Filed under: Motorsports, Coupe, Performance, Videos, Chevrolet, GM

We've taken the bone-stock 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 down the quarter-mile drag strip at Bondurant in Arizona several times. The very first pass we made netted us a time slip in the mid-12-second range. That's an impressive performance for a car wearing road-legal radial tires with zero preparation and a driver familiarizing himself with the car.

We instantly knew this car was capable of more, and wondered how long it would take before we saw our first elapsed time in the 11s. Turns out the wait is over.

General Motors itself is the perpetrator of the blazing-fast quarter mile. Chevrolet engineers took two completely stock ZL1 coupes to Milan Dragway in Michigan - one automatic and one manual - and recorded a best pass of 11.93 seconds at 116 miles per hour. That was with the automatic; the row-your-own model managed 11.96 at 117 mph.

Those looking to drag their new Camaro ZL1 ought to be pleased with this news. But even if your race track aspirations lean more toward a curvy strip of asphalt, the baddest production Camaro ever made has you covered. Consider its Nürburgring lap time of seven minutes and 41 seconds as proof of its prowess.

Likely sensing that there would be plenty of Ford fans skeptics demanding proof of its quarter mile performance, Chevrolet has released a video showing off its drag strip exploits at Milan. Scroll down below for the video, along with the related press release... and join us in waiting for a response from Ford.

*UPDATE: We've placed a call to Chevrolet inquiring whether these times were recorded on stock tires, as the press release indicates, or on drag radials. We'll add another update as soon as we hear back.

*UPDATE TWO: The times quoted in the press release - 11.93 for the auto and 11.96 for the manual - were recorded on the stock Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar G:2 tires. According to Chevrolet, the team knocked about a tenth of a second off those numbers with the Mickey Thompson drag tires.

Continue reading 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 runs quarter mile in 11.93 seconds [UPDATE]

2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 runs quarter mile in 11.93 seconds [UPDATE] originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 04 May 2012 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Sedan, Chevrolet, Australia, Rumormill

The General wants more rear-wheel drive vehicles in its lineup and has plans to bring a few more to America, including a sedan and possibly a wagon and sport utility, according to Car and Driver.

GM already sells a rear-wheel-drive Chevrolet sedan in the U.S., but only sworn law enforcement officers are allowed to drive it: The Chevrolet Caprice PPV.

Now, GM will reportedly build a civilian offshoot of the the PPV and market it as the SuperSport sedan, as we reported last week. Under the hood would be GM's 6.2-liter V-8 creating more than 400 horsepower. That SuperSport badge will also go onto Chevrolet's NASCAR entry next year.

Car and Driver reports that after the V8 SuperSport launches, a milder 300-plus-horsepower 3.6-liter V-6 model will follow. By 2015, when the rear-wheel-drive Zeta platform is improved, production of this vehicle (as well as the PPV) will come to America, thus opening up the market for more police car sales, as some local governments can only buy American-made cruisers.

Furthermore, GM is considering building a rear-wheel-drive wagon as well as a sport-utility (read: ute) model. The updated Zeta II platform can handle both vehicles, especially since the next-generation Camaro will be shifting to the new Alpha platform that will underpin the Cadillac ATS and next-gen CTS.

Really, all of these vehicles are derivatives of the Pontiac G8, which is still on sale as the Holden Commodore in other markets. It was, arguably, the best Pontiac ever made. Bringing cars, wagons and utes like that to America, under any name or brand, is an immigration policy we can fully endorse.

GM considering RWD wagon and ute for U.S. market originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 03 May 2012 13:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Aftermarket, Coupe, Performance, Chevrolet

With the 2013 Shelby GT500 putting out 662 horsepower and 631 pound-feet torque, we're guessing that more than a few owners of the new Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will be looking to even things up via the aftermarket. The speed-obsessed guys over at Lingenfelter Performance Engineering are already putting a few options on the table with a three new upgrade packages that boost the supercharged 6.2-liter V8 to anywhere from 630 to 700-plus horsepower.

Apparently, Lingenfelter was eager to prove the merits of its work, and just a couple weeks after taking delivery of an early production Camaro ZL1 had it out on the track putting down times. The test car, pushing out 720 horsepower, laid down a 10.79 second quarter mile pass at Muncie Dragway in Albany, IN, and later recorded a 202 mph top speed at Continental Tire's proving grounds earlier this week. Coincidentally, that's the same top speed that the 2013 Shelby GT500 reached during its high speed testing at the Nardo Ring in Italy last year.

You can read more about Lingenfelter's upgrade packages for the 2012 Camaro ZL1 as well as more details on the high speed test in the press release below.

*UPDATE* We have also added a video of the top speed run that you can see below.

Continue reading Lingenfelter Camaro ZL1 tops 200 mph

Lingenfelter Camaro ZL1 tops 200 mph originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 02 May 2012 17:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Classics, Coupe, Performance, Auctions, Chevrolet, GM, Celebrities

How much would you pay for a derelict '67 Chevrolet Corvette with a 427? If you said about thirty grand, you'd be in the ballpark - but that would still be all the money in the world for a barn find like this 'Vette. The owner admits the car hasn't run in over 30 years and she (the car, not the owner) clearly needs to get involved in a serious relationship with a body man.

But what if we told you that Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, the hero of the NASA Apollo program, and by all accounts a genuine good guy, was the first owner of the car? How much would that make it worth? Better hope your guess has six digits in it, because bidding on eBay Motors for this derelict but potentially highly collectible car has already shot past $120,000 - and has yet to meet the seller's reserve price.

Before readying the checkbook, however, we might suggest actually reading the seller's ALL CAPS description. It's a wonderful tale that starts with the car being provided by Rathman Chevrolet, the famed dealership that leased Corvettes to astronauts for $1 per year. A NASA employee allegedly bought the car after Armstrong turned it in and the seller claims he's hounded that NASA employee for 30 years trying to buy the Corvette, but it was only two months ago that he claimed his prize. There's a whole lot more to the story, including buying a carburetor in Texas and wanting to turn the car into a National Corvette Restorers Society "Survivor."

The bottom line, however, is that the seller is now trying to flip the Chevrolet, without much in the way of evidence that the car belonged to Armstrong, at least that's presented in the eBay Motors auction. Perhaps we're just being skeptical, but before spending over $100,000 on a car for which the majority of the purchase price is for its provenance, we'd like to see more in the way of authentication than one Protect-O-Plate photo. Since Neil Armstrong is still alive, we hope that whoever winds up restoring this Corvette does a more thorough job of vetting and presenting its history.

eBay Find of the Day: Neil Armstrong's '67 Corvette originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 02 May 2012 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Convertible, Performance, Etc., Videos, Chevrolet

There are plenty of reasons to steer clear of a cruise. We typically shy away from the idea of cramming ourselves onto a vessel filled to capacity with overweight American tourists, all waiting to descend on some unsuspecting port of call like a scourge of consumerist locusts. Now, we have another reason to pass on the big boats.

WFTV discovered a parking lot owner in Cocoa, Florida was taking customer vehicles out for little joy rides. The news crew promptly set up a little sting by renting a red Chevrolet Corvette Convertible and installing a GPS tracker. The car wasn't on the lot for six hours before Jay Nieves, the owner of Premier Parking Spot hopped in.

The news crew filmed Nieves thrashing the car on a dirt road, parking it at his home overnight, doing sizeable burnouts on the street, transporting lumber and leaving the car with the top down and driver's door wide open for extended periods of time. All told, Nieves clocked 60 miles on what he thought was a customer's car before the news crew confronted him about the situation. Nieves promptly denied everything. Scroll down for the full newscast.

Continue reading Parking lot owner's joyride in customer's car caught on film

Parking lot owner's joyride in customer's car caught on film originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 01 May 2012 16:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Chevrolet, Luxury, South Korea

As of this month, South Koreans will be able to get themselves into a Corvette bought at their local Chevrolet dealer. General Motors wants to get more people in more lands behind the wheel of its icon to offset declining sales numbers here at home, and South Korea is an easier target for the moment because of the free trade agreement recently ratified between that country and the U.S.

The 430-horsepower Coupe model goes on sale May 4 for 86.4 million South Korean won ($76,528 U.S.). While the anti-tariff provisions of the free-trade agreement haven't come into force yet, the surcharge is actually down to things like shipping and exchange rates. The Corvette will join eight other Chevy models on sale on the Asian peninsula.

Chevy Corvette headed to South Korea originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 01 May 2012 10:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Motorsports, Chevrolet, Honda

Borg-Warner makes the turbos for all three IndyCar engine suppliers, Chevrolet, Honda and Lotus, but the engine makers provide two compressor shrouds of their own design for homolgation by the series. Honda's singe-turbo engine is down on power compared to Chevrolet's and Lotus' twin-turbo motors, and Chevrolet has won all every race so far and taken all pole positions this season. Honda had a new shroud ready for the Long Beach GP and IndyCar allowed the change, but Chevy protested so Honda wasn't permitted to make the switch.

A three-man panel was selected to hear Chevy's appeal, and their verdict in favor of Honda means that the Japanese automaker was permitted to swap the shroud before this weekend's São Paulo race. The new shroud is said to be worth 10 to 15 more horsepower, but in the end, Chevrolet-powered racers managed to finish in seven of the top 10 positions.

Chevy had been contesting the ability to make an engine change at this point in the season, when there are no constant-parity clauses in the regulations and IndyCar has an agreed date in mid-June for such alterations to create parity. Honda's argument was that an agreement in 2010 that was meant to prevent turbo wars does allow the change it sought to make. The panel supported Honda's interpretation of the parity argument.

Chevy has said it will not appeal the decision. Now it's up to the Honda-powered drivers fitted with the new 0.74 A/R compressor cover to show they can do better than second place.

IndyCar rules in favor of Honda, against Chevy, in turbocharger dispute originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 30 Apr 2012 08:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Classics, Coupe, Performance, Auctions, Chevrolet

You've never seen a 1981 Yenko Camaro? Maybe that's because only 19 were made and they usually sell for well north of what a new Camaro will cost you from your local Chevrolet dealer.

One gorgeously restored, matching numbers example is up for purchase on eBay Motors for the eye-watering Buy-It-Now price of $180k. But please consider the car's claimed history and stat sheet before passing judgement.

As the legend goes, in 1969, Yenko Chevrolet of Murray, Pennsylvania took a 12-year break from modding Camaros. But low compression '80s engines got under the skin of Don Yenko, and in 1981, the tuning legend proceeded to cram a turbocharged, four-barrel, 350 V8 under the hood of the second-generation car. Horsepower on the rare Yenko is unclear, but it should definitely be way more than the stock Z-28's meager 175 hp. Reports suggest this was to be Yenko's final big build, and the owner of this eBay find says this one is the very last 1981 Yenko produced.

On top of all that, the Charlotte, North Carolina seller says that the car has fewer than 30k miles, some of which were supposedly put there by curious automotive journalists. The winning bidder will get the original build sheet, window sticker and a production intent letter signed by Don Yenko.

eBay Find of the Day: 1981 Chevrolet Camaro Yenko Turbo originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 26 Apr 2012 16:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Budget, Sedan, Marketing/Advertising, Videos, Chevrolet

Zombies are more like us than you'd imagine - although they have different reasons, they hate flossing as much as many humans. That's one of the insights gleaned from a new web commercial for the Chevrolet Cruze in which one of our "zombie overlords" shares his feelings on various topics, including The Bowtie's small car.

It's too soon for Chevrolet's new agency to have done this, and we know giving the thumbs up to an ad is a matter of opinion, but as far as we're concerned, to the agency that's responsible for this, we offer our kudos. Scroll down to check it out.

Continue reading 2012 Chevrolet Cruze not so hot with zombies

2012 Chevrolet Cruze not so hot with zombies originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Sedan, Performance, Etc., Chevrolet, Rumormill

While we're not ready to label this the return of the Pontiac G8, count us eager to get behind the wheel of whatever a "2014 Chevrolet SS Performance" turns out to be. Hopefully the appearance of this reference on the OnStar website is more than just a digital placeholder.

Chevy SS rumors have been swirling lately, with General Motors registering the "SS" trademark earlier this month, just days after our spy shooters caught what looked like a hotted-up Impala. Then there's the NASCAR situation: Chevrolet has said its new entry in the racing series will be both a new vehicle and a new nameplate. We're guessing that car isn't going to be the Spark.

So this new OnStar "leak," if it is such a thing, would point to the Chevy SS being a separate model (you can check it out on OnStar's site here). If we are reading our tea leaves correctly, the model will be derived from the rear-drive Holden Commodore (the same Zeta architecture that underpins Chevrolet's law-enforcement-only Caprice PPV), while the brand's front-drive Impala will get a new, sportier variant. We'd also assume that the long-wheelbase version of the Commodore used for the Caprice cop car would donate its top-level powertrain, the 355-horsepower, 6.0-liter V8.

Maybe we should just press the OnStar button and ask?

Has GM's OnStar accidentally confirmed the 2014 Chevy SS? originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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