2013 Chevrolet Corvette 427

Price $75,925

The best vehicle that Chevy makes, apart from perhaps the Silverado pickup, is the Corvette. It’s fast. Stylish. Reasonably light. And despite an unfair image as a midlife crisis machine, it’s a pulse-quickening rush on a road course, with capabilities way above those of the average driver.

Problem was, if you wanted a potent Corvette convertible, the best you could do was a 6.2-liter Grand Sport with “only” 436 bhp. Now, though, Chevy is making a Corvette Convertible powered by the Z06’s fantastic 505-bhp LS7 V-8, a pushrod 7.0-liter aluminum-block powerplant that can smoke the massive rear Michelins at will, provided the traction control is switched off. With high-flow cylinder heads and a forged crankshaft, plus titanium connecting rods and intake valves, this dry-sump Z06 V-8 smacks you all the way to its 7000-rpm redline. And when the vacuum-controlled 2-mode mufflers fully open for max power, the V-8’s increased roar is impossible to miss, especially when the power top—replete with twin stripes—is down.

For the record, the 427 Convertible starts at $75,925, only $325 more than a base Z06 coupe. But the car we tested, an Arctic White 427 Convertible Collector Edition, fetches considerably more, its MSRP of $91,320 including the extensive $9500 1SC leather interior package, plus the $1925 60th Anniversary Design and Stripe package and the $2995 carbon-fiber package.

While by no means an inexpensive car, the 427 Convertible, with its Z06-style front fenders and raised carbon-fiber hood, will be available for only one year, making it special. More important, it’s structurally solid, based on the hydroformed steel chassis of the Grand Sport Convertible and not the aluminum one of the Z06. It also has Magnetic Ride Control suspension, with Tour and Sport settings. The Performance Traction Management system is not available on the car.

 At the track, this Vette hits 60 mph in 4.0 seconds and blasts through the quarter in 11.9 at 120.9 mph. That’s a bit off the Z06, but to be expected. At 3475 lb. the 427 Convertible is 165 lb. heavier than a Z06, and its Michelin Pilot Sport tires (285/35ZR-19 front, 335/25ZR-20 rear) are nowhere near as aggressive as the optional Pilot Sport Cups on the Z06 we last tested. Nevertheless, the 427 Convertible rules the roost as the fastest Corvette roadster.
There’s simply no downside to the Z06 engine, which mates exclusively to a 6-speed manual. It’s amazingly tractable, yet it comes on like a scalded lion when fed a premium diet. And when the top is down on one of those nights tailor-made for making the stars blur, the LS7’s burbly decel backfires will serve as a reminder that you are driving one very special Corvette, the last significant C6 before the C7 arrives for 2014.