Underneath all the shiny/pretty it's a base steel-frame LS3-powered 'Vette, to which are fitted a mix of Z51 performance package parts (spring rates, closer ratio manual transmission gearing and shorter axle ratio on the automatic), and Z06 bits (front and rear fascias, hood, anti-roll bars, brake rotors and calipers, wider tires and the bodywork to cover them). The dry-sump oiling system from the Z06 and ZR1 is also fitted to manual Grand Sports, which means these special motors will now be hand assembled alongside their big-brother stablemates, the LS7 and LS9 engines, in Wixom Michigan, each by a single technician who will sign his or her work. The only major parts they had to tool up were the front fenders, which feature double-gill cove styling and are made of RIM plastic like the base car's, the rear quarter panels, unique new wheels, and the actual springs and dampers, which are tailored to the GS's unique weight and characteristics (they ride almost exactly like the old Z51's).
The Grand Sport replaces the Z51 in the model lineup as the highest performing "base" car, but it also allows folks to enjoy the killer wide-body stance and presence of a Z06 in a less extreme package that permits open-air motoring in either the removable-roof hatchback or convertible bodystyles. Paying for all those Z06 bits boosts the price by $4510 over the old Z51, but at $55,720 to start, it's about 20 grand cheaper than the aluminum-frame 7.0-liter Z06. Customers have evidently been clamoring for such a package so loudly that the team expects up to half of all Corvette sales to be Grand Sports.
Read the entire article here.
Visit Purifoy Chevrolet for more information on any of the 2010 Corvette models.
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