Is The C6 Corvette Z06 Having An Air-Cooled Moment?

Jack Baruth
by Jack Baruth

Alright … here’s the deal. It’s the year 2007. You can buy one of the highest-performing automobiles ever sold to the general public for a relative bargain — let’s say $70,000. It’s possible that you will pay less, particularly if you have access to an employee pricing plan. Then you can put 30,000 to 40,000 miles on said car over the course of nine years. Maybe a bit more.

When it’s time to sell that car, how much would you expect to get?

Let’s put this in perspective. Last year, Acura won the Edmunds resale-value crowd with a projected retention of 47.6 percent after five years. So if you could match that, you’d be at $33,320. After five years. After nine years? Well, that’s anybody’s guess. But it would certain be less than $33,320. With that in mind, what would be a realistic number to get if you just tossed the thing on eBay? Fifteen grand? Twenty? Would you believe… between $38,000 and $45,000?

If you’re currently the owner of a sixth-generation Corvette Z06, the above scenario is no dream.

About two months ago, the current Mrs. Baruth decided that she wanted a Corvette Grand Sport to sit in the driveway (let’s be real, the storage unit) next to her Fiesta ST and her MX-5 Cup car. Naturally, I was in favor of this purchase. I did, however, have a few concerns. The first was Danger Girl’s habit of tossing cars off the racing surface at remarkable speeds. It seemed like a risky move to drop $70,000 on a new car and then immediately rub it against some Armco somewhere.

My second concern was more bench-racy, so to speak: How would a C7 Corvette Grand Sport stack up against a slightly-used C6 Z06? On paper, it’s not much of a fight; the old car has about 10-percent more power to push about 12-percent less weight. In practice, it’s not that simple. The sixth-generation Z06 can be a bit frightful at the ragged edge, in marked contrast to the C7 Grand Sport, which is thoroughly comfortable at the proverbial limit. The question becomes: Given the massive price difference between a C6 Z06 and a C7 Grand Sport, how much better could you make the former?

Here’s the problem: the price difference ain’t that massive. It’s possible to get a well-equipped 2LT Grand Sport for sixty grand flat from the GM dealer of your choice. A five-year-old Z06, on the other hand … well, that’s a $50,000 car. With no warranty and a slightly iffy ownership history. If you check the completed-auction listings on eBay, you’ll see that some of them are going out the door for $55,000.

I called a couple of specialty Corvette retailers in the Midwest to talk about what seemed to me like a rather outrageous retained-value percentage. Nobody wanted to go on record about it, but the sentiment I heard from just about everybody was this: “You have guys who dumped their C6es to get in line for a C7 Z06 … and some of ’em are coming back.” This rising tide isn’t lifting the boat for Corvette ZR1 pricing, by the way. In fact, good final-model-year Z07 Carbon Coupes are now worth more than pretty much any ZR1 out there, even though all a Z07 Carbon Coupe really amounts to is a ZR1 without the blower.

As noted in the opening paragraphs, the rebound in Z06 values is even affecting the 2008 models, which are now selling in the $40,000 range for good, mid-mileage examples. Last year, some of these cars were no-sales at $29,995. Now the owners are naming their price and getting it. Inventories are low for the C6 Z06 pretty much everywhere you look.

What’s going on here? Is the new Z06 really as much of a disappointment as I predicted a few years ago? From my perspective, the answer is a qualified “not really.” Yes, the car is heavy, and yes it has thermal management issues. But the C6 Z06 wasn’t exactly free from problems itself. The LS7 engine can be fragile and the money you need to spend to ensure its long life is nontrivial. So I don’t think this is entirely about the empirical merits of either vehicle.

A better way to look at it: this is the air-cooled effect at work. We’re all familiar with the outrageous increase in the value of pretty much every Porsche 911 made prior to 1999. I could easily sell my ’95 for more than twice what I paid for it back in 2001, which is the kind of thing that both gratifies and disturbs me. It’s not that the new Porsches are junk, although some of them can veer perilously close to meriting the sobriquet. It’s more that they’re completely charmless products that lack pretty much all of the good and bad qualities that made the aircooled cars such characterful ownership experiences.

The C7 Corvette is a damned good car no matter how you spec it out. But I can see how a die-hard fan of the marque might be just a little frustrated with how quiet, competent, and heavy it truly is. The C6 Z06 offers more drama in a lighter, more homespun-feeling package. If that’s what “Corvette” means to you, then you’re not going to be easily satisfied with the new model, even if it is slightly faster in a straight line.

I don’t think this state of affairs will resolve any time soon. In fact, future generations might revere the last of the normally aspirated Z06es the same way their Porsche-owning pals worship the 993 Carrera 2S. So I’d rate the sixth-gen super-Vette a solid “buy and hold.” And from that, you might well conclude that Danger Girl has a Z07 Carbon Coupe on the way to Powell, Ohio. You’d be wrong, but that’s a story for another time.

Jack Baruth
Jack Baruth

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  • Tjh8402 Tjh8402 on Nov 24, 2016

    I wonder how much the engine is playing a role in this? The LS7 is an incredible achievement. there's nothing quite like a big V8, and one as high revving as the LS7 is unbelievable. It's also special for those in the know, who are aware of the connection between this powerplant and the now rightfully legendary Corvette GT1 Le Mans cars. That it was replaced by a supercharged small block, which will never match it sound, feel, and charisma no matter how much power, has probably only added to its allure. See also the aforementioned drop in values for ZR1s. The racing connection for the new Z06 has also weakened thanks to the LT4 being built on the standard small block assembly line alongside it's more pedestrian brethren. The LS7 was hand built at GM's race engine factory alongside NASCAR, Indycar, and NHRA race motors as well as its Le Mans cousins. It's not that hard for most tuners or automotive engineers to put a supercharger on an engine and make it ludicrously powerful, but ultimately its no dramatic difference in feel or sound to the normal Vette (unless you really love that blower whine). A racebred and built hand crafted pushrod V8 over 400 cubic inches that still revs to 7000 rpm is a truly special achievement. That it was put in the lightweight stripped down most elemental Vette you could find only adds to it.

  • Burgersandbeer Burgersandbeer on Nov 25, 2016

    Interesting read, though I'm only commenting to recommend following the link to Danger Girl's MX-5 Cup Car. Anyone who wants something might stop making excuses and start taking action after reading that. Damn.

  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
  • ToolGuy Ford is good at drifting all right... 😉
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