A new trend can be seen emerging on the European club scene at the moment-the phenomenal popularity of the '97-'04 C5 Corvette. Maybe this is the inevitable follow-up to GM Europe's aggressive marketing campaign from 1999 to 2003, which led to the sale of hundreds of C5s and stimulated the direct import of hundreds more used C5s from the United States.
The Classic Corvette Club of the U.K. held its 27th annual Nationals on June 24-25 at the Huntingdon Racecourse, 75 miles north of London. Of 250 cars present on Sunday, almost half were C5s, while at a recent monthly meeting of the Sussex and Surrey group of the CCCUK, a friend with a '63 roadster reported that his was almost the only non-C5 present. And he has now sold his '63 and is looking for a C5 convertible! There were also rumors at Huntingdon that some had been proposing dropping the "Classic" from the CCCUK, which as a founder member from 1979 I would find hard to accept.
The irrepressible Dan Adovasio started and still runs the C5 Registry, and when I first met him at Le Mans in 2000, I was surprised to learn that his new C5 was the first Corvette he had ever owned, and that this was common to many Registry members. He had been aware of Corvettes before, but as soon as he saw his first '97, he knew he just had to have one. There is no doubt that the C5 was a great conversion car. It encouraged drivers from all backgrounds to try a Corvette and converted them into long-term enthusiasts. Larger owners love the space; the tall have space to stretch out; and two golfers have space for bags and more. My Time VXRS carbon road racing bike fits in the back of a C5 coupe with just the front wheel removed from the forks, impossible with any previous Corvette.
Having just returned from a week at Le Mans, driving 1,000 miles through France in my own '64 roadster, I asked myself, "what should I drive to Huntingdon?" If the drive had been on minor roads, it would have been the C2, but faced with an all-motorway trip, I grabbed a high-mileage '98 from my showroom, stowed my folding stepladder and photo equipment beneath the rear hatch and headed up the motorway.
With the cruise control set to 82 mph, powerful air conditioning, perfect steering and brakes, this is the car of choice to negotiate London's fast and furious M25 beltway. Because it is a European export car, it has the 300-mph speedometer and minor dials graduated in metric. EC law requires the speed gauge cannot under-read and must be accurate to within 10 percent, so unlike the U.S.-spec cars, which are generally spot-on accurate when checked against a Sat-Nav, my Tom-Tom confirms the indicated 82 mph is really just 77, and 10-percent over the official 70-mph limit should not earn me a ticket from the automatic number plate recognition cameras that track my every mile.
When I arrived, the showground was packed as usual with a total of nearly 271 Corvettes, that is one in seven of every car currently road licensed in Great Britain, a very good turnout considering that a third of the country were planning to watch England in the soccer world cup in the afternoon. It was a great chance to meet up with old friends, check out some superb paint jobs, and admire some amazing custom work. All but a handful of the cars there had been driven to the Racecourse, and many of the regional groups had met up early in the morning and caravanned to the meet.
In an adjacent field, an autocross course was laid out. The '63-'67 convertibles have traditionally shone in this event, aided by their compact dimensions, good visibility, and comparatively upright driving position, which aids backing the car between the pylons. A new C6 made two spirited attempts, but despite power sliding in the dirt, it was hard to overcome the inherent disadvantage of the long 105.7-inch wheelbase. But then this car was never designed to be driven in tight circles tearing up the grass.
The star attraction of the day was a fly-by by a pair of World War II Spitfire fighters from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. This division of the Royal Air Force maintains five Spitfires, two Hurricanes, a Lancaster bomber, and a '42 Douglas DC3 Dakota. Together they make some 700 flights each year, appearing free of charge at events all over the U.K. from major air displays to village get-togethers. They could not have found a more appreciative audience as they passed and repassed over us at a few hundred feet, the awesome sound of their 27-litre Rolls Royce Merlin V-12 shaking the ground beneath us.
Walking around the show field, one had the overwhelming impression that the C5 was dominant, and the assigned C5 area was certainly overflowing. But there is nothing like accurate information, and club co-founder John Sansbury's figures showed the most numerous group there was the C5s, with 78 cars entered. But the club has traditionally split C3s into early chrome bumper and late soft bumper cars, and there were 31 of the former and 61 of the latter. So the final total of 92 makes the C3 the most popular car at the show, and it looks like the "Classic" won't be dropped from the club name yet!
Have a comment?Righthand drive9036 Brittany WayTampa, FL 33619corvettefever.righthanddrive@primedia.comWhile mail cannot be answered personally, letters and responses will be published as space permits.