Ken
Gone but not forgotten
From The Independent:
Corvette C6 Coupe: Stars and go-faster stripes
Michael Booth discovers that beneath the Corvette's new European-friendly curves lurks a slab of unreconstructed American muscle
Compared with serious-minded driving machines such as the Porsche Boxster, BMW M3 and Noble M12, the flabby old Chevrolet Corvette was as sporty as a canal barge. But you could never entirely rule out the trailer-trash gatecrasher while it had a dirty great V8 and cost tuppence, so I felt I should give the new one a fair hearing, too.
So a signal-red coupe version arrives, now sold in Europe without a Chevrolet badge, and I approach it warily, as if being introduced to an unreconstructed neocon Republican. But, with its slimline bodywork and chiselled, Ferrari-esque side vents, this really is a little red Corvette and, as such, is much better suited to European roads than the old car. Its flanks are a pleasing confluence of soft curves merging into a dramatically raked windscreen and a classic, wraparound rear window - a throwback to the Corvette Sting Ray of 1963. It crouches in a menacing pre-lunge pose on five-spoke alloy wheels. The abruptly truncated rear is contrasted with that priapic totem of the fragile male ego: the long, probing bonnet thrusting out front. It is undeniably sexy but, as with my secret crush on Britney Spears, this is something I would probably only admit to my closest male friends, and only then after they had 'fessed up first. (Is this the onset of a premature mid-life crisis? If so, what's next? A Harley-Davidson? A blouson leather jacket? A flagon of Kouros?)
The old Corvette's interior was a shoddy mix of low-grade leather and Fisher-Price plastics assembled by three-toed sloths. My intuition (and the fact that the driver's seat was on the verge of collapse after only a few thousand miles) tells me this new Corvette still lags a couple of decades behind German rivals in terms of build integrity. This is confirmed by a marked vibration at idle, followed by a series of suspension shudders as it moves off. The removable roof panel (a fully convertible version is also available) creaks like a becalmed galleon but I doubt that would deter the teenage boys in baseball caps who lean from the windows of a passing Ford Escort to get a better look. A prod of the accelerator pedal and they're gone. There's that dirty great V8 again.
The often repeated charge that Americans lack a sense of irony is, of course, soundly refuted by both their sitcoms and the career of their current president, but I still can't tell whether the Corvette is for real or a self-referential cultural parody. Certainly in a European context it is a preposterous overstatement. After all, this revered piece of American cultural iconography has a 6-litre, 400bhp V8 engine that General Motors still insists on calling a "small block". It also boasts an optional fighter jet-style head-up display which projects read-outs for speed and G-force (no, really) above the bonnet in an eerie glow - eat your hearts out Maverick and Goose. Later, I notice a sticker that says, "Warning: children under 12 can be killed by the air bag. The back seat is the safest place for children." The Corvette, of course, has no back seat. Even more curiously - given the current sate of international relations - this is translated into only one other language: French.
So, either the Corvette is a post-ironic parody by the South Park team, or it really is a car to drive, as PJ O'Rourke's immortal phrase has it, "fast while on drugs while getting your wing-wang squeezed and not spill your drink".
It's a Classic: Chevrolet Corvette
The original, Harley Earl-styled Chevrolet Corvette of 1953 was very nearly a still-born project. With a meagre, 3.8-litre six-cylinder engine that produced just 150bhp, the new, two-seater, convertible 'Vette cost more than many of its faster, better handling European rivals and only 183 were sold in the first year. Sensing that they had a lemon on their hands, General Motors quickly added a new 195bhp V8, revised the styling and added luxuries such as roll-up windows and external door handles. Miraculously, this did the trick and an American classic, not to mention the star of countless teen-angst films, was born. The sensational 'Sting Ray' bodied Corvette of 1963 - available in both soft top and coupe form - cemented the Corvette's position as the pre-eminent American sports car but it never found a big market in Europe. With unheard of features such as power steering and air conditioning, the Corvette's character was far removed from that of highly strung, competition-bred rivals from the likes of Triumph and Alfa Romeo, and cost almost twice as much as an E-Type Jaguar.
Price on the road: £45,850
Maximum speed: 186mph (0-60mph in 4.1 seconds)
Combined fuel consumption: 23mpg
For more information: 020 7318 5323
Corvette C6 Coupe: Stars and go-faster stripes
Michael Booth discovers that beneath the Corvette's new European-friendly curves lurks a slab of unreconstructed American muscle
Compared with serious-minded driving machines such as the Porsche Boxster, BMW M3 and Noble M12, the flabby old Chevrolet Corvette was as sporty as a canal barge. But you could never entirely rule out the trailer-trash gatecrasher while it had a dirty great V8 and cost tuppence, so I felt I should give the new one a fair hearing, too.
So a signal-red coupe version arrives, now sold in Europe without a Chevrolet badge, and I approach it warily, as if being introduced to an unreconstructed neocon Republican. But, with its slimline bodywork and chiselled, Ferrari-esque side vents, this really is a little red Corvette and, as such, is much better suited to European roads than the old car. Its flanks are a pleasing confluence of soft curves merging into a dramatically raked windscreen and a classic, wraparound rear window - a throwback to the Corvette Sting Ray of 1963. It crouches in a menacing pre-lunge pose on five-spoke alloy wheels. The abruptly truncated rear is contrasted with that priapic totem of the fragile male ego: the long, probing bonnet thrusting out front. It is undeniably sexy but, as with my secret crush on Britney Spears, this is something I would probably only admit to my closest male friends, and only then after they had 'fessed up first. (Is this the onset of a premature mid-life crisis? If so, what's next? A Harley-Davidson? A blouson leather jacket? A flagon of Kouros?)
The old Corvette's interior was a shoddy mix of low-grade leather and Fisher-Price plastics assembled by three-toed sloths. My intuition (and the fact that the driver's seat was on the verge of collapse after only a few thousand miles) tells me this new Corvette still lags a couple of decades behind German rivals in terms of build integrity. This is confirmed by a marked vibration at idle, followed by a series of suspension shudders as it moves off. The removable roof panel (a fully convertible version is also available) creaks like a becalmed galleon but I doubt that would deter the teenage boys in baseball caps who lean from the windows of a passing Ford Escort to get a better look. A prod of the accelerator pedal and they're gone. There's that dirty great V8 again.
The often repeated charge that Americans lack a sense of irony is, of course, soundly refuted by both their sitcoms and the career of their current president, but I still can't tell whether the Corvette is for real or a self-referential cultural parody. Certainly in a European context it is a preposterous overstatement. After all, this revered piece of American cultural iconography has a 6-litre, 400bhp V8 engine that General Motors still insists on calling a "small block". It also boasts an optional fighter jet-style head-up display which projects read-outs for speed and G-force (no, really) above the bonnet in an eerie glow - eat your hearts out Maverick and Goose. Later, I notice a sticker that says, "Warning: children under 12 can be killed by the air bag. The back seat is the safest place for children." The Corvette, of course, has no back seat. Even more curiously - given the current sate of international relations - this is translated into only one other language: French.
So, either the Corvette is a post-ironic parody by the South Park team, or it really is a car to drive, as PJ O'Rourke's immortal phrase has it, "fast while on drugs while getting your wing-wang squeezed and not spill your drink".
It's a Classic: Chevrolet Corvette
The original, Harley Earl-styled Chevrolet Corvette of 1953 was very nearly a still-born project. With a meagre, 3.8-litre six-cylinder engine that produced just 150bhp, the new, two-seater, convertible 'Vette cost more than many of its faster, better handling European rivals and only 183 were sold in the first year. Sensing that they had a lemon on their hands, General Motors quickly added a new 195bhp V8, revised the styling and added luxuries such as roll-up windows and external door handles. Miraculously, this did the trick and an American classic, not to mention the star of countless teen-angst films, was born. The sensational 'Sting Ray' bodied Corvette of 1963 - available in both soft top and coupe form - cemented the Corvette's position as the pre-eminent American sports car but it never found a big market in Europe. With unheard of features such as power steering and air conditioning, the Corvette's character was far removed from that of highly strung, competition-bred rivals from the likes of Triumph and Alfa Romeo, and cost almost twice as much as an E-Type Jaguar.
Price on the road: £45,850
Maximum speed: 186mph (0-60mph in 4.1 seconds)
Combined fuel consumption: 23mpg
For more information: 020 7318 5323
4LT GS Roadster
