Say what you want about the Volt, the Malibu, or a pair of concepts described by a friend of mine as “ripoff of the ugliest BMW and a 1993 Mitsubishi,” but Chevrolet knows how to satisfy their Corvette customers. In the C6’s final year, the parts bin has been shuffled to create perhaps the most interesting and satisfying Corvette in recent history: the 427 Convertible Collector’s Edition.
As you might guess, this is the Z06 engine in a droptop Vette, complete with mandatory manual transmission and Magnetic Selective Ride Control, but there’s more to it than that. A full suite of carbon-fiber body parts (hood, fenders, floor, plus optional C/F rocker panels) keeps weight down to 3,355 pounds. Performance is expected to be exceptional, with top speed of 190mph and a no doubt conservatively quoted 11.8-second quarter-mile.
All Corvettes can be had with unique 60th Anniversary livery, featuring a white/blue color scheme, big rear spoiler, and grey wheels. The first 427 Convertible will be auctioned off at Barrett-Jackson on January 21st. Pricing is anybody’s guess — and our guess is $84,999. Big money for a Corvette, but since you can’t even get the slowest 911 Cab for that kind of cash, it qualifies as a bargain.
Chevrolet press photos, apparently taken at VIR, are below.
This actually looks appealing. The ability to drop the top, the better to hear the glorious sound of the Z06 motor, will make up for the sub-par-for-an-$85k-car interior quality. And as the very happy owner of “the ugliest BMW,” I know from interior quality that doesn’t match the price point.
By the way, is the 1 Series really uglier than the X6? I would argue not by a mile. But then, I like the look of mine, so I’m clearly biased.
I never thought it was ugly. I remember when I first saw it I thought it had attractive lines for a car its size.
The X6 is worse but looks like it would deliver a swift and sure ass kicking if it heard you speaking out of turn to it.
The 1 just looks kinda wimpy in a Charles Atlas get sand kicked in your face kinda way.
“The 1 just looks kinda wimpy in a Charles Atlas get sand kicked in your face kinda way.”
Which makes it all the more satisfying to absolutely humiliate any number of butcher looking rides in a stoplight drag. Well, with a 135I, at least. Not so much with the 128i.
To my eyes, the X6 looks like it was beaten with the ugly stick many, many more times than the 1 series.
The 1 series has a kind of pugnacious look to it, which I like. The only part of its styling I don’t like is the drooping “flame-surfaced” door panel. That’s easily rectified in the next generation and, I bet, will be.
My issue with the 1 series is that, like the MINI, it has only a nominal back seat — suitable only for dogs and small children.
I thought the ugliest BMW is usually referred to for the M-coupe.
Ugly is as ugly does. At 3300 lbs, this Corvette is frigging gorgeous even with the eyes closed.
Smooth move Chevy. If the C7 really comes out in 2013, this looks like a way to prop up sales for 2012.
Finally! A comment about THIS post!
Yeah. I thought for a minute there I was on a BMW fan forum.
This would complement my 911 Sport Classic perfectly…if I could afford both or either of them…
This is the only car I can think of that doesn’t lose anything in terms of looks during the transition from coupe to cabrio. Everything else has to have some ugly rear end modification that ruins the lines and gives it a fat, ugly ass.
Probably not a fair comparison, but I think the Boxster looks lots better than the Cayman.
I have never heard that before. I’m not intending to be offensive, I just had never heard that. The Cayman always was the poster-child to me of how a top could make a design work.
One bit of irony, which just came to me as I was re-reading the article and looking at the shots: VIR is very picky about allowing convertibles on the track. I have to put the Brey-Krause rollbar extension on my Boxster in order to drive there.
Everyone has their price. We can all be sure that the rental fee VIR charged the General for the photo shoot location will more then cover any qualms the management might have had about letting a convertible on the course. I’m sure the fee also covers the discomfort of having to listen to other track users bitch about having to use rollbars or whatever on their cars while GM got to drive the Vette around without one.
any/all tracks I’ve been to allow slow-speed touring laps without helmets, I can’t see why VIR is any different. I’m sure you can make a nearly stationary car look like it’s hauling ass with the right photog behind the camera. or in post production.
GM doesn’t just show up on track days to do their PR photo shoots either obviously, they rent it exclusively just like the rest of us. they are very pleasant to deal with for rentals, tho their calendar does fill up pretty quickly.
Ah yes, the BK bar. $750 for three inches of protection. Even with it installed on my Boxster I didn’t meet the “broomstick rule” with helmet on. It’d take a hell of a big broom to reach from cowl to spoiler on this Vette.
This car is probably a whole lot of fun to drive if my seat time in an old C5 Z06 is any indication. Such a tempting proposition at the price (maybe plus a fixed roof and minus the gaudy), but does it have any finesse? Carp all you want about Porsche’s failures, but you can’t say the cars are lacking in dynamics.
Nice paint job.
Nice. Verrrrry nice. Make mine a tasteful gray, please…
I messed my shirt by salivating excessively. I’ll take mine in any body configuration and paint scheme thank you.
Could you hurry please. My current ride is all tied up in smog inspection hell.
Another special-edition Corvette… yawn.
Exactly
Looks like Chevy is trying to follow Porsche with various perversions of the same car. There’ll be the “Corvette 8.0 Litre”
and the “Corvette Speedster” etc. if this madness doesn’t stop soon.
That paint scheme is pretty juvenile IMHO. Even in a more tasteful color the car is … meh. Drop top or not it’s still just another C6, for which you paid about as much as a small suburban home. Of course for half that price you could be stylin in a new drop top Boxster. Oh wait, I forgot, Porsche baaaaaaaaaadddd GM gooooooooooodddd ;}
I think you must be confused if you think this site thinks GM gooooooooood.
I don’t think you understand what the car really is. With an LS7, MSRC and a host of carbon fiber parts, it’s hardly “just another c6”. You could buy a boxster for less money (not half), sure, but you’d have a car that was inferior in every objective comparison.
I love the fact that the manual transmission is mandatory on this thing. It should be on all sports cars.
For those who have driven the Z06, how is that tranny? Is it a viable daily driver (in LA traffic) for us non-weight lifters? With that much torque, you’d think the clutch would be a complete biatch, and the shift action somewhat heavy as well.
A 3350lb Z06 ‘vert sure sounds like a hoot.
I drove a friend’s ’07 Z06 a couple years ago and was very impressed by its street ability. Throttle tip-in was excellent, the clutch was easy and the shifter precise. I’m sure they’re running some variation of the T-56 in it. You can featherfoot it around city traffic, but put your foot in it and it’s like the Millennium Falcon shifting into Hyper Drive.
I currently have an ’07 6 spd, (non-Z06) so not sure if it’s the same tranny or not. I do demand a lot from my car and this one never falters or fails to impress. It’s also an incredibly easy (and fun) daily driver, which is what I use it for (when the snow isn’t flying here in the frozen north, that is…) –Come OOOON springtime!!!
@ Budda-Boom, the transmission in the Corvette is a Tremec TR6060.
I love the fact that the manual transmission is mandatory on this thing. It should be on all sports cars.
Unless the point is going fast – in which cases manuals just can’t keep up.*
* I love manuals, every car I’ve owned has been a manual, but I admit its a technology on its way out.
Aren’t really looking for that last “tenth” if you’re buying a convertible anyway.
As much as I do agree it’s on it’s way out in terms of performance, I’m sure the steering wheel will be heading in that direction in the next 30yrs. Won’t make it any less appealing to have one though.
PS. BMW dealership tried to convince me that the new DSG box in the 135i is “just as much fun as a manual”, the car felt totally “blah”. A coworker has a manual version, it’s like driving 2 different cars!
Thankfully they opted out of the godawful chrome wheels typically featured in “Special” Corvettes.
Seems fun, but aside from a collector mentality I fail to see what a Z06 convertible’s going to accomplish that a base or Grand Sport wouldn’t. As JB says, you’ll be hampered by helmet/rollbar restrictions everywhere you’d be likely to stretch its legs.
Can’t wait to see the first youtube video of someone crashing one of these. Wonder how long it will take?
I look forward to a bumper crop of new YouTube videos showing middle-aged racer wannabes trashing their Vettes trying to make up for their bad comb-overs.
edit – Shoot, Pinz beat me to it.
Great minds think alike.
That’s the paradox, when your talking about 100k Porsche’s and 80k vettes you don’t see junior in them. That’s what the Mustang GT and Honda Civic w/load muffler are for
405 lbs, pushrods, and 505hp.
Sweet motor.
Looks beautiful. Don’t know why younger hotshoes shun it but I want one…C7 should have a premium interior, I hope and a quality seat…
The interior looks like it was sourced from a 10 year old Chevy Blazer. Good to see GM understands automotive feng shui.
The faux “stitching” on the IP looks exactly like the finest dashboards of 1980s J-cars.
Manual LS3 or LS7 Vette’s are painless to drive with a clutch pedal softer than a lot of 4 cylinder econoboxes.
I hopped in one and drove it home ~500 miles making one stop for gas… with the last time I had driven a manual transmission was farm equipment a solid 15 years prior. Didn’t stall the car once, my left leg was not tired, and I had a bigass grin the whole time.
The Z06 used to be a bargain but some of them are stickering over 100k now, which is too much. If this is in the 80k range… which I doubt because why would it be cheaper than current Z06’s… they will sell very well.
The Z06 is expensive to build. It has the aluminum/magnesium frame. There’s a $21,600 difference between the base convertible and the Z06 and most of that is the weight reduction stuff, not the LS7. And it starts at $75,600. I don’t think $84,999 is out of question. Hell, they might make it $79,999.
The 427 should make it easier to kick the rear end out and crash into somebody else with it.
So the C6’s days are numbered. The most impressive car in GM’s history has just about run its course, and those insipid twinks never got around to giving it seats half as good as the ones in a 1983 Porsche 944. Were they afraid that people would start noticing other faults if they addressed the one that kicked buyers in the tush every time they drove their cars?
I suppose they should have rushed an emergency refresh like the 2013 Civic!