Strategic Vision announced the winners of their 18th annual Total Quality Awards last week. Just like last year, the Chevrolet Corvette Coupe took best of show honors in the Premium Coupe category. The C6 also topped the Premium Convertible/Roadster division as well. For the first time in more than 10 years, domestic cars make up a majority of the Total Quality Award winners.

“Our on-going, revolutionary goal is always capturing the hearts and minds of the customer’s decision-making. That is why we use scales that include: 5) I Love It, 4) Delightful, 3) Excellent, 2) Satisfactory and 1) A Failure. We use specific aspects of specific emotions to create a scale that captures concrete judgments with great clarity, thus we have Total Quality,” said Darrel Edwards, Ph.D., Founder and Executive Chairman of Strategic Vision.

The 2013 Total Quality data derived from 17,568 buyers who acquired new 2013 cars between September and November 2012.

The Corvette Coupe accumulated 931 total points in this year's survey. That's up from 812 points in 2012 when it beat out the Cadillac CTS. Over in the Premium Convertible/Roadster category the C6 beat out the Porsche Boxster by a score of 959 to 957.

Now that the sixth generation Corvette has ended production we imagine it's just a matter of time before the awards start rolling in the C7 Corvette.

Source:
Strategic Vision via Autoblog

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Yesterday, news that the 2014 Corvette Stingray was spied on the set of Captain America: The Winter Soldier during filming on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. broke wide open. We brought you some video of the film shoot on Friday but thanks to professional photographer Glyn Lowe Photoworks who was on the scene during the filming, we’ve got a nice little gallery of new photos to share with you.

The pics show the 2014 Corvette Stingray parked along the sidewalk with the Washington Monument in the background. Glyn also managed to capture a picture of Chris Evans, A.K.A. Captain America and some of the filming of the scene outside the Willard Hotel.

Again, a special thanks to Glyn Lowe for granting us permission to share these photos. We only scratched the surface though. Check out Glyn Lowe Photoworks for even more of the 2014 Corvette Stingray captured during the filming of Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is due in theaters on 4.4.14. Thankfully, we won’t have to wait that long for the car as the 2014 Corvette Stingray is due in Chevrolet showrooms this summer.

Source:
Glyn Lowe Photoworks

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Four years together in a Corvette can provide a lifetime of memories. Bill Ogden is proof of that. His miraculous story begins way back in October 1961 when he was in his 20s and bought a white 1962 Corvette with red interior, a 327/340 engine in the bay. Proving the power of marketing a car with a TV show, Ogden had been infatuated with Corvettes ever since he saw one on “Route 66.”

“It was the best of times,” Ogden said. “To be young, single and male driving a new Corvette in Southern California… I couldn’t lose.”

But like so many Corvette owners, he had to grow up and decided to do the sensible thing and buy a boring 1967 Olds Delta 88, getting a little over $2,000 for his beloved ‘Vette on the trade-in.

He never expected to see the car again, but then fate stepped in more than 35 years later. At his 50th class reunion in 2003, his sister gave him a box of items she’d found at their parents’ house years earlier.

“Back when I bought the Corvette, I took everything and sent it home to my Mom and Dad, along with some photos of me and the car,” Ogden said. “I’d forgotten all about it. I didn’t even know that stuff still existed.”

Inside the box was a photo of Ogden washing his 1962 Corvette, along with the paperwork for the car. He soon had the fever to own another Corvette similar to his first one.

For the next three years, he searched high and low but just couldn’t find the right Corvette. Then in 2007, a man called him from California and said he had a white 1962 Corvette for sale. Ogden thought the man was asking too much for the car-- until he got some NCRS paperwork on the car, including the VIN. He compared it to the paperwork his sister had found and discovered that miraculously it was his old car!

“I never would have known I’d found my car if I hadn’t sent that bill of sale to my parents,” Ogden said. “I know how lucky I am. My story is unique. It rarely ever happens.”

Having his old friend back at home brought all those wonderful memories of their good times together in the 1960s flooding back, so much so that Ogden decided to share the stories with other Corvette enthusiasts in what has quickly turned into at least a four-book series called “When We Were Young with Our Corvettes: California Adventures in the Early 1960s.”

At age 76, Ogden is living proof that once a Corvette enthusiast, always a Corvette enthusiast.

Source:
Hagerty.com

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Jalopnik found this video showing the filming in Washington D.C. of the latest Marvel Comic’s Avengers series, Captain America: The Winter Soldier. In the video, we see a Black 2014 Corvette Stingray pull up and actor Chris Evans aka Captain America walks down the sidewalk and stops at the passenger side door.

Los Jalops say that driving the car was another Avenger, Natasha Romanoff a.k.a. The Black Widow, played by actress Scarlett Johannson. As the Corvette Stingray is black, perhaps that is her car and not the Captains, which we think is entirely possible. After all, Romanoff was once a bad girl and the murdered out Corvette is pretty sinister looking from that perspective as well.

Once again we see the Stingray’s LED taillights captured on video which looks like they flicker, but that is due to the refresh rate of the video and is not a feature on the car.

Moviefone gives us this synopsis of the new movie:

“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” picks up where “The Avengers” left off, with the former 98-pound weakling trying to figure out how to handle the modern world after being frozen since WWII. Steve Rogers’s old buddy Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) has returned, but now he’s the eponymous Winter Soldier, a super bad guy.

As Mackie described it, “This movie, ‘Captain America,’ has kind of become ‘Avengers 1.5′; if you look at the cast they’ve put together, if you look at the number of characters that are in this movie. I mean, it’s a huge number of superheroes and characters. The basic idea is that you have Captain America, Black Widow, and Falcon that get together to take down the Winter Soldier.”

Of course, folks are also pretty excited to see Robert Redford as a top S.H.I.E.L.D. official, and the return of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. With a 2014 release date, we’ll have to take these snippets of action where we can get ‘em.

Captain America: The Winder Soldier is expected to hit theaters on 04.04.14.

Source:
Jalopnik
Moviefone

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Mecum’s 26th annual Spring Classic auction kicks off next week in Indianapolis. One of the stars of the weekend will be this 1974 Motion Can Am Spyder from the Dan McMichael collection. The monster was the prototype for a short run consisting of just 3 additional cars. It goes up for bids next Saturday, May 18th about 3:25pm Central time.

Rosen drew his inspiration for the wide body styling from the famous Greenwood Corvettes. Motion fabbed all of the body pieces except the roof panels and windshield. The interior sports black diamond-tufted upholstery, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, and custom gauge bezels. A Hurst shifter helps out when it's time to swap the cogs. It rolls its original finned aluminum wheels and Pro Trac Racing Profile tires.

The pre-auction estimate for this car is $150,000 – $225,000. That's a pretty big range, but how does one really price a car of this pedigree? We're not really sure what this car is worth, but Mecum's estimate seems about right to us. Tune into Velocity's coverage next Saturday to find out just how much it takes to put this one in your garage.

Stay tuned for more coverage of the Mecum Spring Classic over the next week or so.

Source:
Mecum Auctions via Hemmings

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Enthusiasts at the 2013 Corvette Museum C4 ZR1 gathering that starts today and runs through Sunday in Bowling Green, Kentucky will have a chance to see and hear inside information about their cars. Lingenfelter Performance Engineering’s Chief Engineer, Graham Behan, will make two presentations during the annual event.

The second focuses on the twin turbo LT5 Corvette developed by Lingenfelter in 2000. Only four of these cars were produced, and one of them will be on display at the museum beginning May 15.

Behan, who has been a regular presenter at the ZR1 gathering since 1997, came to LPE after working at Lotus Engineering where he was executive engineer on the LT5 engine program. He plans to show archival photos of the twin turbo cars being developed and give attendees the inside story and technical data about these rare cars.

In 2000, by the way, John Lingenfelter drove a ZR1 that produced 850 rear wheel horsepower at Beech Bend Raceway Park, where he reached 153 mph and had a quarter-mile time of 9.52 seconds. Back then, John said it was the most powerful ZR1 he'd ever driven.

A member of the Corvette Museum Hall of Fame, John was a longtime supporter and participant of the ZR1 gathering. He was known for his drag racing demos at Beech Bend, where he held “how to go drag racing” classes. Unfortunately, he passed away at age 58 in 2002 after crashing his Cavalier into a concrete retaining wall at the Mazda NHRA Sport Compact World Finals in Pomona, California.

Both Behan and Lingenfelter represent LPE’s passion for and commitment to the Corvette world and their insatiable quest for ways to improve their performance. Today, LPE is known around the world for their in-depth performance engineering solutions and aftermarket calibrations for Corvette owners.

Click here for more details of the National Corvette Museum’s C4/ZR-1 Gathering.

Source:
lingenfelter.com

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The latest Faces of GM video focuses on the 2014 Corvette Stingray’s aerodynamic performance. Aero Performance Engineer John Bednarchik discusses the design features they learned from testing with Corvette Racing and why working on the new Corvette is so special to him.

Bednarchik talks about the aerodynamic testing process, which started with 1/5th scale models, one of which you can see behind him. There were several themes which were tested and then after the final theme was selected, the full scale model testing began.

We again hear about how the lessons learned from Corvette Racing were applied to the C7 Corvette. First was the front-leaning radiator with the air extractor on the hood which pushes the hot air over the top of the car and reduces the front-end lift. Second was the use of the functional rear cooling vents for the transmission and differential.

John closes his conversation with Faces of GM by saying “It’s really a privilege to be able to be assigned to work on C7 when your a General Motors employee. This is a big deal for me to be able to say that I worked on the C7 and its like ‘Hey Dad, I hope I’m making you proud.’”

Source:
Faces of GM

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The Chip’s Choice display for this year’s Corvettes at Carlisle continues to take shape. Back in February we told you about the George Barris-built Asteroid Corvette scheduled to appear. Now joining that custom 1963 is another custom 1963-- this one with an Italian flare. Corvettes at Carlisle announced in their most recent email newsletter that the Corvette Rondine built by Pininfarina will also be in the Chip's Choice display this year.

The Rondine is the only steel-bodied Corvette ever built. The shapely body sits on a 1963 Corvette frame and is powered by the 327/360hp engine. Those long body lines with their Italian styling actually make the car heavier than a stock 1963 Corvette. In contrast to the radical exterior, the interior remains largely as installed in St. Louis.

The 2013 edition of Corvettes at Carlisle show takes place August 23-25, 2013 at the Carlisle Fairgrounds. Registration is already on open make your plans now to attend this massive 3 day Corvette celebration. We're looking forward to seeing this and all of the other Chip's Choice cars in person this August.

Source:
Corvettes at Carlisle

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Here’s some eyecandy from our friends at D2FORGED who hit us up on twitter yesterday to share these pics of a Pewter C5 Corvette Convertible riding on their CV2 concave wheels. I’ve always maintained that the wheels guys have the best photos and D2FORGED doesn’t let us down with their latest photoset.

]]> The CV2 concave wheels are colormatched to the Pewter C5 Convertible and so they have a pewter spoke face with a gloss black inner barrel and a chrome lip. The widebody Corvette is perfectly executed and the stance provided by 20×9 fronts and 20×12.5 rears is outstanding.

Check out these photos and then visit D2FORGED for more information.

Source:
D2FORGED

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Corvette enthusiasts have the chance to buy one rare C6 on eBay Motors right now.  Some lucky-- and wealthy-- person will be the owner of a Corvette C6RS Supercar when the bidding finally comes to a close on May 19. Only seven of the cars have been produced, and the one up for sale is only the second one to be offered publicly for sale.

The first such car was presented to Tonight Show host Jay Leno, and six others have been built-- one kept by Pratt & Miller and another by Jim Miller. The other four are in private hands.

The car up for auction cost more than $330,000 and took a year to build. But the wait was well worth it as the C6RS offers unbelievable performance as well as European interior refinements and a long list of race track features.

The special Corvette is powered by a 600+ HP Katech Aluminum 8.2 liter small block engine that makes more than 600 lb/ft of torque, coupled with a T-56 six-speed manual transmission and a lightweight carbon fiber body.

Pratt & Miller has enjoyed a strong relationship with Chevrolet since 1998, designing, building, supporting, and racing the Corvette C5R and C6R racing cars for GM. The Corvette Racing Team has driven such cars to five wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the ultimate worldwide racing test along with seven American Le Mans Series GT championships since 2000.

The car up for auction was produced as closely as possible to the race track version and carries serial number 003. The owner of this C6RS Corvette Supercar worked with the Pratt and Miller Corvette Racing Team as their photographer for 10 years. He traveled with the race team extensively (Le Mans eight years in a row) and spent quite a bit of time at their headquarters in New Hudson, Michigan as well. He was very familiar with the Corvette race team members (the employees of Pratt and Miller), and the major suppliers including Katech – their engine company for the GT1 C6R race car. Once P&M had the blessing of GM to build the C6RS (street version of the C6R race car) this car was immediately ordered. The owner then followed the build personally and had conversations with the guys at the shop while they were building the car. The inside of the center console storage bin was personally autographed by all of the race team's members and principles, the drivers and the personnel (C6RS003 is the only car to have these autographs).

This car has never been tracked or raced and still has less than 4,000 original miles.

According to the eBay auction site, Pratt and Miller designed the C6RS from the ground up. In essence they took a new C6 ZO6 Corvette, kept the chassis, doors, roof and rear deck lid and threw away everything else.

By the way, the Pratt and Miller C6RS is the only Chevrolet/GM factory authorized and sponsored re-build/re-make of the C6 Corvette.

To view or bid on the Chevrolet CorvetteC6RS, visit the eBay auction page.

As of Tuesday morning, the bid had reached $110,100. The auction ends on Sunday, May 19th at 18:30:00 PDT.

Source:
eBay Motors via Pratt and Miller

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Finally, the least important factor that may have helped drive coupe sales was the balance of each body style’s advertising exposure, heavily weighted to the coupe during 1963. Being a new body style, heavy exposure to the hardtop would be expected but for the 1964 MY the advertising exposure was still weighted, though not as heavily, to the coupe and sales fell off almost 2200 units while convertible sales jumped by approximately the same amount. Beginning with 1965 both coupe and convertible appeared to get almost equal exposure in the ads.

The three color ads show the emphasis GM placed on moving the Corvette from the pure sports/performance car category to a more upscale image. The convertible ad clearly speaks to the luxury image while the “instant celebrity” ad sends a strong message conveying more of a personal glamour image. Performance advertising was not abandoned during the first two years but most performance Corvette ads were black and white. In 1965, Corvette advertising transitioned to a heavier performance emphasis to support both the suspension and engine upgrades offered during the final years of the C2 production run.

We’ve stumbled across another cool unrestored Corvette listed on eBay. Early last week we found the 1953 Survivor up for bids and now we've got this silver 327/350hp 1966 convertible seeking a new home. The hidden roadster was pulled from a barn in 2010 and claimed a Bloomington Gold Survivor Award in 2012.

Currently the car shows 46,086 miles on the odometer. Just 15 miles have been placed on the car since it took home its Bloomington Gold Survivor Award in 2012. It was a 1-owner car until 2010 when it was pulled from a Virginia barn covered in years of dirt and neglect. Much of the car's original documentation goes along with the sale including the Protect-O-Plate, owner's manual and pouch, original keys, and sales brochure.

As you can see in the photos, the car pretty much fits the Survivor mantra of “worn in, but not worn out”. The Silver Pearl paint is faded and completely missing in spots. The black convertible top is a mess, and there's quite of bit of rust under the hood. The black interior is showing its age. Yup, we love it just the way it is.

According to the auction listing the numbers matching car sits on a solid frame, appears to have never been in any accidents, and that the wipers, radio, parking brake, and speakers all still work. The seller also states that the original water pump was rebuilt, a new exhaust system was installed, and that new battery has been installed.

The asking price for this unique Corvette is $59,000. American Car Collector's auction database tells us that prices for 1966 327/350 convertibles have ranged from the mid $40,000 range to over $100,000 over the last several years. The vast majority of the sales seem to have occurred between $45k and $70k, of course, based on vehicle condition and additional options.

If you're interested in this C2 you've still got a few minutes to make an offer as the listing expires on May 14th about 10am PDT.

Source:
eBay via BarnFinds.com

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File photo courtesy of Corvettes.nl

An Indiana Corvette owner has learned a hard lesson about the dangers of deals on the Internet.

He thought he had found the perfect person in 27-year-old Matthew Warman.

“I put an ad on Craigslist saying, "'Does anyone know how to put a top on?’ and a guy contacted me and says, 'I’ve done it before. I used to work in a top place.’ So he said he could do it,” Stull said. Unfortunately, that was the last time he saw his Corvette.

Police did manage to arrest Warman on Wednesday, but authorities determined through their investigation that he didn’t have the Corvette in his possession any longer.

“(Warman) was unwilling to cooperate and tell us where the car was at,” said Sergeant Bill Lynch of the Bristol Police Department.

Now Stull has decided to have a little “hair of the dog that bit him,” so to speak. He’s put another listing on Craigslist offering a $500 cash reward to anyone who can lead him to his car-- and he won’t ask any questions.

Stull had the top bid on the car three years ago at a charity event. His wife “kept nudging me, saying, 'Bid higher, bid higher, bid higher,’ ” Stull said.

Here’s hoping someone can bring Stull and his Corvette back together.

After all, he says, “Love convertibles, and a Corvette; I love Corvettes.”

Source:
ABC57.com
Photo Credit: Corvettes.nl

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