2013 Chevrolet Corvette 427 Convertible

Chevrolet finally builds a Z06 convertible. Almost.

Whatever you do, don’t call the Chevrolet Corvette 427 convertible a Z06 convertible.
Never mind that beneath its carbon-fiber Z06 hood and between what look like the Z06’s carbon-fiber fenders sits the Z06’s dry-sump 7.0-liter V-8 spinning the Z06’s six-speed manual—the only transmission available, just as in the Z06—and directing power to the Z06’s rear axle, which is equipped with the Z06’s available magnetorheological shock absorbers. Chevy refuses to call the 427 droptop a Z06 for a much simpler reason: Beneath its carbon-fiber and balsa-wood-sandwich floor panels—same as the Z06’s—are the steel frame rails of the base Corvette rather than the aluminum pieces at the core of the Z06 and ZR1. Also, engineers insist the Z06 was designed from the ground up to be a coupe and that it wouldn’t take kindly to having its magnesium roof panel simply removed.
But if you consider the 427 to be in every other way a Z06, you’re correct. With the exception of those frame rails, most of the stuff that makes a Z06 is here.
Drives Like One, Too
Not surprisingly, all that Z06 equipment makes the 427 drive a lot like the Z06. First of all, it has the same steering. Immediate doesn’t do it justice. It’s almost twitchy and demands absolute attention—as do the car’s tremendous limits. We recorded 1.06 on the skidpad in a Grand Sport convertible, which hangs one rung below the 427 on the topless-Vette ladder. With the Z06’s brakes also aboard, the 427 stops as if it were grabbing an arresting cable. The last Z06 we tested screeched from 70 mph to a stop in 146 feet.
Much of the 427 convertible’s equipment is available on the mid-level Grand Sport roadster, but the one thing that defines the Z06—its 428-cubic-inch LS7 V-8—is the 427’s main draw. (Since you can’t use Z06, you may feel free to call this car the 428.) It’s a nearly faultless mill, brutal and ferocious, with a spine-tingling scream that will make anyone pine for a big-inch V-8 of his or her own. The LS7’s 505 hp and 470 lb-ft all seem to manifest at every point in the rev range, and we figure the LS7 will sling the 427 to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds and through the quarter in 12.1. A quarter-mile that quick places any car in elite company, but it puts the 427 is on an even shorter list of convertibles. Chevrolet claims a top speed in excess of 190 mph.