August 2013 - Page 23 of 23 - C6Performance Journal

August 1, 2013

[VIDEO] Connecticut Town of Colchester to Sell its 1967 DARE Corvette

Photo Credit: John Shishmanian / NorwichBulletin.com

Here’s your chance to buy a C2 Corvette with an unusual past and an unusual look.

The town of Colchester, Conn., says it is ready to get rid of its 1967 Corvette that was used for nearly 20 years as the police department’s DARE vehicle.

DARE â€“ or Drug Abuse Resistance Education â€“ is a program that aims to teach fifth graders the dangers of using illegal drugs.

Colchester switched to a different drug awareness program last year, however, and its unique Corvette â€“ which has an American flag painted on the hood with the names of DARE business sponsors on the back â€“ is no longer needed by the police department.

“It’s been sitting back here kind of rotting for the last few years,” Fleet Maintenance Supervisor Steve Sharpe says.

The car apparently does still run as a reporter for The Bulletin wrote about the engine growling as the ‘Vette was pulled in for its first wash in ages.

“It was sitting for a while,” Sharpe says. “It got to the point where I told the police they probably wouldn’t want to be taking it on long trips to events across the state.”

Colchester police seized the car in 1994 from a drug dealer and have used it to promote DARE’s message at parades, festivals, school assemblies, and other public gatherings.

Now that they’ve ditched the DARE program, town officials are ready to unload the unique Corvette and use the money it brings to replenish the town equipment reserve fund.

Public Works Director Jim Paggioli says the town hasn’t set an asking price for the Corvette and will likely auction it off.

“We have someone who specializes in Corvettes coming to look at it and get an appraisal,” Paggioli says.

He’s hoping the car winds up staying in Colchester, though, and says it “would be nice to see it show up in the car cruise-in nights on the town green.”

Source:
Norwich Bulletin
Photo Credit: John Shishmanian / NorwichBulletin.com

August 1, 2013

Slide Show: New Corvette could rev up muscle car sales

Hot summer nights seem to bring out the muscle cars – and the car shows, filled with men dreaming of the car that got away.

August 1, 2013

[ACCIDENT] 2014 Corvette Stingray Hit By A Lincoln Town Car

A picture of a Cyber Gray 2014 Corvette Stingray involved in an accident has turned up on the Corvette Forum, but details of the crash are sketchy. From the pictures, it appears that a Lincoln Town Car t-boned the Corvette Stingray on the passenger side, causing damage to both cars.

The accident may have been weather related based on the wet conditions of the road at the time the photo was taken.

The good news is how well the Corvette seems to have protected its occupants in this real-world crash test. It certainly looks like the Lincoln took it hard on the chin while the Corvette’s 60% stiffer frame held true.

Here’s the full size image of the Lincoln vs Corvette, although it doesn’t really show any more details of the accident.

The last time we saw a Corvette Stingray involved in an accident, it was in early February 2013 that a Laguna Blue Corvette Stingray ended up in an Arizona ditch. The cause of that accident was ruled as driver error.

With the number of C7 Corvettes now on the roads for the expressed purpose of generating thousands of miles – if not hundreds of thousands of miles – of cumulative real world driving, these kinds of incidents are bound to happen. If anyone has more details on the latest crash involving a C7 Corvette Stingray, please let us know.

Update
We heard from CorvetteBlogger’s Detroit Bureau that the accident occurred in the Detroit suburbs around Royal Oak based on the photo evidence. This is the corner of 13 Mile Rd and Campbell. Autoweek posted several photos from a different view and we got this one from Zero2Turbo.com.

Click to enlarge the photo

Source:
Corvette Forum

August 1, 2013

Engineering The 2014 Jaguar F-Type

The 2014 Jaguar F-Type has some stiff competition that includes segment leaders like the Porsche 911 and other strong contenders like the Chevrolet Corvette and Audi R8.

August 1, 2013

Concours d’Elegance Of America At St. John’s

For the thirty-fifth consecutive year, Concours d’Elegance of America brought rare, restored and preserved cars of all eras to the public on Sunday, July 28, 2013.

August 1, 2013

Corvettes and GM Motoramas: Divergent paths into the future

Corvette made its public debut to great acclaim on January 17, 1953 at the 1953 GM Motorama exhibit.

August 1, 2013

[VIDEO] Autoweek Drives the 2014 Corvette Stingray

Autoweek was among the group of publications that recently took part in the 2014 Corvette Stingray drive experience held at the Milford Proving Grounds. Their review of the Stingray was published last week and is very favorable to the Stingray. Now we have the video from Autoweek showing many of the on-track exercises they were able to put the Corvette Stingray through.

The video features Corvette Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter who we see standing next to an Arctic White Stingray on the Milford Proving Grounds. Senior Editor Mac Morrison did the driving duties for Autoweek and we get his impressions throughout the video as well. But best of all, you get to ride along as we see a Velocity Yellow and Arctic White Corvette Stingrays doing their thing on the track and through the autocross course.

Here are the Corvette Stingray’s performance test statistics from Autoweek:

0-60: 4.1 seconds
Quarter Mile: 12.4 @ 115.3 mph
60-0: 102 feet

For reference, these are the 2014 Corvette Stingray performance estimates released by Chevrolet back in June:

0-60: 3.8 seconds
Quarter Mile: 12.0 @ 117.3 mph
60-0: 107 feet
Skid Pad: 1.03 g

As mentioned, Autoweek’s review of the C7 Corvette Stingray is very in-depth and mostly positive. Morrison calls the interior the most of the C7 as the most promising Corvette cockpit yet, but thinks new users might get hung up on the menus and interfaces. You can read the full review at Autoweek.

Source:
Autoweek.com