I may not be a Blackhawks fan, but how awesome is this thing? Ditch the vaguely offensive Native American motif with 5,000 Maple Leafs and this just might be something I'd stuff in the corner of my 18-car hypothetical garage as a laugh. Would I drive it? Well, no, it's a little embarassing (and a Camaro convertible). It would be like going to the grocery store wearing a jersey ... and a hat, shorts, sneakers, foam finger, ear ring and tattoo.
But yes, totally awesome. I mean, how cool is that grille? You could put that on your car alone and nobody would really know what the holes were until you got up close. Ditto the Chevy badge. The clear hockey puck shifter is also just brilliant and only slightly less ergonomic than the Camaro's actual shifter.
In total, however, this is still less ridiculous than this.
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Categories: Chevrolet,Chicago Auto Show
Dealing with the insurance company is any classic car owner's worst nightmare. If you've got your ducks in a row, you've had your baby lovingly appraised at every turn of the wrench. If you're slacking on that -- or don't know how reputable your appraiser is -- every time you leave it alone or drive on a public road, the "what ifs" start creeping in.
The insurance companies get this, too. State farm has come up with this innovative Jekyll/Hyde way to show off their commitment to the classics market. "...the car is being used to educate State Farm field agents on the special challenges of assigning proper values to collector cars and owner-modified vehicles. This knowledge enables the agents to accurately assess value and correctly underwrite such special-case vehicles."
On the driver side, this '68 Chevy Camaro RS Convertible is built to high-quality factory specs. The passenger side is full of aftermarket good, custom body work, and "deliberately less-exacting craftsmanship."
State Farm will be sending the two-faced Camaro to various auto shows including the Chicago auto show which is now open to the public.
Oh, and in case you were afraid that they'd ruined a perfectly good car, this particular Camaro came in as a total loss due to fire and the company's Vehicle Research Facility decided this could be a fun project.
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Categories: Chevrolet,Miscellaneous,Tuners and Modifications
"I sleep in a racecar bed!" "I sleep in a big bed with my wife."
This is the the newest bed from Step2 and is part of their new Corvette Collection. I want it. unfortunately, this is a toddler bed which can be converted into a twin. The base carbed costs $229 and has silver rims, for $234 you can get it with real working lights. Along with the bed are a few other Corvette-specific kids room things like a $109 tool-chest style dresser, a Corvette Storage chest and a Corvette Toy Box.
I want it bad. It's debuting at the 2012 NYC Toy Fair and should be on sale during the summer of 2012.
(ChildMode)
Categories: Chevrolet,Miscellaneous
What better way to promote your latest tuner package for the Corvette ZR1 than to get one of the fastest men (?) in America to drive it with commitment? And so John Hennessey coaxed the American Stig behind the wheel of HPE's ZR750 Corvette, which with a claimed 755 hp, a claimed 728 lb-ft of torque and enough Michelin Pilot Sport Cup rubber to handle all that, was quick enough to set a new lap record at the Top Gear USA test track.
An extended, higher-production-value cut of this hand-held footage is undoubtedly forthcoming when the new TG season starts back up on the History Channel next week.
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Categories: Celebrities,Chevrolet,Sports Cars,Tuners and Modifications
The band OK Go is known mostly for its crazy music videos and not necessarily the music behind them. Remember the video with the treadmills? Yeah you do. Remember the song behind it? Probably not.
They've ditched the gym equipment for a 2012 Chevy Sonic this time. Says the description, "Ok Go set up over 1,000 instruments over two miles of desert outside Los Angeles. A Chevy Sonic was outfitted with retractable pneumatic arms designed to play the instruments, and the band recorded this version of Needing/Getting, singing as they played the instrument array with the car."
This video took four months of prep and four days of shooting. I'm surprised it didn't take longer.
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Categories: Chevrolet,Hatchbacks,Videos
I'm going to spoil the 2012 Chevy Silverado Super Bowl ad for you: Zombies do not swarm at the end only to be turned to goo by a fleet of trucks picking them off like it was Grand Theft Auto meets Shaun of the Dead.
This commercial needs a sequel now. With zombies. Lots of zombies. You know the Raptor could handle a zombie attack.
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Categories: Chevrolet,Trucks,Videos
We've already seen one ad for the 2012 Chevy Sonic. That one, "Stunt Anthem", was just a collection of web shorts we've seen before stitched together. This ad, "Joy" is a proper Super Bowl spot with anthropomorphic critters doing things that non-anthropomorphic critters don't do.
Watch it after the jump if you simply can't wait for gameday. You did remember that there's a game, right? Also after the jump is a Chevy commercial promoting all of the Chevy commercials that will be in the Super Bowl. That one's got Rainn Wilson, though, so I'm going with it.
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Categories: Chevrolet,Miscellaneous,Videos
Here's Chevy's Volt ad for the 2012 Super Bowl. This one features a group of aliens exploring the advanced technology of the Chevy Volt. (Perhaps wondering why a civilization couldn't stick to one power source?)
It's better that it should be and is one of the frontrunners this year.
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Categories: Chevrolet,Hybrids,Miscellaneous,Videos
...and here's the Super Bowl ad for the 2012 Chevy Sonic. You'll remember that this one includes stunts like the Sonic's first skydive, first kickflip and the Sonic's first music video. They grow up so fast.
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Categories: Chevrolet,Hatchbacks,Videos
If you're a classic car nut, you've probably heard of Hagerty; the company is a leader in classic-car insurance and hosts the world's largest database of classic cars. Each year, the company publishes its Hagerty Hot List, a list that spotlights 10 new vehicles that its valuations experts see as having the best future collectability.
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Categories: Audi,Buick,Chevrolet,Dodge,Fiat,Ford,Jeep,Nissan,Porsche,Volkswagen
Earlier today, GM CEO Dan Akerson was in Washington testifying before congress. The hearing "What Did NHTSA Know & When Did They Know It" focused on NHTSA's handling of the Volt fires and whether or not GM got special treatment from NHTSA.
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform's Staff Report titled "Government Motors: A preliminary Report on the Effects of Bailouts and Politics on the Obama Administration's Ability to Protect American Consumers" (PDF) was concerned that the delay in reporting the issue may have been intentional. That GM's bailout somehow influenced NHTSA's reporting process and caused them to treat GM with kid gloves so that the company would return to profitability. "President Obama has used this unusual blurring of public and private sector boundaries to openly tout the results of this partnership as a top accomplishement of his Administration -- creating a dynamic where the President is politically reliant on the success of GM and Chrysler...In the fact of that political dependency, it is deeply troubling that public notification of the safety concerns related to the Volt was inexplicably delayed for six months -- a period of time that also coincides with the negotiation over the 2017 - 2025 fuel economy standards," it reads.
We posted a summary of the hearing here, but I'm the type of guy who likes to see HOW people are reacting and not just what they said in response. While the House did live-stream the hearing, I prefer these two videos which can be paused, rewound etc. (Warning: Long. Extremely long.)
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Categories: Chevrolet,General Motors
We are still incredibly in the dark on this one. These are the best spy photos we've seen to date on the 2014 Chevy Silverado and we still know virtually nothing. We're starting to see how the new almost best-selling truck will shape up with a wide, flat front that almost looks like the C/K from the mid 70's (except with a bumper). We've seen retro sports cars hit the mainstream, is it time for a retro truck? All of this, of course, is pure speculation and that camo could be hiding anything.
What we do know is that this truck has to live up to an extremely high bar. The current Silverado is an exceptionally good truck -- especially with the 6.2 -- that still looks fresh. Beyond that, the Ram 1500 has coil springs and a great ride paired with a strong motor, Ford is doing good things with EcoBoost and V6 technology and Toyota, well, they still exist in the truck market. Chevy's also going to have to design this one to work with the tightening fuel-economy regulations that kick in in 2017.
See anything noteworthy we missed?
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Categories: Chevrolet,Spy Photos,Trucks
The very first 2013 Chevy Corvette Convertible 427 sold at the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction over the weekend for a staggering $600,000.
Part of this astounding price is that this "fastest and most capable convertible in Corvette's history" was sold for charity. The money went to benefit the AARP's Drive to End Hunger food relief program. For their money, the winning bidder gets the very first 427 Convertible to roll off the line. It will wear a VIN ending in 001.
By being the first off the line, it is, by default, the first convertible Corvette to get the Z06's could-be-the-best-motor-on-Earth 505-horsepower 7.0-liter V8.
As much as we all want this one driven, expect to see it up for sale again at the 2057 Barrett-Jackson auction in Space-Scottsdale with, oh, 258 miles on the odometer. When you can afford $600,000 for a Corvette, you can afford $60,000 for one that isn't a collector's item.
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Categories: Car Auctions,Chevrolet,Convertibles
If you've got a spouse and a bouncy castle full of kids, the siren call of a minivan can be a tempting one. Still, minivan ownership need not be as inevitable as some would have you believe.
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Categories: Buick,Chevrolet,Dodge,Ford,GMC,Mazda
For last year's Super Bowl, Chevy went big. The ad was a big-budget Transformers themed spectacle with cool special effects. That's what you expect, though, when the ad space costs something like all of the money.
This year, though, they've done something different. Chevy held a Route 66 Super Bowl ad contest. Out off 400 scripts and 198 films, Zach Borst from Long Island, NY has won the contest with this "Chevy Happy Grad" commercial. Borst not only gets to see his work featured during the Super Bowl, but he gets $25,000 front GM. The spot took just four hours to film.
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Categories: Chevrolet,Videos
After catching numerous C7 powertrain prototypes, this is our first look at the 2014 Chevy Corvette in, roughly, a production body. The shape, as you should have guessed by now, is an evolution of the C6 but this one appears to be wider with a smaller grill opening and, at least visually, slightly shorter. We've still got quad tail lights, but these ones are small and possibly LED. This tester is also sporting quad tail pipes that are more Jegs than production Corvette. (Also, we've mentioned it before on other pre prod cars, but these unfinished painted prototype wheels kick ass.)
Power is still coming from a 5.5-liter direct-injection, OHV V8 with variable valve timing and the transmission is a seven-speed uit. But this we know from our 2014 Corvette C7 Intelligence Report.
Update: 12 Photos of the 2014 Corvette Prototype Testing in Canada
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Categories: Chevrolet,Spy Photos
Triangle Billiards and "Big Daddy Vini a.ka. The Kustomizer" have teamed up to build this...thing. It's a "fully drive-able, one-of-a-kind 100 mph Pool Table Car."
Do you want to watch a fat guy play with a measuring tape while wearing sunglasses at night? Want to watch some customizers, sorry, Kustomizers, chop a Chevy Monte Carlo in half and add casters instead of a back end? Want a regulation pool table that's actually a car? Want a car that's little more than a pool table delivery device?
The Kustomizer knows you do and has obliged.
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Categories: Chevrolet,Tuners and Modifications
Let's get the boring one out of the way first. In 2013 all Corvettes will be available with a special 60th Anniversary package. This package includes a ZR1-style spoiler, special badges, gray brake calipers, Pearl Silver Blue stripes (optional), Arctic White paint, Blue Diamond leather interior (we're venturing into anniversary edition Trans-Am colors here) and, on the convertible, a blue top. Even if you don't opt for the 60th Anniversary package, all 2013 cars will feature special anniversary badging.
Now, onto the fun stuff. Sitting in Chevy's parts bin is the phenomenal 427 cubic-inch 7.0-liter, 505-horsepower V8. While Chevy has a history of dumping 427s into Vettes (1966 L30 and L72, LZ1 and L88 in 67, L89 in 69) unfortunately, this engine has never sat in a Corvette convertible. The 427-convertible package fixes that and adds a bunch of cool too.
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Categories: Chevrolet,Convertibles,Sports Cars,Tuners and Modifications
Right next to Chevrolet's Code 130R Concept was another design study: the Tru 140S Concept. Also aimed at the younger demographic, the Tru is a four-passenger coupe that is based on the Cruze. Besides a healthy dose of Italian exotic styling, the 140S has that magic 40 mpg highway figure as a target.
Pretty cool, we think. Should GM build it?
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Categories: Chevrolet,Detroit Auto Show,Videos
Chevrolet showed off a couple of concept cars in Detroit yesterday, both of which are aimed at a more youthful demographic. The first, named the Code 130R Concept, has an intriguing BMW 1 Series/Chevy Camaro love child vibe. As it's just a concept at this point, GM's aiming for 150 hp and 40 mpg on the highway.
James seems to be quite taken with it. What say you?
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Categories: Chevrolet,Detroit Auto Show,Videos
