Op-Ed: The C7 Corvette is One of the All-Time Great Grand Touring Cars

Able to carry two people in speed, style, and comfort, the Corvette C7 is one of the all-time great grand touring cars.

When the last C7 Corvette rolled off the assembly line in Bowling Green, KY, it was the end of an era. Not just for the C7, or the end of the front-engine Corvette. It was also the end of one of the last great grand touring cars.

By definition, a grand touring car is not a pure sports car in the classic sense. It’s a car meant to carry two people in speed, style, and comfort across great distances. A front-engine car, typically powered by a big V8 or V12. Originally a European concept popularized by manufacturers like Aston Martin, Jaguar, and Ferrari to fund their racing programs. These companies realized they could sell tamed versions of their race cars to wealthy clients. People wanted a car related to one that won Le Mans or competed in the Mille Miglia.

In typical American fashion, Chevrolet took the GT concept and made it attainable. The Corvette exemplifies American grand touring, going back to the days Tod and Buz roamed Route 66. It doesn’t give up anything to its European competitors. If anything, you saved real money and got a better, more driveable car. Even when the Ferrari 275 was considered a used car, few people drove them regularly. Yet I know more than one person who still drives their ’60s Sting Ray almost daily.

GT cars may have originated as tamed, road versions of a company’s race cars, but they developed their own racing legacy. FIA and IMSA dedicate several classes to GTs for endurance racing. These classes include both factory and private teams from Aston Martin, Ferrari, Porsche, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz among others. One of the most dominant teams is Pratt & Miller. Their bright yellow Corvettes are stalwarts at Sebring, Daytona, and Le Mans, racking up class wins and finishing among the overall leaders. Unlike Formula One or NASCAR where all the cars look the same, GT cars closely resemble the production cars they are based on. And the GT class battles between Aston Martin, Porsche, and Corvette are epic. You won’t find a more closely fought, competitive match in motorsports.

The saying “racing improves the breed” applies to the Corvette. Lessons learned racing the C5R, C6R, and C7R improved each new Corvette model. The current C8 naturally evolved in this environment. When developing the current car, the Corvette team switched to the mid-engine layout because of the performance limitations of front-engine cars. And make no mistake, the C8 outperforms the C7 in every category but one.

Time marches toward an electric future and the decline of ICE cars. There’s talk of an electric Corvette, a car to keep the brand relevant. But the future is uncertain. As humans, our nature is to look back and away from uncertainty, at a past we imagine as a simpler, better, and more innocent time. We forget the past is flawed and complicated and faced its own flood of uncertainty. But that flood leaves high-water marks, marking the things we remember fondly.

The C7 Corvette is one of those high-water marks. Maybe I’m viewing it through a nostalgia-tinted lens. But it is the last in the long line of Corvettes that fit the classic description of a GT car. And with its blend of classic proportions and practicality, coupled with modern styling and performance, it also stands as one of the greatest all-time GT cars.

Photos: General Motors