Alright folks, another Thursday is upon us and that means your weekly dose of high octane, crappy gas mileage and CO2 emitting muscle cars are here. This week we take a look at a car I chose to avoid writing about until this very day, and I will tell you why in the post. Have a gander at the 1967 Chevrolet Corvette.

Okay okay, some of you may wonder why I would put off writing about such an American icon as the Corvette for so long. When I began writing these just over 8 months ago, it was my mission to give some information and history on the most badass muscle cars ever to come from Detroit. The common definition of a muscle car is a mid to full-size passenger car with a beefy V8 making big numbers under the hood. Naturally, I wrote about the GTO and the Impala 409 as well as other passenger cars. Well, as the passenger car list began to get smaller and smaller I moved to other cars such as the full-size Toronado and 300-Hurst. It was not until I was reading my favorite publication, Muscle Car Review, did I read what the editor said regarding the Corvette as a muscle car. He made some valid points about the Corvette, with the ultimate conclusion coming to this: the Corvette was a built for performance, like all muscle cars, and had one hell of a street reputation as a premier drag and road racer. He then pointed out that just because the ‘Vette only had two seats did not mean it was not a muscle car. If at least four seats was the criteria for muscle car status, the AMX and the Shelby GT 350 cannot be included in the muscle car pool, and many would call me crazy if I followed such criteria. So, for all intensive purposes the Corvette is a muscle car. Now, why did I chose the 1967 Corvette instead of an earlier version of the fable Stingray? Well, I had to get my reasoning for excluding it for so long off my chest and I wanted to save the history of the Stingray for an upcoming post, so here is some info on the beefiest Corvette of them all.

By 1967 the Corvette and been in production for over a decade and GM engineers had the formula for performance nailed down tight. With the introduction of the Stingray body style for the 1963 model year, the only major changes to the Corvette came in the form of bigger and badder engine options. Exterior and interior changes were minimal, besides who really cares if thay added a fender scoop. As the decade wore on, displacement and horsepower numbers rose, at some points to astronomical levels. For the 1966 model year the two biggest powerplant options available were the L36 and L72 code 427 V8’s that produced 390 and 425 horsepower respectively.

As Emeril Lagasse would say, Chevrolet decided to ‘kick it up a notch’ in 1967 by tweaking the 427 for some more power. What they came up with was a code L71 V8 displacing 427 cubic inches with solid lifters, hotter cam and three 2-barrel carbs bolted to the intake manifold, good for 435 horsepower and 460 lb feet of torque. A 10 horsepower increase may not sound like very much but one should remember that it was the muscle car era and companies were notorious for under rating engines, so it is safe to assume you were getting at least 20 to 30 more ponies than advertised. This beast could move from zero to sex-ty in about 5 and a half seconds and run the quarter in the upper 13’s with the tires smoking the whole way. The only transmission offered with the L71 was a close-ratio four-speed that made driving this car the most fun you could have with your clothes on and perhaps the easiest way to get a woman’s clothes off.

If the tire-melting 435 horsepower just wasn’t quite enough for you and you happened to have connections with some boys in the front office there was only one thing you could order. It was coded the L88 427 and it featured a single 850 cfm carb, aluminum heads and intake and 12.5:1 compression. Chevrolet rated this engine at only 430 horsepower. You may be thinking: 430 horsepower doesn’t sound like much, and even with an extra 20-30 ponies why would someone pony over an extra $950 back then for the L88 option. Well, it appears the Chevrolet engine builders got away with perhaps the biggest lie EVER because the L88’s true output was in the neighborhood of 600 jaw-dropping, ear-shattering, panty-snapping horsepower. If that wasn’t enough for you I am pretty sure NASA engineers recruited you to get strapped to a rocket sled and hit Mach 1. L88 Corvette’s were produced in extremely small numbers, to the tune of 20, so if you ever have the chance to see one, take a moment and appreciate how many women were excited by its idle at a stoplight and smile to yourself. Big_Blocker out.