OPTIMA Presents the 14 Best Corvettes of the Weeks in 2014

Over the course of 2014, I’ve written 44 “Corvette of the Week” features. With all these Corvettes of the weeks, I have shared with you pieces of the love affair for America’s sports car. After writing what amounts to 44 short love stories, I’ve come to learn an important lesson: ‘Vette lovers are the most passionate people on the planet.

You might think Ferrari fans are the most passionate car-loving group on Earth, but I don’t think that’s the case.

When I drove the Ferrari 458 Italia in September, I experienced why Ferraris are the most passionately built cars around, but that passion doesn’t translate to the fans of that brand.

In my reality, Ferraris are so passionate that they sweat romance novels out of their paint. Unfortunately, that passion ends at the cars. Ferrari fans are people who typically connect to the Italian marque with only their minds and not their hearts.

For this reason, Ferrari fans are the nerds of the auto enthusiast world. They like to geek out to their favorite cars, usually by purchasing really tasteless merchandise.

Corvette fans are the soap opera characters of the auto enthusiast world. Just look at the most popular threads on Corvette Forum, and you’ll find more drama and passion than network television could ever handle.

All the C7 Z06 critics on this site, for instance, are sharp-tongued thanks to their love for the brand.

You know how it stings 100 times more when someone close to you hurts your feelings as opposed to when an acquaintance hurts you?

When the new 2015 Z06 hurt our feelings by having a conservative ECU and losing to the Viper TA, the most passionate among us took it personally, partially because we’re crazy, but mostly because Corvette love takes up a lot of space in our hearts.

That’s a lot of space in the heart for housing anger when the Corvette does something that fails to meet our expectations, and that’s when we get crazy.

And yet, when a Ferrari burns up on the side of a road or a test track, the car’s fans barely bat an eye. That’s because, a) it’s expected, and b) something you like is allowed to make mistakes — something you worship isn’t. ‘Vette fans worship Corvettes.

Of course, there are varying levels of ‘Vette worship. Most of the 14 cars featured in this roundup represent the healthier side of that love for the quintessential American sports car.

However …

… with cars like the Dragon ‘Vette, and undoubtedly the Darth Vader C5, things step into the dark side.

Click on any of the images in this post to read more about these greatest Corvettes of their respective weeks.

Discuss these Corvettes of the weeks on the forum. >>

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