Daily Slideshow: Is Your 'Vette a Sports Car?
Because debates are fun and never tick anyone off, we offer a handy, not-entirely-serious, point-by-point investigatory rundown of the arguments for and against your car being a real and true sports car.
1. How Many Doors Does Your 'Vette Have?
In the comment section of a different forum, one of the members argued that four-door cars are more rigid—that a longer structure with four huge holes in it is less flexible than a shorter structure with only two somewhat larger holes in it—because of the extra hoop. First of all, nope. Second, roll cages tend to firm up race cars anyway. Another forum member argued that Mitsubishi Evos and Subaru Imprezas were sports cars because they won races. Well, pickup trucks had entire dedicated race series, including road course duty, but that doesn't make them sports cars. Four-doors can be raced, and even marketed as sports cars, but that doesn't make them sports cars. Sports cars have two doors, or zero, or only one. How many doors does your Corvette have? Right.
On Point 1: Your Corvette is a sports car.
(SPOILER ALERT for those who don't like reading—it's going to go a bit like this the rest of the way out).
2. How many Seats Does Your 'Vette Have?
It's not that four-seaters, or even 2+2 GT cars, can't be sports cars, it's just that it's a lot more likely your car fits that definition if there are only two seats. When a carmaker wants to imbue their car with a sporty feel, they put two seats in then stop. When Shelby or Porsche or somebody else wants to make their coupe seem sportier, they dump the rear seats and that's exactly what you do when you go racing. In the legendary Can-Am series, the first two rules were: 1) wheels had to be covered, and 2) there had to be two seats.
On Point 2: Your Corvette is a sports car.
3. Are Corvettes Fast and Can they Handle?
Sports cars don't have to be fast. Lots of MGs aren't fast. And they don't have to handle well. Lots of, well... MGs don't handle well either. But it helps if your car lets you enter a corner with purpose and power out of it with urgency. This is the one question that could cause dissension among members—is a 150hp, live-axled 1953 Corvette with its 2-speed automatic a sports car? How about a 1979 C3 with a 175 hp California smog motor and a 3-speed auto? It's not for us to say, but when compared to other cars of their time period, they come out looking like champs. Back to the question—yes, Corvettes are very fast and they handle very well.
On Point 3: Your Corvette is a very much a sports car.
4. Do Corvettes Race?
'Vettes have raced at least since Zora Akrus-Duntov got involved and they always will. No single model of car has raced as long and as successfully, not Porsche 911s, not... really, nothing else even comes close. It's true that GM has put significant resources into some of those successes, but Corvettes have always been an excellent platform to start with and can win races just about anywhere their ground clearance will allow them to. Whenever a manufacturer, like Ford just to pick one completely at random, puts together an effort to win a race or a race series, they measure themselves against Corvette and no matter who wins, "Corvette" tends to be part of the headline.
On Point 4: Your Corvette is the definition of sports car.
5. How Compromised are Corvettes?
Not very. In years past Chevrolet put luggage racks on the trunk lids of 'Vettes for carrying stuff—and even those looked cool. Corvettes historically compromise as much or as little as their owners want to, balancing the weight of a big block with the extra horses, balancing the comfort of A/C with the weight and power draw, etc. The balancing operation today is more about price, but as price goes it's not easy to find a vehicle that offers what 'Vettes do for the same scratch. You could spend over a million on whatever the next Veyron is and you'd end up with something uglier than a Corvette that fewer people would agree is a sports car.
On Point 5: Your Corvette doesn't trade away its sports car status.
6. Do History and Malcontents agree?
As far as history goes, YES, America's Sports Car was, is, and if Chevrolet is smart, will always be a sports car. As for complainers, arguers, trolls and devil's advocates, even they would have to agree—maybe they don't like Corvettes, but no one can claim with a straight face that it isn't a sports car. In fact, Corvette sets the standard for the term.
On Point 6: Your Corvette will always be a sports car, even if it's the only example of the art still being made.
Guess we'll just have to argue about something else.
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