2012 C6 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport
"The Vette" Build #10818
This page and associated links are dedicated to my new 2012 Corvette Grand Sport Coupe. As with the 2005 Corvette, I chose "The Vette" to be the topic of this page because of my continued passion for the Corvette and GM. It still has, in my opinion, the most aggressive styling ever seen on a Corvette. After seeing some early 'renditions' of the upcoming C7 I decided that this was the body style for me. It is a very refined sports car that definitely fits the definition of American muscle! The horsepower generated from the all aluminum 6.2 liter LS3 V8 motor is fantastic. From the factory it was rated at 430hp at the flywheel and 424 lb/ft of torque. With the addition of the NPP dual-mode exhaust option that hp rating moves up slightly to 436 at the flywheel and 428 lb/ft of torque! The aftermarket is still available for this vehicle allowing you the opportunity to really change the look and performance to suit your tastes, as I plan to do. I have tried to include some information that other Corvette enthusiasts would find interesting.
History
From the first Corvette produced in 1953 this car has had a certain following. With each new design(denoted as C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7 and the current C8) this car has been improved and refined. Since my desire to own a new Corvette started to manifest itself in the very early '90s I have always wanted the opportunity to own a new, never been driven, custom ordered Vette. That dream was not possible until very recently so, in 2007, I managed to find a very nice 2005 Victory Red beauty and decided that this was going to be my first Corvette. That car can been seen at the page linked on the left.
Life changes and so do our fortunes. Some things fell into place and we were able to actually start looking seriously at purchasing my new Corvette. We began shopping dealer inventories but just could not find the right car. I had a picture in my mind of exactly how my car would look and be equipped, so ordering was the way to go. We went to our local Chevy dealership and spec'd out MY exact car. We received a very fair offer on our current 2005, agreed on a price for the new car, placed a deposit, and started the waiting process. Ah yes, the waiting process. Seems that GM and our dealership had a difference of opinion on the timing/availability of our order. They worked that out and, after 19 days of tense waiting, our car was accepted by Bowling Green and the process was officially underway. We received official confirmation on March 15, and before we knew it, were told that the car would start down the production line on April 17th and reach completion late on April 19th! We had specified museum delivery on the order and, on May 4th, 2012 we were handed the fobs to our brand new, never been driven, custom ordered Corvette at the National Corvette Museum!
Car Specifics
"The Vette" came equipped with an all aluminum 6.2 liter LS3 V8(376 cu. in.) This motor is an overhead valve, sequential fuel injection beast that sports a 10.7:1 compression ratio and is rated at 430 hp(@ 5900rpm) and 424 lb-ft of torque(@ 4600 rpm). This awesome power plant is mated to a 6-speed automatic gearbox with paddle shift gear selection. It also came with electronic traction control, active handling, speed sensitive magnetic power assisted rack-and-pinion steering, double wishbone suspension, six piston calipers with 14" vented discs up front, 13.5" discs and four piston calipers out back. To aid the braking Bosch supplied the four-channel anti-lock braking system. All this rides on stock 18x9.5 front and 19x12 Competition Gray five spoke wheels shod with high performance 275/35-ZR18 skins(front) and 325/30-ZR19's(rear). This vehicle was also equipped with the Z16 Performance Package (previously the Z51 pkg) which includes different springs, shocks, larger sway bars and larger cross-drilled rotors. Also included with the Z16 option are power steering and transmission fluid coolers. It also has 2.73 rear gears for added punch off the line! This vehicle was rated from the factory at 0-60 in 3.95 seconds. "The Vette" weighs in at 3,330 lbs.
Inside, this true American sports car came ready to play in comfort. The power bucket seats(8-way power driver and passenger) are adorned in ebony leather. We specified the 4LT and Heritage package options so our seats are two-toned ebony/dark titanium suede center inserts and custom "Grand Sport" logos stitched into the headrests. The gauges are black faced with white lettering and white backlighting, there are machine-drilled pedals, and a driver's information center in the gauge cluster. The car includes a HUD(heads up display) with three viewing modes for cruising down the highway and a premium Bose stereo system with 9 speakers and an in-dash cd player to keep the tunes flowing. Also included in the head unit is a navigation system. There are many, many more features that I simply don't have space to to talk about.
Released production numbers for this beautiful automobile are as follows: Total units = 11,647
Of the total units produced for 2012, Coupes made up the largest portion at 7,876 units, Convertibles accounted for 2,889 units, and ZO6/ZR1 totaled 882 units. Arctic White was the fourth most popular color at 1,230 vehicles produced. Of that 1,230 Arctic White vehicles, 214 were Grand Sports. From information supplied to me by the Corvette Museum it would appear that, considering all options, our Grand Sport was one of only 24 built. An exact number has not been determined but, based on conversations with everyone I can get in touch with, it is quite possible that our car may be the only one equipped as is...wow!
Our Arctic White Grand Sport is beautiful. In my opinion, the exterior/interior color combination, complimented by the Competition Gray wheels and Cyber Gray headlight buckets give this car a classy yet aggressive appearance. We could not be any more pleased with our purchase!!!!!