-Side impact air bags -DVD Navigation -OnStar -XM satellite radio -Friction contact on the road is larger -Drivetrain can withstand more horsepower -Brakes are heavier -Lighter engine -Lighter exterior -5” shorter But longer wheelbase -Open grill in front
“A Corvette is not about transportation, it’s about inspiring and fulfilling dreams”
The 2006 Chevrolet Corvette has a chassis, which is all aluminum, hydro formed in similar dies to those used to build the standard steel C6 frame. Magnesium and carbon fiber parts are also used to help contain the total curb weight to less than 3150 pounds.
The front grille is larger, and an additional small scoop in front of the hood gulps cool intake air. Barely visible from a distance, 1-centimeter-wide black strips follow the wheel arches, oriented at a right angle to the fender. The carbon fiber front fenders are flared to accommodate 275/35ZR18 tires and the rear quarter panels are widened 1.5 inches to clear massive 325/30ZR19s. It has a 427.6-cubic-inch small-block LS7 engine, good for 500 horsepower at 6200 rpm and 475 pound-feet of torque at 4800 rpm. Titanium connecting rods, intake valves, and valve springs permit 7000-rpm revving, for this, the ultimate small-block.
The history of GM, the world’s largest automaker, saw its beginning in 1908. The company was founded by William Durant in the year 1902. The shrewd businessman that he was, Durant realized that the future lay with cars and not carriages. Initially, the company was founded as a holding company for Buick. The latter part of the year saw the company acquiring Oldsmobile, followed by the possession of Cadillac, Oakland and Elmore in the very next year.
Many of the motor companies were in dire straits during the difficult years of the early 1900’s. The stock market panic in 1907 put a lot of small companies into financial distress. Many of these companies were running on credit from various bankers. This was a golden opportunity for Durant, who proceeded to buy smaller car builders, and companies that built car parts as well as car accessories. In 1908, these various companies were folded into a single unit, thus creating the new GM entity. This marked the exciting beginning of the true history of GM.
In 1964 the Ford motor company brought out the Mustang, to do battle against the 1964 Corvette, and Ford quickly discovered that the Corvette had a definite edge and usually won the race, the edge was of course in the suspension, and braking systems, not to mention the car was about 300 pounds lighter, because it was built out of fiberglass, which gave a Corvette a huge advantage.
In their efforts to beat down the General, Ford motor company tried a lot of different things over the years, and General Motors is still the General, but back to the regularly scheduled program, Ford would bring out monsters like the GT-350 R, which was by all rights a race car that was adapted for street use, the “R” even stands for race, even this beast could not beat down the Corvette.
In our everlasting effort to squeeze more power our of our cars, we hot rodders have found a lot of ways to do just that, in my opinion the best way to do this, bar none, is the supercharger, this is a piece of equipment that is fully capable of wrenching major amounts of horsepower and torque out of an engine, with very little work.
Wile doing all this, a supercharger also looks really good sitting on top of your V8, it does however have some drawbacks, if you try to squeeze it to hard, by jacking up the compression ratio of your engine higher, this device is fully capable of making you engine meet it’s maker, you must keep up on the tune up schedule on the car also, a backfire can cause major damage to your high dollar engine.
Normally, I write about trucks as they relate to work applications. That doesn’t mean that I’m not a car guy as well. I’ve had my share of classics, some good and some bad. I am particularly fond of the era from 1930 to around 1960. The sixties had their share of beautiful designs for sure. But the 30 years from the depression on, are of particular appeal to me. Possibly because that’s when auto design advanced at a breathtaking clip. Think about how far apart in design a 1930 model A is from a 1958 Corvette Fuellie. That’s a 28 year span. Now go back 28 years from today. Would a 1978 sedan or pickup really stand out on a modern street or parking lot? Maybe to true car people, but to the average person it would most likely blend in to the background. That’s because true styling evolution has not only come to a screeching halt, it’s gone backward.
Look at the first half of this decade. The new Beetle, Mini, T-Bird, Mustang, Ford GT, Challenger, and Camaro. The best designers in the world are being paid handsomely to plagiarize someone else’s original design, all in the name of nostalgia. Maybe you think that’s a bit strong but I don’t think so. When you run out of truly new ideas, all that’s left is to revive (or steal) old ones. Is the new Challenger concept new? Hardly! It’s clear Chrysler wants to recapture the cars long lost pony car mystique by modernizing past design queues. The same goes for the other cars previously mentioned.
Since I haven’t talked a lot about the ZL1 Corvette, I figured that I’d take an opportunity to chat about one of the meanest cars ever built by man kind, this car was most certainly at the top of the food chain as far as muscle cars and sports cars built in the USA during the 1960’s, well this one had a very short run at the end of the 1960’s, or in 1969, what I mean by short is there were only two of them ever built.
The ZL1 engine was conceived of to drag race the 1969 Camaro in the NHRA, and 69 ZL1 engines were put in to 1969 Camaro’s only, the NHRA had a rule, that if you wanted to race in the stock class, that the car that you raced had to be a factory production model, and to be a production car the manufacture had to build at least 50 of that particular model, thus the ZL1 Camaro was born.
Chevrolet’s brawny plastic-bodied two-seater has long been a dream machine for countless enthusiasts. Today, that dream is more in reach than ever. The fourth generation or “C4″ version of these cars are absolute steals on used-car lots.
These potent performers made their debut for 1984, replacing the soft, boulevardier 1968-82 “Shark” design. With vastly improved aerodynamics and extensive use of aluminum in its construction, the C4 was enormously more capable than its predecessor.
Since the corvette first came out in 1953, it has been a special car, The L68 427 CID was rated at 400 HP and it had a single 4 barrel carburetor, or the L71 optional 3X2 barrel setup which was rated at 435 HP from the factory, and none were more special then the L88 “Extremely Rare, Only 20 Were Built” the L88 had a set of aluminum cylinder heads on it, the powerhouse engine was officially rated at 430 HP, but dynode at around 600 HP.
For 1967 the corvette got additional engine cooling vents, and the cars with 427’s got a different power bulge hood, and more top end HP with 435 factory rated HP when fitted with the three two barrel intake manifold, a 1967 427 435 HP convertible with the three two barrel manifold carried on 7.7 pounds per horsepower, which meant that the car was able to cove the ¼ mile in 11.48 seconds, and could do the 0-60 test in 5.5 seconds.
Being a car-magazine test driver is one of the ultimate jobs for anyone who likes cars. Test drivers get to spend plenty of time in pricey all-out performance machines — Corvettes, Vipers, and Porsches — not to mention awesome less-expensive cars like WRX, Mustang, and Eclipse. In addition, test drivers get to go on great trips to exotic locations, courtesy of automakers eager for publicity. Sounds great? You bet. I’ve been doing it since 1999 and I can’t honestly imagine a better job for anyone who loves cars.
Do you have what it takes to join this terrific profession? Ask yourself these questions to reveal whether or not you have the personality to become a car-magazine test driver.
Chevy’s flagship car, the Impala, finally has the power to match its heralded name. Ever since the car was redesigned in the late 1990s, the Impala has been more of a pretender than a performer. Now with an optional small block 5.3L V8 added to the mix, the 2006 Chevrolet Impala can go toe to toe with the Chrysler 300 and the Dodge Charger. The changes for the Impala are not all under the hood, Chevy took the time to redo the entire car and they did it with care. Let’s look at some of the changes for 2006.
More Power – A V6 is a great engine, especially in these times of high gas prices. Still, if you opt for a car of the Impala’s size, at least having the option of purchasing a V8 makes sense, doesn’t it? You better believe it. GM has sweetened the deal by plunking in a V8 that incorporates Corvette technology as the engine heads with “their pent–roof combustion chambers and flat–top pistons deliver high horsepower”, this according to Chevrolet’s promotional material. In addition, GM’s “displacement on demand” technology allows the V8 to squeeze out a miserly 28 mpg on the highway [18 mpg city] with computer equipment that shuts down unneeded cylinders at the appropriate time. Cadillac tried this in the early 1980s with its V8-6-4 engine that failed to live up to the job as computing technology then wasn’t what it is today. Fortunately, current GM technology makes this a reality for current models.
With 500 horsepower, GM says the 2006 Corvette Z06 is the fastest, most powerful car ever offered by the automaker. The car can zip from 0 to 60 miles per hour in less than four seconds and fly through the quarter-mile in less than 12 seconds with a top speed of more than 190 mph on a racetrack.
“We buy watches that cost thousands of dollars and don’t tell time better than a $20 Swatch,” said Bob Lutz, vice chair of General Motors Corporation. It’s the same thing with high-horsepower cars. You don’t move any faster in traffic than you do with a Chevy Aveo, but it’s all about knowing that you have all this power and potential at your disposal.” The car’s body is made of aluminum, and the front fenders and front wheelhouses are made of carbon fiber. The Z06 also has a unique front fascia with a larger grille, cold-air scoop and lower air splitter. The interior is different, too, with a special gauge cluster featuring the Z06 logo on the tachometer and lightweight two-tone seats.
Detroit, or the world, has never produced an automobile that rivals the muscle cars of the 1960’s and early 1970’s. They were big, powerful and wonderfully unrefined. No one would call them sports car in the traditional sense. They were not nimble and curves were dangerous at most any speed. However, what they lacked in sophistication they made up for in brut force. In many ways the GTO’s, Mustangs, Road Runners and their brethren represented the American character better than any vehicle past or present. Simplicity, dependability, strength and singularity of purpose were their calling cards. No one could confuse the purpose of these beasts. It was plain for all, and it was straight-line performance for one quarter of a mile. Nothing else mattered.
Contrast that with today and the lore of days past becomes even more apparent. A new Corvette will defeat even the most powerful Corvette of old in every category. The current generation of performance cars thumps the muscle car in safety, comfort, reliability and, yes, performance. But, that does not tell the whole story and it doesn’t explain the current interest in and corresponding sky rocketing values of classic muscle cars. The clarity of purpose these super cars exuberated just feels good. It awakens the cave man in each of us! These automobiles have a particular hold on the generation that came of age in the late 1960’s. Many feel that this is their last chance to re-live their youth and they are willing to pay for the opportunity.
Bear with me as I step back in time to formulate what I believe are three terrific American built performance cars: the Ford Mustang, the Dodge Challenger, and the Chevrolet Camaro. Currently, only the Mustang is in production with the Challenger coming back by 2009. GM hasn’t committed to building the Camaro just yet, but the company is likely to make a decision in favor of the car and its sibling, the Pontiac Firebird, by this summer. So, what is it about American performance cars that set them apart from the rest? In one word: muscle. Read on as I compare and contrast these three vehicles and share with you my feeble attempts to explain the culture behind the cars.
So, you think I forgot the Chevy Corvette and Dodge Viper when talking about performance cars? No, I did not. Both models are performance cars as well as race cars. On the other hand the Mustang, Challenger, and Camaro are mass produced performance cars with muscle. There is a difference in the way a typical race car handles, rides, and performs vs. a muscle car.
Auto enthusiasts all over the United States are cheering on the latest 2007 version of the Corvette Z06. With tremors of change going through the US auto industry as of late, the Corvette still enjoys brisk sales and a loyal vehicle following for the once mighty GM.
The Z06 version of the Vette actually saw its debut in the 1960’s but the modern, and still running, version was born in 2001 to replace the ZR1. The new, modern version of the Z06 now boasts being the most powerful and fastest production Corvette to ever come off the assembly line at Chevrolet.
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