Back in December last year, I wrote a piece on how all my friends defected into newer Porsches and how I did not feel for going the same way. Well, I meant it: Meet my new Corvette.
It’s the American Dream and the Corvette is in fact the American 911 too, so it sort of makes sense: In the aforementioned article I played with the thought of following my friends and their 911’s but it just seemed too obvious. And that line of thought ended up with me suggesting a Chevrolet Corvette of the socalled C5-generation might be a suitable alternative. Which again led to the honourable reader known by the handle of yrhmblhst to comment “Everyone should own a Corvette at least once in their life.”
He was right, you know – and now I do too: My newest addition to the garage is a 1998 Chevrolet Corvette C5 in Sebring Silver with red leather. Yep, a top shelf American right from the upper echelons of national icons from over there. It has been a roughly ten-year approach to the inevitability of owning an American car at some point, if I was going to maintain my call on my automotive formation journey. By no means a journey following a set course, as by now regular readers will know very well, but often determined by what is on sale and how deep my pockets are at the given time. And suddenly a Corvette came up for sale in Herning, some 100 kilometers away.
You will of course immediately notice that this car is fairly new. At least in the ViaRETRO context – on the other hand I presume most of my colleagues think it’s a bit of a relic. And 22 years indeed is a difficult age, because I have a hard time even calling it youngtimer not to mention a classic which it is surely not. Unless one is of the opinion that all Corvettes are classics? I am not. Just as I don’t think all Porsches are classics either (and by Porsche I mean of course 911, not the others).
I mention Porsche here again because the Corvette arrives at my garage in a slightly backward way in that context. It’s not only that my aforementioned friends (indeed it sometimes feels like everyone I know) are migrating over to Porsche 911, but also the fact that they do NOT choose the classics of the sixties and seventies, but instead opt for the nineties water-cooled models. And these are lovely, lovely cars too, no doubt about it – in fact, world class. But I just don’t think I could see myself as the editor of ViaRETRO choosing the easy route. I’m sure psychologists here in Denmark are already discussing which sort of complex or syndrom I suffer from since I keep referring back to Porsche, but that is simply as a reference point for readers to understand, you see?
And suddenly a Corvette came up for sale, as mentioned. Which I see as America’s best answer to the Porsche 911 of the 996 variant. Both came out in 1997 and while the Porsche was initially surrounded by skepticism partly because it was water-cooled, the Corvette C5 was almost universally praised for finally being able to take on its European competitors on equal terms. Later, several have touted its 5.7-liter aluminum engine as one of the world’s best (say “LS1” and every American will know what you mean), and with its 345 horsepower it lacks nothing. Insanely delicious motor (as they say over there) and incredibly well matched against the Porsche.
ViaRETRO bonus service: The Corvette C5 is, however, old enough that a video about its background and creation can be found in MotorWeek’s archive of “Retro Reviews” – very interesting with a deep insight into both design philosophy and engineering. Watch the video below:
Most important of all for my choice is the design, though: Despite its soft, round, and somewhat over-curved nineties design, my Sebring Silver Corvette with its red trim is muscular, masculine and raw in a way the 996’s just aren’t. The difference is not always for the good, but then it is at least quite charming. The more I look at it, the better I like the Corvette’s design with its simple yet powerful graphic tools. The big “scoop” (as I think they say in US-American-English) across the flanks are well executed and markedly powerful, and with the roof on (because it is a targa) the car is, especially when seen from above, very fighter-like – and that has almost always been a good thing. Perhaps most surprising to a Euro enthusiast is that the aerodynamics are actually quite advanced (albeit I now know this comes with the price of the car being annoyingly low under the rubber lip at the front) and that it in general just works amazingly well. Alfa Romeo enthusiasts will be pleased to hear that it has a transaxle, ie the gearbox mounted at the rear axle (complete with a gear change that is less than perfect). And sports racing enthusiasts will approve at the transmission in mine being a manual.
The latter was quite a deciding factor for my choice: The manuals are much rarer, and even with the few miles I’ve driven the car (I got it registered only a few weeks back), I feel that it is also crucial to the feel of the sports car. Not to mention a sports car with quite modern speed potential, a little bit of safety systems, a charismatic engine, a bombastic design and also a whole lot of practical qualities that do not leave a lot to be wished for even when compared to the Porsche 996. I should have had it on a track day during the week, but instead and funnily enough was handed a much newer Corvette C7 (rumours must have been circulating already!), so I did not become any wiser on my C5. However, I already know from the performance numbers on paper that it is fast enough for a race track to be the kind of place to go and find out how fast it really is, and not least how it handles.
You might not see it in the lines above (or even in between), but in fact I am in great doubt: On the one hand, I think the car is rather awesome – yet on the other hand I think it is totally exaggerated with all the power & speed. But absolutely unnecessary performance is the way all my friends with their Porsche 996 and 997 go, and basically this is an experiment to see if it really matters. Just not an experiment in a Porsche!
A short characteristic in terms of the specific car: It’s from 1998 and has covered around 79.000 miles / 127,000 kilometers. It is imported from the US to Denmark, but stranded in Herning, where I bought it. As usual for me, I have found a car that is not in perfect condition (as the pictures also show). And it is perhaps here that my Corvette C5 most resembles a real classic: The perfect car would just get boring.
Boring is one thing I don’t think my life will be with the C5. There are enough little things to fix to keep me out of trouble (I expect comments on the unoriginal glossy rims) and still a fitting amount of features that do work in order to make it ready for use. In fact I have already taken to the road in my Corvette and more reports will no doubt follow…
