2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray – Star Spangled Banger

This new roadster is the feel good hit of the year

The arrival of a convertible version of the Corvette is as inevitable as the accompanying gibes about the midlife crises of its buyers. And so the cycle continues with this seventh-generation drop top, unveiled at the tony Geneva motor show.

On average, 25 percent of Corvettes sold in a given year are convertibles (actually "roadsters," by our reckoning), making it a healthy business in a market where barely more than1 percent of new cars are drop tops. Chevrolet predicts that when the C7 convertible hits late this year, it will again account for about a quarter of Corvette sales. But even that figure doesn't get at the importance of the open-top version to the Corvette mystique or, for that matter, the American one.

2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray

The Corvette was conceived as an open runabout with flamboyant rocket-era plumage. And it was, of course, available only with an automatic transmission, still the choice of about 8o percent of Corvette convertible buyers. High-performance gear, in the form of manual transmissions and fuel-injected V-8s, would find its way into Corvettes in pretty short order, but it wasn't until 1963, a decade after the introduction of the model line, that the Corvette was offered in a fixed-roof version, in the form of the split-window Sting Ray coupe.

For a decade during the darkest days of the Corvette (and American cars in general), it was offered without a convertible version. But that was an era in which the iconic Corvette was the flaming-orange, flaky chancre that appeared in Corvette Summer. Let's move on, shall we?

Like its targa top brother that will hit the market a few months prior, this new convertible is an altogether more stern-looking thing with hard, faceted surfaces and a glowering face. In fact, it's so severe and technical looking that GM's design staff prefers to always show the vehicle in gray. Some bright red paint should enliven the mood a bit.

For a decade during the darkest days of the Corvette (and American cars in general), it was offered without a convertible version.

As with the last couple of generations of Corvette, the C7 is roughly the shape of an arrowhead. The fat end of the arrowhead on C5 and C6 Corvettes was, indeed fat. With the C7, Chevrolet minimizes the fatback effect with some sculpting of the trunk lid. A sharp ridge begins at the peak of the nose, runs up the front fenders, dips down to hug the tops of the doors, and tapers over the trunk lid toward the rear spoiler. A second crease rises from the deck lid about six inches forward of the tail and about an inch outboard of the main ridge, continuing over the top of the spoiler. A shallow, hard-edged channel, an echo of the one that runs through the coupe's roof panel, runs down the center of the trunk lid. Compared with the broad, flat acreage of the last couple of Corvette convertible rears, the C7's visually complex tail appears less enormous. As Chevy did on previous Corvette convertibles, it molded subtle humps into the top cover positioned directly behind the seats.

The top itself is a heavily padded three layer affair that stretches smoothly over the cabin and, says Chevy, acts as a better sound barrier than the old five-ply top. Our photo car's top was color- matched to the caramel-shaded leather of the interior. The top color, called Kalahari and intended to be a lovely tan hue, appeared to be roughly the shade of a Band-Aid. The top also will be offered in black, gray, or blue.

Our photo car's top was color- matched to the caramel-shaded leather of the interior.

All tops will be fully power operated. Owners needn't even unlatch the top from the windshield header, a hardship owners of C6 convertibles were forced to bear. In fact, drivers needn't even be in the car to operate the top; it can be lowered via the remote. However, it cannot be raised remotely. This, we presume, is to prevent a very inattentive person from hurting someone who knows a personal-injury lawyer.

Of course, since the convertible gets the same interior as the newly designed coupe, spending time inside the vehicle is not at all unpleasant. The design is more cohesive than before, and nowhere inside is there any of the C6's oddly decorated hard plastic. And the infotainment system no longer looks like an afterthought. The seats, a literal and figurative sore spot on the last car, are-at least on our ZSi-level photo car-replaced by leather-clad "competition sport" seats with heavy side bolstering.

According to Chevrolet, the Corvette convertible is now chock-full of flits, too. Here the company is referring to the measure of brightness of the instrument-panel screen and the center Navitainment screen. A nit, if you didn’t know, is one candela per square meter (cd/rn2). The point is: The higher the number of nits, the brighter the screen. Chevrolet claims that, at 6o nits for the instrument panel and 1000 nits for the nay screen, the Corvette’s are some of the Nittiest in the industry. So, compared with the C6’s lame, 250-nit nay screen, the C7’s multiple screens should be much less likely to wash out in direct sunlight.

There’s a reason we’ve gone this deep into the story before mentioning anything about the convertible’s structure, chassis, or powertrain. That’s because they’re essentially identical to the coupe’s. Unlike the C6 convertible’s steel space frame, the new convertible’s frame rails are constructed of an assemblage of aluminum castings, extrusions, and hydro formed tubes, exactly as on the C7 coupe. The only changes Chevy made to the structure were to accommodate the convertible top and associated motors, but nothing has been added in terms of structural bracing. Thus, there’s no increase in the weight of the structure.

There’s a reason we’ve gone this deep into the story before mentioning anything about the convertible’s structure, chassis, or powertrain.

As in the coupe, the convertible’s 6.z- liter LTi V-8 makes a still-estimated 450 horsepower and 450 pound-feet of torque, and is paired with either a Tremec TR6o7o seven-speed manual with rev matching or, more commonly, a Hydra-Matic 6L80 six- speed automatic with paddle-shifting. The convertible carries the same control-arm front and rear suspensions with the familiar transverse composite springs, and the same magneto rheological shocks are optional on versions. Even the convertible’s suspension tune is identical to the coupe’s, Chevy says. The convertible also wears the coupe’s big Brembo brakes and Michelin Pilot Super Sports tires. And, although it lacks the Zi coupe’s top-of-the-rear-fender ai r intakes, the Z51 convertible still comes with trans mission and differential coolers. They are just fed air from underneath the car.

Prices haven’t been announced, but we anticipate the C6’s convertible price premium of $5,000 over the coupe will remain for the C7. How much is a C7 coupe? Don’t know that, either, but if you figure on forking over at least $57,500 for the convertible, you’re probably close.