Hello, Kansas City, welcome back to Bespoke Automotive Refinement Podcast. We’re so glad that you’ve joined us today. Thomas, do you enjoy talking about cars? I do.
It’s one of my favorite things to talk about of all time. Is there anything else you like more than cars? My wife. Oh, that’s true.
Your wife really is pretty special. Today we’re going to be talking more about Corvettes. Now, Thomas, is there just one type of Corvette? No.
Are there two types of Corvettes? There’s a lot of different types of Corvettes. So tell us a little bit more about Corvettes. Like write down, what is the C5 or C6 or C? What does that even mean? So the C obviously stands for Corvette and then the number behind it is what generation of body style it is.
So like the the C5 came out in 1997 and that was like the bubbly body style. That was the first generation Corvette I ever had. And when the car came out in the 90s, it looked like, I mean it was like the C7 today, right? Like it looked so futuristic.
Yeah. The C6 is from 2005 to 2013 and then I’ve had one C6. I’ve had three C5s and one C6.
And the C6 was my favorite car by far. It was a C06. And the C7 came out from 2014.
It was from 2014 to 2019. And then the C8 was 2020 and they’re still making them now. So and there’s different sub models.
So you’ve got like the base model, which you hear me ragging on it a lot, but it’s still a Corvette, you know, like buying a Corvette you’re you’re doing something if you buy a Corvette, you know what I mean? Like it’s not like it’s a bad version. It’s just there’s different levels to it. So the base model C5 or sorry the base model Corvette typically comes with a Camaro V8 engine.
So like the top trim level Camaro, which is a super sport. That engine and transmission is what you get in the entry-level Corvette, which is the base model. Then you get the Grand Sport and the Grand Sport is a fiberglass wide body with a base model engine and transmission.
So it’s got the more desirable wide body look. It’s got more of that exotic look to it, but it doesn’t have any more power than the base model. And then you get the Z06 and the Z06 is a track like it was made for the track.
If you know Porsches the Z06 is like the GT3 RS of Corvettes. If you don’t plan on driving it hard you don’t buy a Z06. They have a very rough ride.
You feel everything. People make the joke all the time. Jeremy Clarkson is one of the most famous automotive journalists in the world said that when he drove the Z06 he literally had to have back surgery afterwards.
Wow. It is a hard rough very rigid ride, but if you like that raw feel, that raw track car feel which I do then you get the Z06 and it’s a car that it can be dual-purpose, you know with the two Z06’s I had in the past. I drag raced them.
So I did heads up racing, bracket racing, half-mile, airstrip attack, all that type of stuff, but they were primarily built for racing around like a road course, which is what you and I did at Hedge Hollow. Okay. That’s like what Chevy and Team Corvette built that car around.
The Z06 was built to take on Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Porsche in the Le Mans 24-hour Le Mans race series. Okay. So you know that movie Ford vs.
Ferrari? Yeah. How Ford made the GT40 to go against? So the Z06 is like Chevy’s GT40. Okay.
To compete against all these manufacturers and then you get the ZR1 which is just the dumb, it’s the dumbest thing ever. Like if money was no object, that would be what I wanted. The ZR1 is it’s got a smoother ride to it.
So it’s more of a like, it’s more of a road car, but it has, it’s the most powerful Corvette. So like the the C7 Z06, which is what we’re getting next, has 650 horsepower, which is insane. Like, like that is actually insane.
This Jeep has 200. Okay. Your dad’s Corvette had 350.
A C7 Z06 has 650. A Bugatti has a thousand. A Bugatti, a C7 Z06 is closer in horsepower to a Bugatti than it is to the power of your dad’s Corvette that he had.
So it’s like, it’s, it’s double what a base model C6 is. And then, and I use that as a, as a reference because I’m sure your dad’s car felt like crazy fast. Because I mean it is, like a C6 is still a fast car.
It’s just in the world of racing, they’re slow. Yeah. But in the world of like, like if you’re not a car person, they’re really fast.
So the ZR1 has a thousand horsepower. Wow. So that is, a ZR1 literally has the same amount of power as a Bugatti.
And actually out zero to 100 mile per hour, a Bugatti Veyron. So, but that’s like a 300. I looked the other day, actually, a C7 ZR1 is $450,000.
Whoa, really? So it is, yes, they are dumb. They are dumb, but actually, I’ve worked on a couple of them and people who own them don’t drive them. It’s like a collector’s item.
Really? Yep. Yep. My best friend Joel, he had one.
And he’s the only person I’ve ever met that ever drove his and raced his. So he had a maroon one. And it was, it was pretty cool when he, when he had that car, because it was like, it was cool to actually see someone beating the crap out of a ZR1.
You know what I mean? Yeah. So the ZR1 is a step above the Z06. But unless you have deep enough pockets to buy a half million dollar car, you just, the Z06 is the king, we call it the king of the hill, but really the ZR1 is the king of the hill, we’re bad.
So, and then now Chevrolet came out with a new ZR1 of the ZR1X. It’s a hyper car. So it’s got the same engine as the ZR1, which is a twin turbo.
LT5. No, it’s a twin turbo LT7. And then they put an electric motor behind it, adding another 500 horsepower.
So it’s a 1500 horsepower Corvette, which is like stupid. And I think that car new is probably going to be seven or $800,000, which is crazy that a Corvette is going to be 800 grand. Wow.
But it’s going to be a, it’s going to be a cool car to see. So if someone’s wanting to book one of our Kansas City car detailing packages or services, you can give us a call at 620-282-0402. You can also go online to bespokerefinement.com. There you can check out a list of all of our different Kansas City car detailing packages and services that we have to offer the Kansas City area.