- It's finally summer here in Wisconsin
55 degrees, okay the roof is open,
and there's still some small overbearing worry
that we may actually have to do this social distancing
for like another couple, two, three months,
but that does mean that you can grind in Warzone
to get your first dub, so you can brag about it
for weeks, which by the way,
got a duo 16 kill dub in Warzone against quads.
Okay I'll set a three man team 24 kills no big deal.
It was a pretty big deal actually.
And just like all things, when we're bored
we start to look at things that we traditionally
wouldn't, like just how affordable are
plane tickets to Canada right now?
I mean why not, why wouldn't you check?
How much is a 50 pound bag of Snickers?
And is it time to finally buy a muscle car?
The world is changing, and interests in domestics,
particularly Corvettes, have skyrocketed
in terms of interest in ownership.
Except, instead of people with New Balances
and tucked in t-shirts with jean shorts
owning these things, we've got Yeezy wearing
Thrasher shirt ownin', Weeb sticker slappin'
car enthusiasts picking up these angels, alright?
I'm Alex, Alex.FI on Instagram
and today we're gonna be talking about the car
that has grown in popularity on Tik Tok okay?
The car that has been the true underdog
in the younger enthusiasts community.
A platform which by and large
is a banging car to own, and looking at
smiles per gallon is probably one of the
best cars that you can buy in the
history of the world, and is probably
better in terms of performance
than anything else out there for like under $20000.
Ladies and gentlemen, today we're gonna be talking
about you wanting to own a 1997 or newer
Chevrol-ette Corvette.
(intense hiphop music)
And in case you're wondering why
the wheels aren't behind me, well spoiler alert
(knee slapping) (awkward laughing)
I don't even need to explain it.
You probably already know.
But hey, if this is your first time
jumping into one of these videos, hello!
Don't forget to subscribe, and if you haven't yet
be sure to check us out over at fitmentindustries.com
if you're looking for after market
wheels, tires, or suspension.
We promise that if you do subscribe,
you won't be disappointed.
And, just so that you do know,
we also have a giveaway with Air Lift Performance
going on right now.
You can pick up one of these t-shirts,
a sweatshirt, or a windbreaker.
Every $5 gets you automatic
entry in to win a 3P Performance Kit.
My brain's moving, my hands are shaking.
I just had coffee, I'd show you
my cup, it's got cats on it.
Anyway, the Corvette has a massive
history behind it, starting back in 1951
with Harley Earl and his eventual love affair
with a Jaguar, not jaguar, that's kinda weird.
But the XK120 which sparked his
desire to create a dream car for GM
at the same time, but just a wee bit
more affordable and reliable.
The Chevrolet Corvette would initially be birthed after
an agile ship known as the EX122, okay?
Production begins and the Corvette
gains the attention of automotive enthusiasts
year over year, and pretty much
without truly acknowledging it
Chevy began creating a sports car.
Years would pass and Chevy would expand upon what
made a Corvette a Corvette, okay?
They had a big ol' V8 up to a 283 cubic inches in the 57.
They updated the cooling and had a sharper body style.
Chevy would jump into the game even further
when they came out with the second generation Corvette
that took everything that made the
European cars of that time desirable
in the United States, and added everything
that made a Corvette such a banger of a car in the states.
And the reason the C2 Corvette is such
a desired car is because it's probably, like,
the most beautiful car ever made.
Split windows, ZO6 special edition, or grand sport,
it doesn't matter, they're all beautiful.
But let's fast forward a few decades over to the C5 Corvette
Now if you wanna talk about the C2 to the C4
we can do that, but in another episode
because this is a big ol' car, alright?
- It's the next 'vette.
(intense rock music)
- Corvettes got more vacuum lines over the years,
and that's pretty much the Spark Notes for you.
But anyway, they started racing more
competitively, and when they jumped into the C5
they were really nothing to fudge with.
And in 1997, this beautiful green earth
got introduced to the C5 platform
and people were watching Titanic for
like the seventh time in theaters at the
same time the C5 Corvette was born,
it was just a good time back then.
Featuring a revised motor placement
which was a new aluminum block, AKA
the godsend motor of the LS1, the
Corvette list of weaknesses started
to not look so plentiful, which a lot of people
criticized earlier generations of Corvettes having.
Dave Hill, the chief engineer for the C5,
spent quite a few couple minutes
making the con lists as short as possible
because of how much flack the previous
generation of Corvettes were getting.
Mostly because it was still Chevy, you know?
It's still GM, they had some interior plastic bits
that just kinda started randomly
shaking loose, vacuum lines all over this place,
I mean typical Corvette things.
Now the C5 Corvette became a staple for the
domestic car sports car world, and was
revolutionary for the car, at the price, at the time.
Drive by wire throttle, variable effect steering,
and even the LS1 and the eventual LS6
bump up in the ZO6, kicked out the
numbers that made these even super cars
at the same time a little bit nervous.
Of course, just like all things GM,
the car was massively produced
and had multiple different trims,
like the ZO6, the ZR1, the Z16
which is a weird one, and a bunch of other ones.
Now, even with the somewhat dated styling,
the car was and still is considered
likely one of the best American sports cars
out there that does a pretty decent job at almost
everything, without being killer at one single point.
You know, it's like, it's gotten good at
all of 'em, but not really fantastic in one.
All right, it has good handling, good speed,
a reliable motor and a decent transmission to boot,
which makes it a pretty fun car
to swing around the hillsides.
Now, you still have to get over the fact
that the interior kind of feels like
your grandmother's house back in 1947.
But besides that it's a pretty
decent car and it did get better.
The C6 ZO6 took everything that was
great about the C5 and just locked it down.
If you had to choose between the two,
the C6 is comparably better and
noticeably so if you drove the two side by side.
Now the C6 would come in 2005
and stay for eight years of plenty different
design cues and changes, but pretty much
just wanted to keep it looking sharp
and it still looks sharp even to this day.
Now fun fact, it was the first 'Vette
with conventional headlights since 1962,
so you can use that on a Friday night drinking session.
People loved the C6, critics loved the C6,
your dad loved the C6,
everyone loved the C6.
It was one of the few times where
people would collectively come together
and agree that, damn, that was a good Chevy, alright?
But we're not here to talk about just the history
of these cars, if you want that
go to your local Burger King classic car show,
which by the way, those are very fun.
I feel like they only happen around here,
but I always enjoyed it because
people got really confused about
lowered cars, 'cause most of them were old.
Now, we're here to talk about you wanting
to own one of these bald eagle loving,
LS-happy, tire smoking, frank hot dog,
Busch Lite drinking souvenirs.
So you want a C5 or C6 Chevy Corvette.
Well, set down your Saturday for the boys flag
and pick up your favorite meme pic from Facebook,
and let's actually talk about what
it's like to own of these LS cars, all right?
Picking up a Corvette for pretty much
any reason, you'll need to understand
the following rules, they're like,
the unofficial guidelines of owning a Corvette, okay?
Number one, LS swaps now must become
a standard part of your automotive joke
dictionary, because when you get one, you
just feel obligated to do that.
Number two, Busch Lite is your new favorite beer.
No questions, don't know anything about it.
Bonus points, hams or just get out, all right?
I mean really.
And then you're probably gonna turn
into a troll machine in some way, shape,
or form, I don't get it, I don't
know why, it's just a thing.
In all honesty, the C5 and C6
- Corvettes are fantastic picks.
They feature an engine platform
that can receive tons of after market potential,
they survive just about everything,
and they aren't that expensive to own
from a reliability perspective.
Because they were massively produced
they're all over the place, they're in
junk yards, they're in the southern states,
they're in the northern states, they're everywhere.
The insurance?
It's gonna cuck ya, but I mean
for the most part it's okay.
But the world isn't just picking these
cars up anymore, because they scream
poor health care out of their exhaust.
Nowadays, the younglings are snagging up
these things too, it's very weird.
It makes me uncomfortable, a little bit.
But 'cause instead of big tires and cray wheels,
which is mostly what you'd see on Corvettes, they're now
doing like JDM styling on C5 Corvettes.
They're pairing up wheels, like, work wheels
and stretchy boy tires with BC coil overs.
Take a look out there in the gallery
and the C5 Corvette has somewhat become
the domestic version of like a Volkswagen Golf.
Capable of doing really a little bit of everything
minus the winter driving, the C5 and C6 Corvette
are very good cars to do whatever you want to them.
The C6 not so much, that's still pretty much
predominantly a performance oriented build platform.
Now, most of the newer C6 builds
are going more towards you coil over setup,
like BC coils, Velgen wheels or
Forge Star F14s, and Nitto tires, like,
buy a Corvette, you get Nitto tires,
there's no question about it, you just do it.
And if you're looking to own either generation
most Corvettes will be pretty well taken care of, because
(clearing throat)
they were owned by a middle aged dude
with tucked in t-shirts, I don't know what
you want me to tell you, it's like
they go to Home Depot on Saturdays,
they go to church on Sundays and
they take their Corvette there.
Good things to keep an eye on with
C5s though are the front lip pieces,
ensuring the key disengage recall was done,
and keeping an eye on those plastic
interior bits because this is America, bud,
and the plastics on the inside are
still a little bit rough, you gotta be okay with that.
I would argue the C6 got a little bit better,
but you're not really buying it for the
interior, you're buying it for everything else.
C6s are a little different because they utilize
a drivable chassis with a non-structured SMC.
The C6 had its components mounted
it would be like an epoxy type
bonding material, which meant damage usually resulted
in a repair of the whole panel.
Now, you'll want to keep an eye out for
mismatched panels on C6s and things like that
because if they got in an accident, they had to do that.
Air dams in this generation get all sorts of
messed up or beaten up because people underestimate
how low these cars truly are from stock.
Now, the LS2 or LS3 power plants
are pretty impassive for throwing
power and money at, and will have you
end up with lots of smiles on your face
unless you wrap it around a tree.
But for a younger enthusiast or someone that
hasn't owned a car over 400 horsepower before,
you're probably gonna wanna,
you're probably gonna have a near death experience
or you'll crash it, or you'll just
never drive it to like its full potential.
I encourage you guys, if you do pick up
anything over 400 horse, be safe!
Corvettes, they'll knock you on your butt!
The C5 Corvette was the Corvette that put
Chevy back into the massive limelight
with a car that rivaled tons of
European counterparts, and had plenty of
automotive enthusiasts holding their breath
at the nerdburgering, and at the local drag day.
The C6 was the literal car version of saying,
If the (clanking) ain't broke, don't fix it, okay?
Because you can't, it was just,
just a refined C5, but if you could
take the car further, let's do it.
Because the C6 is that C5 platform on steroids,
and looks a hell of a lot better in most peoples' eyes.
It ain't perfect because it's still
you know, it's got some, got some things to work on.
So what do you think about the Chevy Corvette?
Let us know below, and if you're
looking for after market wheels, tires,
or suspension for your newly acquired Corvette
or otherwise, be sure to check us out
over at fitmentindustries.com.
Now, there's a lot to go into the C5 and C6 Corvette,
but the biggest thing to remember
you're now required to drink Busch Lite, no questions asked.
We hope you guys enjoyed this video,
I'm Alex from Fitment Industries,
we will see you later, peace!