Interesting, Affordable, Hidden Gem Corvettes, Pt. 5: C6 2005-2009 Z51 Corvette

Here’s an expression you don’t hear very often; “Street Sleeper”. The expression goes back to the olden days when most cars were rather drab. Detroit has always had high-profile cars with larger-than-usual, more powerful engines. The street sleeper was one of those drab cars with a hot Cadillac, Lincoln, Chrysler, or Buick engine. The goal was to pull up to a big fancy car with it’s big fancy engine and BLOW THE DOORS off the thing! The possibilities were endless.

The Birth of “Branded Muscle Cars”

The tern “muscle” implies “power”. So, in that sense, “muscle cars” have been around since before the 1920s. But those powerful luxury cars were all premium priced automobiles, beyond the reach of young fellows and average guys. Detroit’s Woodward Avenue turned out to be the ultimate performance-minded automotive engineer’s “Car Culture Trends” test lab. (what a FUN job!)

John DeLorean wasn’t the first automotive executive to haunt Woodward Avenue. But he connected the dots of what he saw on late night excursions on the Avenue, and put together a package deal, available on the mid-size, low-cost Pontiac Tempest. Enter the “GTO”. It wasn’t a full-out street machine, street racer, but it got you closer, right out of the box. The “branded muscle car” was born, and within two years, every car maker was offering “muscle cars” to varying degrees.