be brand-spanking new all the time, the continued sales success of the big Dodges is nothing short of remarkable. It also doesn’t appear as if FCA is planning on messing with a good thing by throwing money at possible successors to their aged stable of muscle cars either.
Even though the Porsche 911 has always been the true rival to the Corvette in terms of performance, Muscle Cars and Trucks is reporting that the hulking old Mopars are the ‘Vette’s number one competition for customer dollars right now so don’t let our cause down, the next time one of your friends brings up the, admittedly insane, power numbers that the Chally and its stable mates put down, be sure to remind them that Chargers and Challengers < AHREF="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brampton_Assembly">aren’t even made in America!
FIFTH GEAR:
If you need further ammunition while spreading the good word of Corvette, and case you missed it earlier this week, Throttle House is here to help keep impatient eyes from wandering over to a Dodge dealership during the long wait for the C8. All joking aside, we really are living in a golden age of American performance and are truly blessed to have all of the relatively attainable and outrageously powerful options from the Detroit Big Three right now! What you may have overlooked in the C8 vs. Demon post was the full review of the newest member of the Corvette lineage, be sure to check it out now if you didn’t before, or watch it again/not at all, it is your life!
SIXTH GEAR:
Three-way comparison test alert!!! I’ve posted before about missing the days when mags did more group comparos, instead of just one huge one per year (C&D Lightning Lap, MT Best Driver’s Car, etc.) bolstered by a handful of one on one skirmishes. Motor Trend has answered my hopes this week by duking it out with a phenomenal trifecta of super droptops. The belligerents in this battle are the all new, 992 generation 911 Turbo S Cabriolet, the $372,750 McLaren 720S Spider, and a Mercedes-AMG GT R Roadster sitting on C7 Z06-spec Michelins. Not only is this a splendid read, but it is fun to imagine how the upcoming C8 version of the Z06 ‘vert will fare against such stiff competition. It makes us giddy to imagine a Z that brings the exotic excitement of the McLaren, the attitude of the AMG, and the everyday usability of the Porsche to the table at less than half of the price of the cheapest car in this test, all while offering a far more unique and desirable powerplant than the omnipresent 3.8-4.0L twin-turbo mils that seem to power everything these days. With such high expectations, one almost feels bad for the pressure cooker that the Corvette team is under in regards to the Z models, but I digress. If you want to see which of these dream machines is the current king of the open-air supercars, see the full story on MotorTrend.com.
REVERSE:
To get everyone on the same page regarding our push for GM and Honda partnering to bring back the Solstice and S2000, we dug up some reviews of the cars in question, rough edges and all, to bring them back into your conciseness for reverse gear. First, we have Jonny Lieberman, then of The Truth About Cars on the top-tier GXP version of the Solstice.
On to the S2K and a classic comparison of “Blow Dryers” that brings this edition of Quick Shifts full circle with Car and Driver. Read that five-way (!) comparison test and see why the little Honda has such a cult following, even to this day when The Drive used it as a yardstick for the new Miata.
Happy Fourth everyone! God Bless America!
Previous Quick Shifts:
Track Set-Up Video, Living with a C8, 1000+ HP Crate Motors, Electric Trucks, and a Homeless C6 Z06.
Base C8 Corvette Review, C8 Z06 Pipes, New Mustang and a Mercedes Wagon, C5 Corvette Lifespan and More!
C8 vs Shelby GT500, C8 Markups, Buy Your Own Racetrack, C8 Z06 Rumors, Tesla Domination, and More!
-
Dodge is doing well of late.
Comments are closed.