QUICK SHIFTS: C8 Ownership Costs, The C6Z Still Has its Fastball, Weekend ‘Vette Auction Picks, and More!

Welcome back to another exciting edition of Quick Shifts! Quick Shifts is a content feature here at CorvetteBlogger that highlights links to Corvette and automotive-related stories of interest. In this special return issue of QS, we’ll touch on C8 ownership costs, an ode to the C6 Z06 and its glorious LS7, the RHD Stingray facing off with a pair of Euro stalwarts – and a group of armature automotive styling critics – in the UK, the best Corvettes up of Auction this week, AND MORE!

FIRST GEAR

If you are anything like us, you need to soak up every little piece of information before pulling the trigger on a major purchase, whether it’s a riding mower, a flat-top grill, or something that actually has its own trigger. As you might guess by the site you are reading, more than any other acquisition, it is the looming procurement of a new Corvette that tends to take us the furthest down the pre-purchase information rabbit hole!

There’s never been such a radically different Corvette than the one currently gracing Chevrolet showrooms across this great land, which makes pre-search that much more important. We’ve covered various long-term C8 tests in these pages before, but feel compelled to share Edmunds mid-engine Corvette experience with our readers as they actually buy the cars that they test, so they are working with a genuine retail unit instead of the test fleet cars that Motor Trend and the gang write about. See how their Stingray is faring after 25k miles of ownership right here!

SECOND GEAR

In first gear, I used the royal we because I could confidently speak for my fellow Corvette Bloggers on a subject as vanilla as “research before you buy,” but for this next one, I am going to transition to a singular version of the first person. If you haven’t already made the jump to a C8 and also haven’t owned a C6 Z06, I urge you to check out the modern 427 monster before doing anything rash vis-à-vis a C8!

Here to help make my point is Road & Track honcho Travis Okulski, who recently got to spend some time behind the wheel of “Chevy’s most focused, rawest, and track-focussed (also possibly best-ever) Corvette.” I love articles like this that have actual personal connection and passion behind them; this one is absolutely worth a look, even if you have already joined Team C8. If you do happen to be in the market for a ‘Vette, do yourself a favor and fire up an LS7 before making the predictable move and becoming “just another C8 owner.” Sure, the interior will be a letdown, but you’ll get the incomparable engagement of a manual transmission (and all of the self-righteousness that it entails), an all-important set of round tail lights, you’ll save a bundle of cash as even low-mile C6Zs are starting to threaten their predecessor’s eternal claim to the best performance value throne, and, best of all, it won’t attract selfie-taking rubes, just nods of approval from those in the know!

THIRD GEAR

We’ll shift up to third gear for another C8-centric piece, but this time it is coming to your screen from Great Britain! We’ve already heard how domestic reviewers feel about the newest branch of the Crossed Flag tree, ad nauseam, but it is always interesting to hear how it translates to the “narrow B-roads” of the old world! Evo UK – quite possibly the world’s best automotive publication – recently found itself in possession of a Torch Red Z51 Coupe, fresh off the boat from Kentucky, with its steering squircle protruding from what has been the passenger’s dash on every Corvette ever minted. To welcome America’s Sports Car to the RHD party, evo put together a welcoming party consisting of the RWD version of the soon-to-be discontinued Audi R8 and Porsche’s 4-liter Cayman GTS.

Comparison tests will always be awesome, and this one is no exception, but we do feel compelled to point out that even the consummate professionals at evo fell prey to the C8 design trope that has been plaguing domestic writers for years. If you’ll allow us a brief detour – In this game, it is alright, and even expected, to throw around the “flawless” label when discussing a Ferrari, 911, or even a 2000s BMW M product, but a Corvette review seemingly has to include at least one glaring issue that rationalizes the ‘Vette’s attainable price point (and the writers’ biases). But because 1. the Corvette team stepped up the interior quality by several magnitudes this generation, 2. the transverse leaf springs are gone, and 3. the ‘Vette now carries its engine amidship like a “proper” sports car, journalists have had to resort to body shaming in order to fit their mandatory grievances into C8 stories. Discussions about poor vehicle styling never happen to anything in McLaren’s awkward-looking lineup (outside of Porsche superfan Jerry Seinfeld’s mutterings) and have even started to taper off in articles about the current “face only a mother could love” BMW 4-Series. In an otherwise terrific piece, here is what evo couldn’t help but declare vis-à-vis the C8’s looks:

“… while we never like to dwell on matters of style at evo – it’s personal taste, after all – to be blunt, all of us are struck by just how ungainly the C8 looks from some angles, something not helped by the black wheels and a track that doesn’t quite fill out the arches. There’s a naivety to it, especially when viewed from the rear; its blocky, eight-bit form and retrowave style wouldn’t be out of place in that classic arcade game, OutRun….”

But to their credit (and we haven’t seen much of this in the Corvette’s home market), they immediately made up for this pretentious slight by admitting the truth about how the public invariably reacts to seeing a C8 for the first time:

“But here’s the thing: for all of our wry giggles at its expense, it’s the Vette that gets the attention; the Vette that draws the oohs and ahhs from the general population, not so much the R8. The fundamental truth is that, with very few exceptions, people love the Corvette and think it looks absolutely brilliant. Everywhere it goes it draws a crowd, and I lose track of the number of occasions when onlookers mistake it for the latest Ferrari, or prophesise that it must cost at least £200,000 (hint: it isn’t). It’s a genuine A-lister celebrity, and no doubt delights in proving our amateur aesthetic judgements wrong at every opportunity.”

And that’s good enough for us! Honestly, there are very few truly pretty cars on sale at the moment, and we admit that we don’t think the Stingray is any kind of beauty queen; there is no denying that it is a striking piece of rolling sculpture with a presence that has rarely been seen outside of an exotic showroom in automotive history.

FOURTH GEAR

We will keep this episode of QS old school with just four forward gears and wrap things up with a host of Corvettes that you can get your paws on in the next few days (along with some unique vehicle marketplaces to add to your browsing rotation).

C1: Bring a Trailor has gone from a niche website to an absolute juggernaut in the online car auction game in the past decade, and, as far as ‘Vettes go, they have an embarrassment of riches right now! A first-generation model that really caught our collective eye is this stunning Almond Beige ’62 4-speed 327/300 that has been with the same owner for 44 years! The auction closes on Tuesday and has a current bid of $56,000.

C2: If you aren’t into the whole bidding fad and just want to get to buying, check out this Nassau Blue 396 Convertible from VetteFinders! $93,990 can land you a perfect spec that includes side pipes and the first big block in Corvette history; that’s tough to beat!


C3: Back to BAT (they really are on their Corvette game right now!), where we will visit the other end of the price spectrum. If you are looking for a project, this ’68 427 could be your huckleberry. Like the ’62 above, bidding on this curvy collector piece is open until Tuesday, but because it “needs some work,” the high bid has only been pushed to $3,500 as of writing. If you pick this one up, we would love to see some updates as you bring it back to its former glory!


C4: There were about seven C4s that we considered for this spot, but, in the end, we couldn’t pass on the eBay listing for 1996 Grand Sport #113. It is one of just 190 drop-tops produced to send the wedge generation off in style, and it has only covered 1,360 miles since leaving Bowling Green; an incredible specimen!


C5: As alluded to in Second Gear, the C5 Z06 has been the best deal in the performance world ever since the first one hit the street at the turn of the century as an ’01 model. “You know who” has an impeccable example from the penultimate year of C5Z production. Now until around mid-day on Monday, you’ve got the chance to bid on a collector-grade 2003 Z06 in mirror-finish black over a crease-free black leather (pleather?) interior. Somehow this featherweight LS6 beauty has only clocked 1,300 miles in its twenty years of existence; simply incredible!


C6: Now, as the guy out here trying to get as many enthusiasts behind the wheel of C6 Z06s as possible, that’s the direction that I have to go with this part of fourth gear! For my money, the best C6Z on the market was just posted on the Corvette Forum the day before Valentine’s. Just like the example that was so tempting to me in December, we’re looking at a triple-black final-year Z07. If you love these cars like I do, get those PMs sent because this one won’t last long with its combination of 20k miles and an ask of $69 (nice!) grand.


C7: I was going to run this special section last week and had the perfect C7 picked out over on that Doug DeMuro’s new Cars and Bids venture, but that didn’t work out, and now he is severely lacking in ‘Vette listings, so I’ll reluctantly move on to a pair of dual-threat (7M, ZTK) ZR1s that I can’t choose between for the life of me! The first of the two is actually a triple threat as it also has the much-desired (but maybe slightly overdone?) Sebring Orange Design Package. The BAT listing indicates just under 16,000 miles. It ends late Saturday morning, and at just $120,000, the current bid is about $100,000 shy of where it will probably land, but keep your eyes on this one; it could be a rare steal on the ne plus ultra of front-engine Corvettes! The other ZTK is posted on eBay Motors by JFK Auto, a seller that just can’t stop unearthing MINT ZR1s. The most recent of their mind-boggling auctions is a Torch Red (one of just 273!) exemplar with just 464 miles! They are accepting offers, but the listing says $999,999. Just like the C3 above, we really want to keep tabs on this one; if any of our readers are the lucky next owner of this stunner, let us know (discreetly) what the actual number was on this beaut.



C8: All of the C8 vs. C6 Z06 talk in this column leads us to this best-of-both-worlds C8 Z06! Unfortunately, prices on the new Z are completely out of hand! Don’t get us wrong, the White Pearl 70th Anniversary Convertible in question is a great car, but it’s missing the Z07 package, ground effects, and is showing steel brakes behind a set of base wheels. Bidding on this $146,340-spec has already reached $215,000, and there is still a few days of bidding to go! We will obviously watch this auction with interest, but while the market on these white-hot new Zs is interesting, it is also quite maddening and depressing for us normies that have always loved ‘Vettes for their reasonably priced exotic-killing properties! If you were lucky enough to score one at MSRP, these prices have to give you at least a little pause; at what price would you part with your new baby? If this one is too rich for your blood, we’ve got your chance at a better one (plus $25k for taxes!) right here!


Corvette-Adjacent: Similar to Doug and our friends at 427Stingray.com, Hagerty Collector Car Insurance is out there trying to cash in on the success of the BAT business model. They’ve got some great ‘Vettes up for grabs right now, but it was something else that really piqued our interest over there. Check out this special edition 2004 Ultra Violet Cadillac XLR! The current bid is just $30,900, and we’ve never seen a Hardtop Convertible, Northstar C6, quite like it!

REVERSE

We will close by revisiting second and third gears, the C8 vs. C6 Z06 debate, and evo. Since the C8 got a fancy foreign comparison test shared on this page, the C6Z deserves one too! Last year, evo reposted a group test from 2006 when they put the then-new Z06 through the European ringer that was the 996-generation 911 GT3, the Lotus Exige Cup, and something called a Noble M400. Take a gander and have an outstanding weekend, Corvette Nation!

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