An old and rare 1963 Grand Sport is up for auction. These were built with the purpose to compete with the Shelby Cobras. So they are stripped down sleds with the most powerful V8 of the time wedged into them. Nice looking cars and an interesting piece of competitive automotive history.

Technology moves so fast these days. I have owned three Corvettes now, one from each of the last generations; and the leaps in technology, drivability and quality are significant. My old 1988 Corvette with its 250hp does not compare to the C6 I have and its digital-microchip everything pumping out 400hp and traction control.

The Grand Sport is a lovely car, but probably a road going Corvette is now faster and safer than it. IIRC Top Gear did a show where they compared a racing car from the 80s and then put them on a track with a modern road going car. A road-going Evo VIII beat the pants of an Audi Quattro rally car and so forth. Technology is rapid.

The WSJ has an answer on how to avoid breaking a low air dam on a corvette. The C6 Corvette is actually quite a high car, it is exceedingly rare that the rubber air dam drags on anything. So it is an odd question.

Corvette outside Meteor Crater

The C5 and C4 I owned were much more low slung and caused all sorts of problems getting in and out of driveways. Even speed bumps in parking lots could be an issue with those two cars.

The warning not to remove the air dam is true too. On the C4 I damaged the front air dam and had to remove it. The car ran about 10F hotter with it removed as the main radiator intake for fresh air was guided up by the air dam under the nose of the car. I don't see that being an issue with the C6 though and its wide grinning grill.

I consider the C6 more of a muscle car than a sports car. It is higher in stance, the seating position is much higher as well. If you look at the roof-line of the C6 it isn't that much lower than a standard sedan either. I can understand that the demographic who buys Corvettes is constantly aging, but in many respects I consider my old C5 a better sports car than the C6.

Via autoblog, photos of the Corvette GT2 on the track. It looks Mad Max. Given Mel Gibson's newly found marital status of divorced, Mad Max would definitely ditch the old Ford XC two-door coupe for a Corvette. After all, even in the apocalypse an aging action star needs to get around in comfort with a good dose of power and style. That being said the GT2 looks pretty good.

For reference, the XC Ford that stands guard outside the Silverton Hotel.

The wide body versions of the C6 Corvette such as the Z06 and ZR1 look much better than the standard body frame. They have wider arches on the front and rear wheels and are lower in stance which gives them a much better look.

The wide bodies are so popular that regular C6 drivers have been converting their Corvettes to the wide body on their own or using kits. The Z06 is more expensive, but it also has a fixed roof - neither are available as convertibles either - and does not come with an automatic transmission. So those that want the wider stance with a removable roof, an automatic and the standard LS2/LS3 engine are left with no choice but to make the wide body modification themselves.

I suspect it is out of the popularity of the wide body modifications that Chevrolet will offer the Grand Sport in 2010. It has the wide body panels in both the removable roof coupe form and the convertible body. There are some performance changes but I suspect the main benefit is cosmetic in that you can get a ZO6/ZR1 wide body with the possibility of driving with the wind in your hair and the standard engine rather than a race tuned one.

According to Jalopnik it is intended to rid the Corvettes of the Z51 packages (both my last two Corvettes have had this package):

Chevrolet's plan is to rid the lineup of the Z51 package Vettes, instead replacing it with a uniquely designed new Grand Sport model. Everything that you know and love about the Z51 will be here, but now, with the help of new Z06-derived bodywork you won't be confused with those driving lesser base-model Vettes.

But again, I still think the main benefit (other than the Z51 spec) is that a normal Corvette is on the popular and attractive wide body look.

The Grand Sport has a bit of a history. It was originally from a Chevrolet attempt to beat the Ford Cobra in racing events. Carroll Shelby had matched the big Ford V8 to the lightweight British AC Cobra frame and it was tearing up the local race circuits. General Motors stripped down a C2 Corvette and sent it out racing.

Garrett Brown photograph of C2 Grand Sport

The nameplate was resurrected in the 1990s with the C4 body (my favorite body shape of the Corvettes, and yes, I miss my old dark silver C4 even though it was a mechanical money pit). The C4 Grand Sports had more horsepower and were in lurid blue and white with black wheels.

Akula's photograph of C4 Grand Sport

They were also available in coupe and convertible form; consequently they have become highly collectible.

I am completely comfortable with my next Corvette being a Grand Sport.

Via autoblog; A wind tunnel model of an LMP1 class Corvette that would have been for the Le Mans series and race. It is a nice super-carry design based off some of the Corvette's lines. Very nice.

I saw this Corvette ZR1 up in North Scottsdale. I drove my lowly C6 past it very, very, very slowly and then decided to stop and take a few happy snaps of it. The ZR1 has a fantastic stance and the flared wheels of the Z06 and ZR1 change the whole positioning of the car. It looks much better than the base model car's unflared wheel arches.

Nice car.

Ultimately though it is too much car for me. 650 hp and the type of sub-racing car it is would make it too much of a hassle for me to drive. I think the Grand Sport is the most I will aspire to.

Most houses in Arizona have carports. I don't know and locals don't seem to know what the historical reason behind it is. Arizona is quite dirty with all the dust and the monsoons are pretty common which mainly throw large rain drops which are full of dust and dirt. The rain serves more to make dirt obvious on cars than wash it away.

We recently put a garage on the house, walling in the existing carport. I am glad and my car is happy for it. Two black cars become impossible to maintain without a garage. We chose a commercial door instead of one of the ones from Home Depot or Lowes. It is a smaller version of what you see in fire stations. I really like that style.

This photo is of my car in the garage with the light leaking in.

The Corvette Grand Sport has its own website now. A standard Corvette with the Z06 body and the LT4 options including HUD is probably the ideal Corvette for me.