This week the much anticipated Reveal of the Z06 version of the mid-engine Corvette took place on Tuesday morning at 9:00 AM at the Peterson Automobile Museum in Los Angeles. Nan and I watched the 42 minute recorded video and the panel discussion that followed. Wow! What a car!
Don and I figured that we needed to go check this car out for ourselves in person. Both of us had been to the famous Peterson Museum before and, since it is only about 100 miles away, we decided to drive up on Wednesday morning in his C7 Stingray to capture all the excitement.
We expected a mob of people to be there, so we left early from Carlsbad, arriving just as the museum opened its doors at 10:00 AM. When we entered the lobby we were astonished to find ourselves in a nearly empty building.
We raced to the second floor and quickly found the site of the Reveal. There, sitting on the same pedestal as in the Reveal program, was the red Z06 convertible.
(If you missed the Reveal, you can see a replay here: C8 Z06 Reveal )
Other than three docents (who kept telling us, "Don't touch the car!"), there were just a handful of Corvette fanatics in the large room. We found the beautiful Z06 convertible pictured above, a cut-away display of the Z06 frame, and another cut-away of the new LT6 twin overhead cam engine. For two hours we had all the Z06 beauty and mechanicals that we could handle.
We loved the C8 to begin with, but what the Corvette engineers have done with the Z06 is truly exceptional. From every angle, the car is just magical.
I'm a big fan of the side "wishbone", a feature needed to feed lots of air to the mid-engine power plant.
And I'm happy that for the Z06 they have gone with the centered four exhaust pipes -- similar to our C7 Z06.
While the exterior is captivating, the interior is inviting.
Don and I are always interested in the engine and mechanical parts of the car, and the Reveal provided plenty of material for even the most inquisitive enthusiast. The LT6 engine is unlike any Chevy small block we have ever seen! We poured all over the cut-away engine pondering its unique design.
Here is a great article describing the LT6 engine (thank you, Gary Rodemeyer, for sending this to me!):
LT6 Engine Article from Hagerty
If ever a passenger car's frame resembled that of a race car -- this is it. We marveled at all the detail of each cast piece and the creative and light-weight ways that the car was reinforced to be able to take all the forces of racing. Don told me that the tight packaging of the Z06 reminded him of the time he saw the F18 fighter up close with a see-through skin -- his memory was that, ". . . there wasn't enough spare room to put a pack of cigarettes anywhere in the aircraft!".
Since we were already at the museum, we went to the other floors to see the many displays. Our favorite was the James Bond display -- showcasing the cars, boats, airplanes, and submarine-car from the many movies. No one has ever seen so many crashed Aston Martins in a single room. If you are up in LA sometime soon, this is a must-see!
Before we headed home, we went back for a last look at the Z06.
I think someone I know really needs this car! Orders can be placed in the Summer of 2022 -- it is going to be difficult waiting that long!
