The new Corvette is here! The new Corvette is here!

You could get a 454 stock from the factory in 1974. That was the last year.

Ordered job? I thought they stopped offering the LS6s after '71?

I've never seen one after 70 personally, and I had to drive 9 hours over the rumor of a ZR2 when I worked at that dealer. It was a clone.

It was an option still available through 1974, though it was a very choked version of the 454. I don't know how many of them were made or how many dealers got them versus customers ordering them that way, but my dad ordered his. He also ordered my step mom a 1974 Caprice wagon at the same time with a 454, but when it showed up at the dealership it had a 400 small block. He bought it anyway but regretted it.

Per the Corvette Black Book

3,494 LS4 270hp were sold in '74

188 LS6 425 HP were sold in '71 12 of which were the ZR2 package which included M22 transmission, heavy duty power brakes, transistor ignition, special aluminum radiator, and special springs, shocks, and stabilizer bars.

No LS6 were sold in 1970

I owned a '71 LS5 365hp. It was slow, crude and loud but man it was fun. It also turned more heads than friends C4's and C5's.

Personally I still prefer the steel bumper cars.

Someone posted about not liking Corvettes, they being so American and all. By and large I prefer more subtle designs and more lithe vehicles but I had a small Americana epiphany back in the early fall of 1970. I was hanging out late at night at a party city overlook party zone. It was the usual beer and pot crowd with a few muscle cars and bikes. We had just learned Hendrix had just OD'd and while it wasn't a completely somber mood, it was a subdued. Up pulls a new gen RS or Z1 Camaro. The guy is back from Vietnam and this is what he gets. I was sitting there starting to drink beer and I thought to myself what a POS, look at that thing, big long hood, tiny rear quarter, cramped insides, I bet its heavy and piggish too (unlike the Porsches I loved then). But as I drank more it became apparent this car had something, and after awhile (and tellingly more beers) I figured it was a brilliant bit of style - it was pure America, tough, brutish, and arrogant. To me, it really encapsulated a lot of our society. I think the Corvette, while its not what I want, for better or worse, does the same thing.

Bueller is correct. 1974 was the last year of the 454.

It was a 270 horse LS-4.

I believe you guys, just never saw one.

beautiful, apt post. True about American cars and a lot of other things, I bet.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/I...Corvette-Stringray-is-sold.-Price-1.1-million.

This will be like the gs styling debate when the 12 came out. Give it a year and you'll see.

BTW, I think they're smart to share a butt styling cue with the Camaro. Halo effect.

From the Road and Track site - they seem to think it's a real PR image.

SVT is Ford factory, though. Its an upper-trim Mustang. You could walk into any dealership and buy one, with full warranty.

Good to see that GM is embracing recycling, or actually just that overused term, repurposing - look at the grille in the above photo - aren't those milk crates?

GM interiors have been made of recycled plastic for many years. It's about time they stepped it up a notch.

"egg crate", and the design element has been in GM vehicles since the Motorama show cars of the early 1950s.

Camaro and Corvette have never before shared "butt styling".

I don't understand your statement. Corvette IS the flagship/halo car for Chevrolet. Why would they want Camaro-looking tail lamps on the brand's flagship?

Camaro is attracting young people, thru its tie-in with The Transformers movie. Corvette is trying to latch onto *anything* to get their average purchaser age below 60......even Buick has a younger customer base than Team Corvette these days.

Looks interesting, but I am betting that Top Gear UK tests it and determines that although fun in a straight line it handles like a 74 Datsun in the corners.

Of course it will still sell wildly in the North America where gas is cheap and people don't expect much performance for their $70 or $90k. I bet a good used Porsche with some tweaking will out perform it for $50k less.

Still looks cool though.


Its better to travel well than to arrive.
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It is an awesome machine, no doubt. The challenge is escaping the overarching over-the-hill accountant/dentist/___-retiree stigma that has haunted these cars ever since I can remember.

Kids just don't own corvettes -- and that's impressive considering that, on the used market, they can be had for less than a new Accord, yet will outperform most anything Japan and Germany have to offer for the $$. And further yet, Gen-Y would rather drive an imported rally car. STi, Evo, even the Focus RS. Why does the young performance-lusting segment lust only for turbocharged subcompacts, or else uber-expensive Bavarian bling?

I have a pretty diverse peer group -- adjust for those actually interested in fast cars, and for those whom could actually afford a used vette, and what you notice is that almost literally, no one, owns a vette. Lots of German and Japanese "sport" cars, yet the obvious performance superiority of the 'vette is overlooked. These same kids who drop 30+k on a new AWD G37.. or used 350Z balk at the used C6 that would toast their Fairlady faster than a Foreman grill. Why? Because the vette just ain't cool enough.

So I can understand Chevy's desire to put some bling into their current 'Vette crop. This new one seems like the poor man's ferrari. And whoever said it's taken some styling cues from the current-gen Camaro is right on -- the Camaro has broken though that GenY barrier -- and I hope this Vette does the same.

You have no idea what you are talking about. Vettes have handled well for years