Jan 15: Little Red Corvette

2014 Stingray

Prince sung your praises in his song "Little Red Corvette", Jan and Dean crashed you in "Dead Man's Curve" and the Beach Boys raced you in "Shutdown". You've come a long way baby, from the weak knee'd original intro'd in 1953......

1953 Corvette

........an American answer to the sportscars that the GI's were bringing back from Europe. Just a six cylinder that sold in amazing numbers  -  all incredibly low! It was questionable whether this car would make it past 1955. But survive it did as Chevrolet got serious about its sportscar, giving it real power and handling. Any car guy/gal had to have owned a Vette at sometime in their past and your blogger is no exception.

Corvette had a succession of increasingly capable cars. A brief overview, please........

1963 - the first "Stingray"

1968

1984

Corvette inched closer to respectability and just plain old respect, but when compared against the perennial sweetheart Porsche, it was always found lacking. Rough riding, too big, no finesse  -  you call it what you want, but the car mags called it all of these things. Then in the mid '90's there was a major commitment to make this American icon a real "world class" sports car..........

Still a little big, but quite a bit more capable than before. I had a friend who was always buying Porsches (911, Boxster S, etc) and going to all the track days. Then one day he shows up in a Z06. Never drove a Porsche again.

Corvette's next step was the incredible ZR-1.......

..........hang on baby, this car had everything  -  huge power, fantastic handling and yet it was civilized in daily driving. Take that Porsche!

And now the eagerly awaited next step in the Vette's continuing evolution, the eagerly awaited 2014, that was just intro'd at the Detroit show.........

.....and what a car! Edgier styling than ever before (although the '63 was good in its time), this is a car that should be able to tick all the proverbial boxes, even down to an interior worth sitting in (finally?). This is definitely a love it or hate it design, but I think it matches those beautiful brutes that are coming out of Italy these days. And its trump card? Porsche and Ferrari performance at a fraction of their pricing. How can you not love it?

Until next time..........