"Like automakers that have long relied on halo cars to draw shoppers into showrooms -- think Chevy's Corvette -- auto parts maker Dana Corp. hopes the frame it developed to underpin the souped-up Corvette Z06 will help the company win new business on mass-market models.
Dana's Z06 frame was the Toledo-based supplier's point of pride at the 2005 North American International Auto Show this month at Cobo Center.
Chuck Heine, Dana's president of technology development, said the frame needed high- tech manufacturing to handle the 500 horsepower loads the Z06 engine can generate on a structure that's 137 pounds lighter than a conventional Corvette. "
Dana pins hopes on frame :
Wednesday
Boomers driving demand for Classic Corvettes
Boomers driving demand for classic sports, muscle cars
"Demand and prices for classic muscle and sports cars from the 1950s, '60s and '70s have grown tremendously in recent years. Dealers credit baby boomers who finally have enough money to buy cars they dreamed about when they were teens.
'A lot of them are reliving their youth,' said Terry Michaelis, who sells classic Corvettes and claims to have the largest collection in the world. 'People tend to chase the year or type car they grew up with.'
Corvettes that sold for $25,000 in the mid-1980s are now fetching $100,000 and beyond. "
"Demand and prices for classic muscle and sports cars from the 1950s, '60s and '70s have grown tremendously in recent years. Dealers credit baby boomers who finally have enough money to buy cars they dreamed about when they were teens.
'A lot of them are reliving their youth,' said Terry Michaelis, who sells classic Corvettes and claims to have the largest collection in the world. 'People tend to chase the year or type car they grew up with.'
Corvettes that sold for $25,000 in the mid-1980s are now fetching $100,000 and beyond. "
Thursday
Mixed Feeling On The C6 Corvette
"The new Corvette (model year 2005) is known by those who know such things as C6 - that is, the sixth generation of Corvette. Though the car is still raked and sloe-eyed, low and ornery, the latest redesign is the least dramatic and maybe the least compelling. The changes include shorter front and rear overhangs, a slightly longer wheelbase, underbody faring at the rear, sharper creases in the composite-fiber fenders and a general lipo-sculpture around the gluteal area.
While in the eyes of experts these changes are of cosmic significance, the general public may have trouble telling at a glance a C5 from a C6. The biggest cosmetic change - and far overdue - are the fixed high-intensity headlights under polycarbonate lenses, replacing the retractable headlamps. This is not the stuff of grand ambition.
To me, the new car looks pinched and compressed, like a C5 seen through an anamorphic lens. Since the Larry Shinoda-designed split-window coupe of 1963, one of the formal properties of Corvette has been its galling, luxuriant length, a look that suggested a steaming rocket sled laying its own tracks ahead of it. Something about the C6's foreshortened proportions don't add up.
Truth is, I like the C5 better from the outside, but from the inside, I'll take the C6 every time. Instantly comfortable and accessible, the cockpit derives much of its technical jewelry from its platform-mate, the Cadillac XLR - bits like the electronic door latches, push-button start and electro-luminescent instrument panel. Our test car - a coupe - was equipped with a DVD-based navigation system ($1,400) and the 'preferred equipment group' ($4,360), including heated sport seats and a rib-rattling seven-speaker audi"
Starship Corvette: South Florida Sun-Sentinel
While in the eyes of experts these changes are of cosmic significance, the general public may have trouble telling at a glance a C5 from a C6. The biggest cosmetic change - and far overdue - are the fixed high-intensity headlights under polycarbonate lenses, replacing the retractable headlamps. This is not the stuff of grand ambition.
To me, the new car looks pinched and compressed, like a C5 seen through an anamorphic lens. Since the Larry Shinoda-designed split-window coupe of 1963, one of the formal properties of Corvette has been its galling, luxuriant length, a look that suggested a steaming rocket sled laying its own tracks ahead of it. Something about the C6's foreshortened proportions don't add up.
Truth is, I like the C5 better from the outside, but from the inside, I'll take the C6 every time. Instantly comfortable and accessible, the cockpit derives much of its technical jewelry from its platform-mate, the Cadillac XLR - bits like the electronic door latches, push-button start and electro-luminescent instrument panel. Our test car - a coupe - was equipped with a DVD-based navigation system ($1,400) and the 'preferred equipment group' ($4,360), including heated sport seats and a rib-rattling seven-speaker audi"
Starship Corvette: South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Sunday
The cars we can't wait to drive in '05
Boston.com / Cars / The cars we can't wait to drive in '05:
"CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 The new Corvette, already devoid of those horrible pop-up headlights and looking distinctly Italian, gets a major power boost with a reported 500-plus horsepower coming from a 7.0-liter V-8. No official word yet on pricing, but you can bet it will be one of the most affordable supercars, capable of approaching 190 miles per hour and faster, on the planet."
"CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 The new Corvette, already devoid of those horrible pop-up headlights and looking distinctly Italian, gets a major power boost with a reported 500-plus horsepower coming from a 7.0-liter V-8. No official word yet on pricing, but you can bet it will be one of the most affordable supercars, capable of approaching 190 miles per hour and faster, on the planet."
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