QUICK SHIFTS: Base C8 Review, C8 Luggage Test, C3 Love, EV News, Continuations, Corvette’s First Rivalry

Welcome to another fun-filled edition of Quick Shifts! Quick Shifts is a content feature here at CorvetteBlogger featuring links to Corvette and automotive-related stories of interest. The content that we have hand-selected for you this week includes a $60k C8 review, the C8 luggage test, C3 seduction, a Z06 three-way, the wild west of EV startups, and a bevy of continuation and replicars.

FIRST GEAR:

CNET’s Road Show kicks things off this week with a review of the mythical sub-$60,000 Stingray. The seemingly endless parade of 2020 Corvette reviews this year have really highlighted a fundamental change in the way auto journalists view America’s sports car. It used to be that no matter how big of a can the ‘Vette opened on the fancy boys from Europe, writers would come up with some way to rationalize their “still not a supercar” prejudice. Here, even in base, bare bones form, the author goes out of his way to reiterate that this Chevy is as super as they come!

SECOND GEAR:

Next, we will hand things off to Autoblog, who put the latest member of the crossed flags family through a different kind of ringer; the luggage test! While we have lamented the C8’s exterior detentions a time or two around here, it is impossible to argue against the car’s practicality! See how much AB (does anyone call them that?) was able to cram into their Accelerate Yellow test car right here.

THIRD GEAR:

We’ll let Hagerty’s “Hack Mechanic,” Rob Siegel put a little C3 into gear three this week. Read Rob’s harrowing tale of seduction, temptation, and perfect accent stripes on Hagerty.com!

FOURTH GEAR:

It is C5 Z06 vs. C6 Z06 vs. C7 Z06 in a 20-minute ode to one of the best badges in all auto-dom! YouTube channel/ TV show, EverydayDriver got the three Zs together on one, glorious mountain road. As long as you can stand the sight of a C7 with the stick on “sleepy eyes” mod, it is absolutely worth a watch!

FIFTH GEAR:

It was a busy week in the electric vehicle world, especially where General Motors is concerned! Early in the week it was announced that, despite their own $20 billion EV program, GM would be investing an additional $2 Billion(!!!) in EV/fuel cell truck startup, Nikola. The news sent Wall Street on a wild and ongoing ride that calls into question the validity of Nikola’s entire operation. Make what you will of that developing story but nothing about it looks particularly flattering for our beloved Corvette’s parent company. The silver lining is that they are at least having a bit of success selling (or partnering to sell) electric cars in China.

Also this week, Lucid, another EV startup, gave a first look at their Tesla-fighting sedan. First announced back in 2017 (by a bunch of former Tesla employees) , the production-ready “Air” is said to make 1080 HP, cover the quarter in under 10 seconds, have a range of more than 500 miles per plug-in (with the ability to add 300 miles in “just” 20 minutes of charging), and top out at $170,000. They followed all of that up with a teaser for their upcoming Electric Utility Vehicle, dubbed “Project Gravity.”

SIXTH GEAR:

It was also a banner week for high-end replica and continuation cars! There were several accounts of how great the million-dollar GTO Engineering Ferrari 250 GT SWB (for Short Wheel Base) “revival” car is to drive. It sounds like an outrageous amount of money, but, as the best of these stories points out, it is about one-tenth of what you’d expect to pay for the genuine article.

Continuing in that same vein, Aston Martin will be building a special run of Goldfinger edition DB5s, complete with all of the gadgets used by Sean Connery in the 1964 Fort Knox heist film. If you want to live out your childhood 007 fantasy, one of these will only put you back about $3.5 million.

Finally, and, at $298,000, looking like a decent deal compared to the last two cars, is a new, carbon fiber bodied, 810 HP take on one of the great movie cars in recent-ish memory, “Eleanor.” If you get one, be sure to spring for a good security system!

REVERSE:

In third gear, Mr. Siegel said that the twin peaks of early 60s automotive design are the mid-year Corvette and the E-Type Jag. That sparked our memory of an excellent story that we saw over the summer on the Classic and Sports Car webpage. It highlights these two pillars of vehicular beauty with interesting histories, driving impressions, and even a look at the owners; a dreamer who finally purchased a Sting Ray in 2019, and the five-decade owner of an XK-E. Enjoy reading about these classics and be sure to get your own cars out to enjoy the cool weather this weekend. We will see you next time on Quick Shifts!

Previous Quick Shifts:
C8 vs Porsche Cayman, Spending $80K, MB Revealed, C8.R in iRacing, Autoblog Review, and More!
C8 Corvette Z06 Rumors, Ram Hellcat Pickup, Blackwing Steering Wheel, a Flyin’ Miata, and More!
Sam Schmidt’s C8 Corvette, a New Ride for GTA Fans, DIY C8 Engine Cover Swap, Vintage Corvette Racers, and More!