Description
America must once have been a beautiful country, because a car like the Corvette Stingray can only be built by happy people who know how to have fun. There is the exterior, which combines flowing shapes with razor-sharp edges to create a harmonious brutality. A chrome-plated windscreen frame at such an oblique angle that it looks as if the wind has bent the windscreen backwards. That could well be the case, the way the Vette comes off. The headlights are turned away in favour of aerodynamics and the smooth shape. In the interior, six analogue round instruments with alarm-red pointers jostle for space behind a three-spoke aluminium steering wheel. Because America invented show business, not everything here is as it seems. The wooden rim of the steering wheel is made of America's favourite material, plastic. But it looks cool and has deep grooves on the back. That's a good thing, because then the steering wheel won't slip through your fingers when your hands are sweaty - and you'll get wet hands. Promise... No fewer than 36 solid aluminium spokes per wheel, 144 in total, keep the rim bed in shape when around 360 Newton metres of torque flood the rear axle. The central locking mechanism of the rims, which feels half a centimetre heavy, is reminiscent of the tyre slashers on Bond's Aston Martin DB5. In practice, that would probably work too. However, we haven't tried it out yet due to the deep black gloss paint. One of the best moments you can experience in a Corvette Stingray is starting the three hundred and twenty-seven cubic inch cast iron V8. When the engine starts, the other cars duck away like little animals in the forest. Acoustically, you'll beat every Ferrari. Sports exhaust in an AMG? Flap exhaust in a 911? All child's play. The roar and roar of the Stingray, which exhales unplugged through side pipes with a diameter the size of a bazooka, is the primal scream of the combustion engine against the woke boredom of an electric car with a cargo bike in the boot. Oil has never been burned more lustfully - and we haven't even stepped on the accelerator properly yet... There have been passengers who have got out of the car after starting it up with earwax running out and their trousers full. Well, it separates the men from the boys. As befits a classic sports car, all the power is not counterbalanced by boring control units. Here, four gears are engaged and changed by hand via a solid aluminium lever with an engraved billiard ball on top - you decide when, not the algorithms of some programmed paternalistic software. Now the critics are coming back and saying "Oh, Amiauto, they all have no suspension, they can only drive fast in a straight line." That's right, the Stingray is damn fast in a straight line. So fast that you can take a cigarette break before the first bend before your opponent reappears on the horizon. But beware, even in the digital age, stupidity is still punished in analogue form. Common sense still does the work of ABS, ESP and launch control. This is a prerequisite for riding this cruise missile. The Chevrolet Corvette Stingray C2 offered here was selected by a knowledgeable German Stingray fan with professional support in the USA in 2015. The Corvette library from which his literally exquisite expertise comes is included. After an intensive search, he bought this fully restored 2002/ 2003 convertible with the bodywork removed ("frame off") in 2015. In Germany, the Vette was optimised in technical areas such as ignition, carburettor, tyres, etc. and TÜV approved. The Corvette has been registered to its first owner in Germany with an H licence plate since 2016. After 9 years of happy ownership, we can now pass it on on his behalf. € 79, 900 (sale on behalf of customer)
