THE COSMIC SIGNIFICANCE OF THE 2020 CORVETTE

Editorial: 2020 CORVETTE SHATTERS THE MYTH OF EXOTIC EUROPEAN CARS





I’ll admit that I was a car snob. I started out liking Corvettes, and bought a one year old ’69 coupe with the lift off roof, small block and enjoyed it. But when I moved from Michigan to California there was a distinct shunning of the car, as if to say “If you think that’s a sports car, look at a Ferrari.”

So, partially under the influence of the assistant art director at Motor Trend, a dyed in the wool Ferrari aficionado , I began to worship at the temple of Modena. I went to Ferrari gatherings, wrote stories, shot pictures, built the myth that American cars could never, absolutely never, reach such pinnacles in performance and style.

I even went to Italy a few times, and once actually saw Enzo Ferrari.

And ended up buying a 308GTS new (the Magnum influence) and selling that later at a loss of $17,000 depreciation from what I paid new to buy an old tattered GTc/4 which I “street restored” (leaving everything in place, so the car is always running, not dis-assembled). I sold that later for triple the purchase cost.

But back to the snob angle. I have relished in the infra-dig lingo of the words like “aficionado” and “tifosi” but, at the same time, in the back of my mind, kept an ear open for reports of excessive maintenance costs. My ’69 Corvette cost comparatively nothing to maintain, except it would throw the belts once in a while if you downshifted two gears down instead of one.

And now we have the 2020 Corvette. To me this is a game changer big time for the whole sports car world. Because what it does is deliver a configuration that heretofore only the most expensive cars had (Ferrari, Lamborghini, Audi, Bugatti, McLaren, Pagani, et al) but at a laughably cheap price.

You could argue the Pantera did this in 1971 with its sticker price of $10,000 but back then a 2 bedroom house was still available at say, $45,000 so it wasn’t that much of a bargain relatively.

And then on this new Corvette vs. foreign exotics you have to figure in parts and availability of same. There have been almost a million 2019 Chevrolets sold so far. The Corvette will no doubt share its base engine with a Camaro so getting a replacement engine at some point will be easy; considering how many Camaros will be parted out in time.

The gearbox I think will be more expensive. But compare it with the Pantera’s ZF 5-speed, last time I looked, a decade ago that gearbox used was $11,000. And that’s for a several decades old car.

Body panels I’m not worried about. With 3D printing, even if the stock body panels are expensive at dealerships, no doubt outside firms will knock off replacement panels.

TOO MANY FOR EXCLUSIVITY?

That is one problem I will concede you will have with the2020 Corvette. If you buy your fun cars with the idea of driving around something exclusive, odds are , if you go to a “Cars ‘n Coffee” up at the lake some Saturday morning, there’s going to be five mid-engined 2020 Corvettes. It’s not quite like belly buttons (everybody has one) but they will be much more common than, say, a Ferrari or Lamborghini. I have had the pleasure of driving some really rare car like an Iso Grifo and it was nice when someone admired it who had never seen one before. But now 30 years later, I’d worry about “If I take it on a 1,000 mile road trip and crack the windscreen, where would I ever get another?”

NEGATIVE IMPACT ON COLLECTOR CARS

I even think the 2020 Corvette is so radical, in terms of what it’s offering on an American car, that it will adversely affect not only the resale value of used 2019 Corvettes and older but all many collector cars currently in restoration. The attitude might be “why bother to spend so much on this old car when for much less I can have something brand new?. I think the used Corvette market must be devastated.The day before the new Corvette was revealed July 18th, I am sure many old Corvettes were enjoying high prices, sometimes, in the case of rarities like the L88, many times their original new price. But now their star is a little bit diminished. Like his enemies say about Trump “the air is taken out of the room” by the newcomer.

Now why isn’t all this true about the last American automaker’s attempt at a mid-engined V8 powered sports car, the ‘05-‘06 Ford GT? First of all that was a true limited edition. They decided to make only 4,038 of them before they made the first one whereas Chevrolet will crank out 2020 Corvettes all the way to the 2021 model year, as many as there are buyers for. Secondly the ’05-06 Ford GT wasn’t “state of the art” as far as shape. Though they would never admit it, I think they did a design preview early on and found out their original shorter nose design (think Audi R8) didn’t appeal to potential buyers so they reshaped the car to look more like a ‘60s Ford GT40. So it wasn’t as aerodynamic as it could have been. Thirdly it was high priced, basically three times the price of the 2020 Corvette introduced 15 years later. When you are that outrageously priced compared to other cars in your same showroom, you are going to have a tough time finding the well heeled buyers. Kind of like this grocery store I go to-- it has some liquors at the counter that are over $1000. What for? Who would buy it besides a lottery winner? The current Ford GT is not even in the same world of reality outrageously over-priced and they have the nerve to make you sign an agreement not to re-sell it. Who are they to demand what you do with private property?

And it only has a V6. You can talk all you want about its aero styling, top speed yadda yadda but Americans born in the 20th Century were raised on ya-gotta-have-a-V8.

So while I still am an aficionado for all things Italian, and even an Anglophile and Francophile as well, the arrival of the new Corvette has stirred in me feelings of pride that, we, as Americans, need not hide our light under a bushel basket. We can do what they do, whoever “they” are and do it at lower cost and more reliability. Another example of when I have the same feeling occurs I pass by March AFB and remember going there to meet some former pilots of a black plane called the Blackbird. They flew that over enemy territory at 2000 mph 50 years ago! I don’t think any country ever came to matching it.

And so it is. Oh, I’m not going to join a Corvette club, or put in my order for a 2020 Corvette, but I am glad the mask has been taken off on the exotic cars, so we see that “exotic” is not as costly and unreachable as they have led us to believe, and now there’s an alternative that’s reasonably priced so we can enjoy the looks, the performance, the handling in a domestic car.

Maybe someday I’ll go to the Vista d’Este concours in Italy-- their version of Pebble Beach. And drive a rented 2020 Corvette….

 

Is your question about that line above or the whole thing--I wrote the whole thing. I will be curious as to who buys the new Corvette--the same crowd or a newer younger crowd with more cosmopolitan interests.,..

 

As far as spur GM I think that it is a probable result. Remember when Bob Lutz as pushing the V16? We need more high flyers at the top end, because you never know whats going to be a winner. That's why I am for a Corvette pickup. It hasn't hurt Lamborghini or Porsche that they have SUVs. In fact I heard their SUV saved Porsche awhile back. I wish they didn't have those fixed you-have-to-retire-at=this-age rules because I think Bob Lutz has some good ideas, and instincts, and I'm not even holding it against him he landed his own personal jet fighter with the wheels up!