Sunday Driver: Why Someone Might Say “The C7 Shouldn’t Exist,” Outstanding Corvettes for Sale, More on Nürburgring, GM’s F1 Effort, and Elitist Ferrari Dealer Behavior

Good day, Corvette Nation, and welcome to the inaugural edition of Sunday Driver, the column that cruises around the hottest topics in ‘Vette-dom. This week we’re talking C7 history, C8 Zs at the ‘Ring, and how they could tie into GM’s try at Formula 1, snobby Prancing Horse slingers, and looking at a few interesting Corvettes up for grabs. But before we hit the road, a brief explainer for curious readers out there who were accustomed to another Sunday feature here at Corvette Blogger. Fan favorite Quick Shifts sought to collect and share the best stories about The Plastic Fantastic from around the web on a weekly basis. After COVID, press fleets weren’t what they used to be. Run-of-the-mill comparison tests all but dried up, and even the big dogs could only hope to wrangle the latest Corvettes for premier events such as Lightning Lap (expect the C8 ZR1 in attendance this year with an event record in its crosshairs!). Now, new ‘Vette content either originates here or is scarce enough to warrant an individual post. With that out of the way, let’s take off into the stories that bridged July and August for America’s Sports Car.

Buried within all of the fascination and drama surrounding the Corvette Team’s first publicized Nürburgring time in 14 years (the 2020 Stingray lap was mostly brushed under the rug), a little in-fighting broke out regarding the C7 Corvette, and we thought some clarification on the matter might be in order. As told in this hauntingly beautiful history of Z06 and ZR1 Corvettes, the story goes like this: During the run-up from the 405-horsepower C5 Z06 to 638 HP C6 ZR1 in the 2000s, Bow Tie engineers really started to take note of the diminishing returns they were seeing by adding power to the original front-engine Corvette recipe. After the C6 completed its life cycle, Tadge and Co. convinced management that the only way forward was to finally realize the dream of Zora Arkus-Duntov, a production mid-engined Corvette.

Photo Credit: Chevrolet

But, as Robert Burns once quipped in cleaned-up Scottish, “the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” Just as the midengined C7 project was getting underway, the “Great Recession” hit automakers with a fury that forced The General into Government-backed Chapter 11 bankruptcy, resulting in top-down reorganization. New leadership, along with the State Department, went through every aspect of GM’s business with a fine-toothed comb, killing off everything that couldn’t be financially justified. Unlike the entire Pontiac brand and loads of other intellectual property, the halo Corvette was spared. The C7 program was eventually allowed to resume, though, with its budget tightened to a shoestring; a revolution was out of the question, now the C7 was all about survival.

The C6 platform would be recycled with a few key reinforcements that would allow a wider range (convertibles!) of money-printing Z-badged cars while leftover funds were funneled into remedying known C6 shortcomings, especially the interior, along with kicking off the reign of the Gen V Small Block V8. So, the C7 Corvette that history gave us was never supposed to exist, but, as it turns out, the classic front-engine rear-wheel-drive Corvette still had more stories to tell and tricks up its sleeve. While the challenges that led to its debut in 2014 were trying and sometimes even embarrassing at times, Corvette history wouldn’t be complete without the perfected take on the original formula that we received as a result.

Corvettes For Sale

Two of those perfected C7s caught our eye this week while surfing through for sale listings. The first one is up for grabs from Criswell Chevrolet and our friend Mike Furman. As the nation’s top individual Corvette seller, Mike has clients from every corner of the map. As such, the new Corvettes he sells don’t always find their way back to Maryland to be resold by Criswell, but that’s exactly what happened for one of the most tempting C7s on the market today. It is one of only 896 Grand Sports ever sprayed in the ZR1’s signature Sebring Orange and one of 735 that can also claim to be a final-year coupe. More importantly, the focused 1LT GS features the dearly departed manual transmission, putting it in the most desirable 21% (5,546 out of 26,280 total made 2017-19) of all “Goldilocks” C7s, a position that will ensure its long-term value and appeal. It also features the carbon ground effects that make all widebody C7s look complete, and its spoiler has been upgraded with the Z06’s clear center wickerbill. It presently sits at 19,300 miles and can be had for under $64,000.

While that 2019 Grand Sport stood out as a near-perfect build, this Z06 Convertible from the same year surprised in different ways. With two extra years under its belt, the C7 Z06 sold more units than the GS, even though the latter is known to have dominated once it hit the scene. A total of 39,940 Zs found homes between 2015 and 2019. Out of that record for hi-po variants, 1,332 – 3.3% – were Arctic White droptops, and this one is one of just 210 of those minted during the model’s 2019 swansong. It also falls in the 34% minority of “Big Nasties” spec’d with a clutch pedal and 7-speed manual transmission, putting it in unicorn territory. But it isn’t the rarity that sets it apart the most; it’s this car’s combination of miles and price. Since leaving Bowling Green in ’19, it has traveled nearly 140,000 miles, which might as well be a million in ‘Vette terms. Considering the wear and tear, it shows extremely nicely in photos and is certainly worth a look at $49,995; an unbelievably low sum for a 650 HP thoroughbred.

Finally, a change of pace is in order. Your author has been watching this next car for a while, and it fits in nicely with the “final year” theme we’ve curated to this point. It’s a 1995 ZR-1 in my favorite combination of red on red. It is number 131 out of 448 total Kings of the Hill made before retirement in ’95 and one of 17 so painted that year. At under 16k miles, it certainly fits the bill as a collector car, but not so much so that you’d be afraid to let its legendary DOHC LT5 run whenever it tickled your fancy, which is the absolute sweet spot when you own any example of America’s Sports Car, and especially such a prominent example! The Parker, CO-based dealer originally had an $89,000 sticker on it but has since gone with a friendlier $69,995, putting it exactly where these criminally underrated ’90s icons tend to sell.

The Difficulty of Finding Another Make on a Ferrari Dealer’s Site

There was an ulterior motive when we polled readers about their willingness to buy a “rebuilt” Corvette (with shockingly close results, by the way). At the time, I was mulling the purchase of a Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing with a similar background. I didn’t go for it in part because my son needed a first round of braces (they do them in phases now, I guess), and my wife decided to finally get the ankle that she messed up multiple times in competitive gymnastics and volleyball repaired, but the LT4 Caddy remains the only car that matters to me as a buyer. Even though it isn’t happening at the moment, I’ve continued looking at slightly depreciated examples of the ultimate super sedan and found a doozey on Autotrader recently, Electric (Rapid) Blue over Sky Cool Gray with the Manual and the exterior carbon fiber packages that I covet. It currently resides in New York at a factory-authorized Ferrari dealership, and it’s odd how tricky it was to track down on their mobile site. You see, when you click on “pre-owned inventory,” it only lets you see their admittedly impressive used Ferrari selection. Only once you’ve confusingly scrolled through those pages does it prompt you with a button that allows you to access what are apparently inferior makes and models like Bentleys, Porsches, a nice 7-speed Crystal Red C7 Stingray, and yes, the 668-horse end goal of my next few years of labor. Now, the process is a little easier on the full website, but I thought it was interesting and worth pointing out that even GT3s and the like aren’t seen as worthy of sharing digital space with Marinello’s wares.

Final Thoughts On the Official C8 Nürburgring Attempts

Photo Credit: Chevrolet

As alluded to above, the biggest automotive – not just Corvette – story of the week was GM wrestling the title of “Fastest American at the ‘Ring” away from its crosstown rivals at Ford. While taking the Canadian-built $326,000 “Mustang” GTD down a notch was excellent news, many ‘Vette fans (especially ones who were stuck in medical and dental waiting rooms all week) couldn’t help but feel a tinge of disappointment by the final result on the big board where the 1,250-horse ZR1X and 1,064-horse ZR1 had to settle for, at best, 5th place behind much less powerful machinery like the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series and a pair of RS 911s that the RWD ‘Vette has had no trouble handily dispatching back in the States.

Before signing off, I’d like to point out a discrepancy in GM’s reporting that has been bugging me and offer up a solution to most fans’ primary gripe with said lapping that is hopefully already under consideration back at GM HQ. The discrepancy isn’t a huge deal, but has to do with the list of fast laps put forth by Chevrolet; I’m just curious as to why the 396-cube naturally-aspirated 760-horse Lamborghini Aventador SVJ and its former production car record of 6:44.97 that would push the X to 6th place and the ZR1 to 8th has been left out of GM’s official press on the topic?

Now, for the idea that will either silence or vindicate those who have been pinning the slower-than-expected ‘Ring times on GM’s decision to stick with internal tradition and use its engineers behind the wheel instead of professional racecar drivers like Porsche, AMG, and even Ford utilize, while also tying-in and promoting the firm’s upcoming foray into F1 racing. How cool would it be for GM to announce its selection for its F1 seats by sending those drivers back to Germany to return fire at Ford after Chris Farley’s cousin tries to one-up GM Vehicle Dynamics engineer Drew Cattell’s ZR1X mark with another go from the GTD team? On top of being all-around awesome marketing and fan-service, this approach would also show how much time, if any, separates some of the world’s fastest non-pros from the guys earning millions in the so-called “pinnacle of motorsport.”

Have an outstanding remainder of the weekend, ‘Vette fanatics, and, as always, thank you for reading!

Related:
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Corvettes for Sale: They Want How Much for this Collector-Grade 2012 Corvette ZR1?
Corvettes for Sale: Custom 1981 Corvette Convertible Offered on Craigslist

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