When did the Chevrolet Corvette become cool again with a younger audience? Was it the switch to a mid-engined architecture with the C8? Perhaps it was the rakish look of the C7? While both of those models helped, neither the 2020 model year nor the 2014 model year marked a turning point in image. See, the modern Vette that really got a younger audience talking was the legendary C6 Corvette ZR1, and it did so by offering enough speed, power, fire, and brimstone to earn a place in the pantheon of 2000s supercars. On the eve of Chevrolet unveiling the latest Corvette ZR1, let’s take a look back at the legendary C6 ZR1, the recession-era Corvette that turned skeptics into believers as it blurred the line between sports car and supercar.
The C6 Corvette entered life with a solid start, having launched with an engine nearly as powerful as the one in the outgoing Z06, then followed things up with a 505-horsepower seven-liter LS V8 in the Z06, Chevrolet offered Vette fans a solid evolution over the previous generation. However, back in 2005, it was rumored that Chevrolet wasn’t done just yet. See, in June of that year, GM vice-chairman Bob Lutz told Autoweek, “My guess is we’re going to find a way to do something beyond the Z06, that would be at a much higher price point, and which would compete with some of the leading high-performance cars of the world.” Autoweek knew the car as the Blue Devil, and had a suspicion that the car would feature forced induction, but that’s about as concrete as things got.
Over the next two-plus years, the gossip machine for the super-Vette never stopped turning. Neither rain nor sleet nor Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection could stop the optimism for this all-American sledgehammer of a sports car. Was it going to have a boosted version of the seven-liter LS7 V8 from the Z06? How much more than 630 horsepower would it have? Would it be called the Corvete SS, the Z07, or something else? Well, by the time September 2007 rolled around, Motor Trend was able to confirm a name — ZR1. Four months from its debut, the halo Corvette’s ZR1 moniker signified serious intent. The last ZR1 to come out was a world-beating supercar with engineering help from Lotus, an American icon that could wipe the floor with some of Europe’s greatest machinery.
Under the hood sat a 6.2-liter supercharged pushrod V8 bearing the designation LS9. Output? How does 638 horsepower at 6,500 rpm and 604 lb.-ft. of torque at 3,800 rpm sound? Mated exclusively to a six-speed manual transaxle and driving the rear wheels, the LS9 resulted in some biblical performance figures. GM claimed a zero-to-60 mph time of 3.4 seconds, but the bigger deal was a claimed top speed of 205 mph. Welcome to the first factory-made 200-mph Corvette. Wowza.
Oh, but the C6 Corvette ZR1 was so much more than a straight-line missile. It had magnetorheological dampers, a carbon fiber roof, hood, fenders, and splitter, 15.5-inch carbon ceramic front discs and 15-inch carbon ceramic discs in the rear, its entire drivetrain was strengthened over that in the Z06, and it rocked 285-section front and 335-section rear Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 tires. However, to the untrained eye, the only way it looked significantly different from a Z06 was the addition of a window.
As was fashionable at the time, many of the C6 ZR1’s mid-engined competitors featured engines under glass. Think Ferrari F430 and Lamborghini Gallardo. In contrast, the C6 Corvette ZR1 was front-engined, but because it had a supercharger, it got a big ol’ Lexan window in the hood. Boom. How’s that for a statement piece?
The total result was nothing short of epic. However, it’s biggest party piece wasn’t its ability to generate biblical figures, it’s that the ZR1 also held incredible duality and was widely held to be flat-out better to drive than the 505-horsepower C6 Z06. As per Motor Trend:
The ZR1 is a track master without resorting to the steely suspension settings or the nervous limit behavior tuned into the Z06. Steering effort builds in direct proportion to cornering forces, with a decent amount of feel as part of the deal. Huge Brembo carbon-ceramic rotors take the fear out of late-braking into every bend. New aero aids keep axle loads balanced at high speeds.
Trail-brake the ZR1 too quickly into a tight corner, and it will slide its front Michelins, but a momentary relaxation of the center pedal neatly recaptures the desired line. Likewise, drifting the tail wide in a fast bend is certainly possible, especially with the throttle locked down and the stability system minimized, but the ZR1’s suspension metabolism is so friendly and forgiving that delicate steering and throttle adjustments keep the rotation within the fruitful range.
Oh, and the acclaim wasn’t limited to American writers and outlets. Jeremy Clarkson named it his car of the year for 2008, writing in The Times:
And then out of nowhere came the ZR1, which has a supercharged V8 that manages to be both docile and extraordinarily savage all at the same time. I’ve been trying to think of a dog that pulls off a similar trick, but there isn’t one. And anyway, this car is not a dog.
Oh, it’s not built very well. After just three days in my care, the boot lock disintegrated and the keyless go system refused to acknowledge the keys were in the car, but I didn’t mind because there is simply no other car that looks this good, goes this fast – in a straight line and around corners – and that most of the time bumbles about like a forgetful uncle. And when you throw in the price tag of just £106,690 – lots for a Corvette but modest next to a similarly powerful Ferrari – the case for the defence can sit down and put up its feet knowing that the prosecutor simply has nowhere to go.
It is an epic car and I’m only sad that unless the healthcare and pensions company that makes it can be turned around, it will be the last of the breed.
I remember vividly when the C6 Corvette ZR1 launched because it was the only car great enough to break the then-new Nissan GT-R’s chokehold on the press and enthusiasts alike. This 638-horsepower monster from Detroit set its first Nürburgring lap time of 7:26.4 back in 2008, and while that’s still a good time, it was positively epic back then, and it beat those of the 2009 GT-R. The humble little fiberglass sports car from Kentucky had slayed all of Japan’s computing might using the old-school formula of big V8 up front, drive to the back, big smiling piece of meat in the middle.
Chevrolet hadn’t just blurred the lines between sports car and supercar, it had created a poster car for a generation of kids who previously saw the Corvette as a car for their father’s generation, a vehicle that was great for the money, but only for the money. I had a poster of one on my wall, and so did pretty much all of my friends. Why? Well, here was a car espousing values that Maranello and Sant’Agata had eschewed, and using them to beat the blue-chip Italians at their own game. It was a Corvette you could rank high among supercar royalty and nobody would bat an eye. Today, it almost seems like history’s been re-written. The C7 didn’t make the Corvette cool again for a new generation. The sheer might and poise of the C6 Corvette ZR1 did.
Fifteen model years ago, the C6 Corvette ZR1 changed the performance car hierarchy forever. We’ll learn tonight whether or not the incoming C8 ZR1 is about to do the same all over again. With the mid-engined platform propelling the base Stingray and the Z06 to new heights, Detroit only knows what weapon of mass destruction Chevrolet’s dropping this time around.
(Photo credits: Chevrolet)
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I’ve got a weird thing in my head. I’m not sure if it’s borne of elements of truth that have embedded and taken on the guise of reality over time or if I’m completely delusional.
In my head American sports cars are heavy but high power chunks of steel and aluminum, keeping up the the Euro cars, if they do at all, through brute force and smart but time-tested fundamental engineering. Euro sports cars are lighter but still powerful constructions of epoxied fibers and aluminum foil, highly performing through innovative engineering, precision manufacturing, materials tech, and computer control/management.
Even if I am totally making that up, “they” kind of fostered that kind of attitude, right? With the whole “American muscle” thing and big-bodied vehicles that look like they’re trying to prove the adage, “If you stick a big enough engine on it you can make a brick fly.” Or am I letting the identity of the hypercars spill over into the Euro sports cars as if they’re of the same ilk when they’re actually not and unfairly biasing the comparison with American sports cars?
I’m 53. For me the eye-opener was the C4 ZR-1. Both for the performance numbers and the reliability records; 24 hours at 175 mph was mind-blowing.
I still prefer the C6 Z06 because a high revving, 7L V8 is just awesome.
I remember reading R&T mag back in the day when it first came out and i asked my uncle if he was gonna get one (he had an 89 he built up and had always been a man of GM, still is except my cousin owns the Vette now) and he said man i wish, he ended up later buying a used 08 ZL1 Camaro instead and early last year a 2014 ss convertible for my aunt.
while the car was a beast, i’ll never be able to see one without a visceral negative reaction. that’s not because the car itself was bad.
when these came out, my boss at the time tossed an order for one to a local dealership. paid for entirely in cash, he rolled it into the driveway of our office and wouldn’t shut up about it. he spent hours he billed to customers washing it (we were a small medical office building consulting engineering company) and staring at it from the porch of our building.
that might have been obnoxious enough, but the worst came when my wife was in the hospital with preterm labor for our 3rd kid over the 4th of July(they stopped the labor and put her on bed rest). I had to take a few days off after that to take care of our kids and manage things. i came back to work that next week, and after 2 days of getting back into the swing of working, was handed a termination letter ( including the specific phrase “without cause”).
i was freaking out, knowing that i had another kid almost there, and now had no income, but i filed for unemployment, and got right on finding a new gig. 2 months later, after my daughter was healthy and out, and we’d settled back into a form of normal with my new job, i get a notice that he’s fighting me on my unemployment claim ( all $750 of it). after multiple calls and appeals, we ended up in front of a judge, who didn’t care that i had that letter, and sided with my former employer. i had no money for appeals or lawyers, so i had to spend the next 6 months finding side hustles to pay that $ back off.
the guy was a total asshole, and could afford such a nice vehicle, but apparently couldn’t leave me the hell alone over $750.
This sucks, Scorp. Hate reading things like that. Hopefully he crashed it sideways into a wall at some point.
Reminds me of that song, “It’s a Great Day to Whoop Somebody’s Ass.”
So here I am in parking lot just waiting by his Corvette,
I’m gonna give him a goodbye present that he will never forget.
Cuz it’s a great day to whoop somebody’s ass…
An overflowing honey bucket of rancid love at the very least.
I don’t think the C6 ZR1 had near the impact that the C5 did. In my mind that car changed the ‘vette from a cruiser for old farts that had looks it couldn’t back up to a cruiser for old farts that was as fast as it looked.
I remember a line from an article about the ZR1.
If Darth Vader drover a car, it would be a black ZR1.
I don’t know if “car for your father’s generation” was such a bad thing. My Dad likes Corvettes, and would point them out, so it was one of the first cars I liked too as a kid. When I was little I’d doodle a “car” and it always had those four round tail lights in the back like the C3/C4. A Corvette = sports car. Then I got car magazines and video games and learned about non-Corvettes.
I’ve always recognized the Corvette for what it is. Meme all you want about white New Balance and jean short wearing drivers bragging about having 1 of 323 red on black built on a Thursday with John Wisnowksi as shift manager at Bowling Green (John ran a tight ship), but it is a very capable, but easy to live with sports car.
You can daily drive it, take it to the track, or just cruise on Friday night with it. New, they are still a great value compared to the competition. Used, they are attainable by many of us with regular jobs and middle class lifestyles. If you can not shred tires, maintenance won’t kill your wallet like its competitors.
With that said, a Corvette was never at the top of the list for a car for my driveway, but now that I’m in a spot where I could consider buying one, I keep coming back to realizing how much the Corvette has to offer. I can go on Autotrader today and probably find one worth checking out.
Oh man, I remember when this car dropped. It’s what began my love for Corvettes. You could finally give praise to it and not end the statement with “for an American car” Sure some of the design is cheesy today but back then it was awesome
As someone who was in their late teens when this thing launched, all of the above is completely accurate.
Ditto, nothing was cooler than the ZR1. When Clarkson even had to admit it was cool, that was it, it was no longer an “old man’s car built by a fat man in Kentucky”.
The plexiglass window to the top of a plastic engine cover looks even stupider in person than it does in pictures.
The C6 ZR1 is absolutely my favorite Corvette. It and the C4 Grand Sport are honestly the only Corvettes I have any real desire to own, though I do appreciate other Corvette models for what the performance value most of them represent.
Haven’t coveted a Corvette in nearly 60 years. They just don’t do it for me, which leaves me completely oblivious as to when or whether they might or might not have been cool. If I’m being fair, none of the world’s other so-called super cars appeal to me either. Every now and then I’ll read an article like this and shrug my shoulders. Guess I didn’t get that gene. I don’t like pistachio or coffee ice cream either, so maybe it’s all related.
I daily a 2012 C6 base convertible and it is a blast.
Absolutely love the car.
I was surprised at how easy the car is to drive slow or fast.
I especially love that at 6’2″, I can fit into a sports car. Ingress/egress might be amusing to watch, but once in the car it’s all fun.
And that’s how it should be. With the top down, I imagine I look like a duffer on the way to pick his trophy wife up from Pilates class to go to a wine tasting….then the 295s start turning and I just plain DGAF
“Oh, it’s not built very well. After just three days in my care, the boot lock disintegrated and the keyless go system refused to acknowledge the keys were in the car, but I didn’t mind”
Truly an American Ferrari.
That car is peak corvette IMO. Sure, some might look better, but that thing was a specimen. Now they’ve just conformed to satisfy Instagram children.
The chrome wheels and window in the hood are the only things that haven’t aged well.
Counterpoint – the hood window is rad and part of what made it stand out as the most “special” vette available
Nah. The window was made to impress jean shirt wearing, Nike Air Monarch sporting owners.
As was the style at the time…
Yeah the hood window always seemed a bit tacky contrived, and I don’t like chrome wheels on anything-and while IIRC you could get these without I’ll bet most had the chrome bc it’s well still a corvette.
I saw a (standard) C6 a couple days ago. The rear of those cars is so simple and pretty, as demonstrated above in that epic blue shade of paint. I’m not a C7 or C8 hater, like both those cars…but the rear ends on both are so goddamn busy and ugly. Go back to 4 basic circle (or oval) tail lights. The car will look (and age) so much better.
I think the only reason the Corvette isn’t considered a supercar is because they build too many off them
Building “too many” is what keeps the price and repair bills more affordable than exotic supercars.
I wonder if another American company was making a 600 hp supercar in 2009, perhaps one that beat the ZR1’s Ring time by 14 seconds?
Not going to take the bait, nope
Yeah the viper was fucking awesome too. I miss American ingenuity in vehicles. Now everything’s a globalized compromise.
14 seconds? I’m seeing a ACR (2010) do it only 7 seconds faster than the C6 ZR1 (7:19.63). In 2009 I see an ACR did it slower at 7:22.1.
But was the ZR1 really sold as the track monster the ACR was? Don’t get me wrong, ACR is cooler in just about every single way, but they weren’t exactly aimed at the same use. Both fast, yes.
7:12 is the best time for the 2010 ACR.
https://media.stellantisnorthamerica.com/newsrelease.do?&id=11535&mid=2
I agree with you that the ZR1 was marketed as more of a street car, but the tone of the article makes it seem like the Vette was the unquestioned top dog among American cars at the time, which I strongly dispute.
I’m just here for titles and then straight to the comment section.
Even in that case, there is more proof that America can build supercars than just the ZR1, which was neither the first nor necessarily the best of its time.
Cool car, but ultimately it has limitations because it has to share parts & design with a cheaper base model.
If you boil every single thing about a car into a ring lap time you’re missing the point.
I don’t think I did?
I mean, it was your lede and you haven’t given any other reasons why the vette isn’t that great.
One is both a potent track weapon and a comfortable daily, and the other is laser focused on being nothing but a potent track weapon. You can take the vette on a thousand mile road trip, in actual comfort, with a weeks worth of luggage for two people in the back, and you won’t burn yourself getting out of it either.
They’re vehicles with completely different mindsets. The compromise with the Viper is that it makes no compromises. The emphasis is how easy it is to live with the Vette, vs. when you read a review of the Viper (or ACR), words like “bestial”, “harsh”, “bare-bones” and “unforgiving” tend to come up.
Of America’s supercars, the Vette nailed the ratios of price, livability and performance. And it’s still doing that today, which is the reason this article was even written.
No part of any of my comments here were or are meant to disparage the ZR1, merely to point out that it wasn’t the only American supercar around at the time.
The ring time was first brought up in the article, I posted the Viper time in response to that.
If the argument is that the Corvette is a more livable car, I’m not going to argue that a bit. I just find statements like:
or
or
a bit incomplete, especially when another company was building a car that was at least equivalent (judged on pure performance only) at the time.
It would be like saying “This Lamborghini Aventador is proof Italy can build supercars when it wants to”. Like yes, that is accurate, but perhaps not a complete statement.
I’ve already devoted more time to the argument than it’s worth, so this is my last post on it.
“Cool car, but ultimately it has limitations because it has to share parts & design with a cheaper base model”
So? Lamborghini famously only started making supercars because Lamborghini got pissed Ferrari was using (and GROSSLY overcharging for) Lamborghini tractor parts to make Ferraris:
“Lamborghini liked to “make a show” but was generally not a very good driver. “He was always burning the clutch,” says Balboni. That meant repeated trips to the nearby Ferrari factory to replace it. After the third or fourth visit, Lamborghini decided to have the clutch replaced at his own tractor company, by his own head mechanic.
After disassembling the Ferrari engine and transmission, Lamborghini’s mechanic discovered that the clutch fitted on the Ferrari was identical to the clutch fitted onto one of Lamborghini’s own small tractors.
“It was a commercial clutch, fitted on Maseratis, Ferraris, and all the sports cars of those days,” Balboni explains. It also happened to be fitted onto a certain type of Lamborghini tractor. This did not sit well with Lamborghini, the disgruntled Ferrari owner.
“Ferruccio Lamborghini . . . he started yelling, he was so mad because he said, ‘I pay for my tractor 10 lire [for this part], and I paid Ferrari 1000 lire for the same part.’ So, one day, when he met Enzo Ferrari, the two started talking. During the discussion, Ferruccio Lamborghini had the bad idea to tell Enzo Ferrari, ‘You build your beautiful cars with my tractor parts.’ ”
https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a25169632/lamborghini-supercars-exist-because-of-a-tractor/
If Ferrari can get away making their super cars out of tractors Chevy can do the same.
Besides isn’t that Viper V10 really just a glorified truck engine?:
The Viper engine is a high-performance naturally-aspirated pushrod 2 valves-per-cylinder 90° V10 engine designed by Chrysler but with aluminum block castings designed by Lamborghini for use in the Dodge Viper. Despite its large displacement, it is based on the Chrysler LA V8.
The LA engine is a family of overhead-valve small-block 90° V-configured gasoline engines built by Chrysler Corporation between 1964 and 2003. A replacement of the Chrysler A engine, they were factory-installed in passenger vehicles, trucks and vans, commercial vehicles, marine and industrial applications.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viper_engine
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_LA_engine
How convenient of you to set up the field goal to 2010 and not 2007 so as to exclude the universally renowned 2007 Buick Terraza.
I can’t sneak anything past these commenters
The Ford GT is much more a supercar than the Corvette… Especially the C6 and C7 ZR1, which only show that Chevy is happy to put more engine in a car than the chassis can handle.
Not a fair comparison. Ford made 1,350 GTs and today they’re worth a half million each. I will never be able to afford one. However, I’ve owned three Corvettes. And there’s a C8 out there somewhere that will be mine when its depreciated enough.
None of that has anything to do with the author’s claim that the Corvette is proof that America can make a supercar?