My Generation
My Little Fixed Roof Coupe
by Rick Tavel© 5-22-13 All Rights Reserved
If you are like most other enthusiasts you have owned or
still own that one special car that you enjoy above all others, a car for which
you have developed a special relationship.
And often times that car is neither the best performer, most valuable,
the rarest, nor the most significant car you have owned. Often times it may, in fact, be the
antithesis of those attributes nevertheless it doesn’t change your feelings
towards the car. It is not unusual to
feel this way about a car, not like the guy on “Boston Legal” that fell in love
with his alarm clock. No, it is more
like the feelings the Beach Boys had for their “Little Deuce Coupe”. Now
that I am firmly ensconced in my sixth decade and having owned more cars than
the years I have racked up a few of just such cars come to mind. One of those is my little Fixed Roof Coupe,
a 2000 metallic pewter Corvette.
To many Corvette enthusiasts that may seem an unlikely
choice, especially when compared to a the other more potent and more valuable Corvettes
I have owned over the years. I have had faster
and more optioned Corvettes. I have
purchased most of my Corvettes brand new and have been the sole caretaker of
those beloved cars, but none of those cars hold my complete attention and excite
me like the unpretentious 2000 FRC, purchased used from a collector’s estate with
less than 15,000 miles on the odometer.
It currently shares our Arizona winter home’s garage with a Daytona
Sunset Orange metallic C6 which I bought new the first year the C6 was
introduced in 2005. In addition I
subsequently also added a new blade silver Grand Sport convertible. So the thirteen year old C5 had some very
competent siblings. And these were not
the only cars in the collection, only the newer, more powerful, fully optioned
and technically superior Corvettes with which the hard top had to compete.
Those of you who know the history of the fifth generation
Corvette or have read James Schefter’s informative book All Corvettes Are Red about
the very difficult endeavor of designing and building a replacement for the
aged C4 at a time when GM was in an upheaval and economic crisis, may recall
the debate about building a stripped-down, entry level car referred to by some
as the “Billy Bob,” know today as the Fixed Roof Coupe. Schefter’s book touches on this controversy
but does not go into great detail about it, staying more focused on getting the
C5 coupe to market. In short there has
always been a debate within GM whether to build a stripped down, “decontented”
and lower priced model of the Corvette to help entice younger buyers or those
that could not afford the “pricey” sports car.
Once it was decided to build the “fixed roof coupe” officially
designated the hardtop within GM, there was a great
deal of speculation and heated debates about just what the FRC would actually be. There were two camps among the enthusiasts
and also within GM who each held their own very specific ideas of what the FRC
would be and what its purpose would be. The marketing group very clearly wanted a
decontented Corvette with less performance that would help boost sales from a
considerably lower entry level price point.
Engineering disagreed and wanted the FRC to be a performance model, a
street legal race car, that would take advantage of the new model’s lighter
weight and stiffer chassis. That faction
was headed by Dave Hill, then Corvette’s chief engineer. The marketing group,
opposing Hill’s performance model, was led by Brand Manager Dick Almond, who
saw a stripped down, lower priced, Corvette as a way to capture those buyers
who lusted for but couldn’t afford the ever rising price of America’s only real
sports car. Both sides had valid points
to make.
As the development program for the C4 replacement got
underway, Jim Perkins, then Chevrolet’s General Manager, advocated a lower
priced Corvette he referred to as a “Billy Bob.” There is an exciting story about the ensuing battle up until
6 months before its introduction over what the car would actually be. In fact the Chevrolet dealer’s ordering guide
released in the spring of 1998, just a half year prior to the car hitting the
dealerships, actually was based on the Billy-Bob version of the car with an
automatic transmission, base suspension, limited engine speed and a minimal
list of options. The ordering guide
quickly had to be recalled and revised when Dave Hill and his team won the
battle for the FRC to be a performance model - not the Billy-Bob that had
almost made it to production. In fact
when the final version of the car was unveiled you could not order the car with
an automatic transmission or a base suspension, all FRCs were 6 speed manuals
with the Z51 performance suspension. The only options available on the car was a
power driver’s seat and the sound system, the other Corvette options were left
to coupe and convertible buyers. Today we know for two years it was the
predecessor to the acclaimed Z06 which debuted to an enthusiastic public in
2001. The Z06 then became the only
Corvette hardtop designation within GM.
And maybe its controversial inception is just one of the
reasons that the FRC has endeared itself.
It is unassuming and yet extremely competent. Put aside the controversial opinions when it
was introduced about the “too fat” rear,
it was the best performing Corvette in
the model line-up, the result of the stiffer chassis (over 10% stiffer than the
coupe) and lighter weight (90 lbs to 110 lbs) due to the lack of the coupe’s heavy
rear hatch glass, roof panels and other luxury options. When introduced the Corvette brand manager
said, “We’ve tailored the hardtop to appeal to those buyers who are primarily
interested in performance.” Despite the
outstanding design and engineering that went into the hard top, many of those
who had not experienced the car considered it no more than a Corvette stepchild and assumed it to be the
cheap, economy Corvette even though it cost only a few hundred less than the
Coupe and could outperform it. But after
the little hardtop earned its stripes on the track the former “Billy-Bob” model
became respectfully known as the “Hardtop for Hardcores.”
Moving on to the design and engineering it is interesting to
note that the 1999 Chevrolet Corvette convertible was voted to be the best
engineered car of the 20th century by the Society of Automotive
Engineers a model that shared almost all of its desgn and engineering with the
hardtop. The performance and quality
improvements the C5 made to the problem plagued C4 are huge and owning both models
I can attest to that fact. The C5 is
virtually rattle free and leak-proof, notorious problems that plagued most C4’s. The interior design, access, egress and comfort
is much improved over the C4. The redesigned
chassis, utilizing an inventive backbone design, eliminated the high door sills
which almost required any older Corvette owner with hip issues to be hoisted in
and out of the cockpit. Analog
instruments returned, succumbing to pressure from Corvette owners, ending the hated
“video game” electronic dash of the C4.
The most
controversial issue of some vocal Corvette
enthusiasts in the design of all C5 models was that they considered the
derrière of the car was too large, referring to the car as “ass heavy.” But regardless of design preferences the
wider rear of the car allowed the use of larger tires which was a critical
component in the outstanding handling of the Corvette. Most of those criticisms have faded over time
in favor of praising the overall smooth, flowing, even sensuous body
lines. But in many enthusiasts’ opinion
the C5 is the most beautifully designed Corvette in history and some consider
the Fixed Roof Coupe and Z06 models to be the most beautiful of the entire
generation. John Cafaro and his design
team, led by Dan Magda, created a timeless, classic and at the same time modern
exciting body that continues to garner accolades a quarter century after the
original design was penned.
 |
| My 2005 Daytona Sunset Orange Coupe |
But despite the great design, quality and performance of my
little Fixed Roof Coupe, I am constantly reminded by my other C6’s that they
are clearly “better” cars, at least in every quantitative measurement. It is something my son, “the engineer”,
lectures me on and I appreciate him taking the time trying to educate me about
all the mathematical and performance theory as to why my preference for the C5
is clearly a sign of “old age.” And even
though he is really a car guy first and an engineer second, he does understand
the subjective allure of a particular car.
He understands the importance of the way a car “feels” and concedes even
though he still prefers the C6 and C7.
And it isn’t that I don’t love the my C6s and realize just how
outstanding they truly are. I know that
the C5 would get its ass kicked by a competent driver in a C6 every time. It is just that to me the little FRC is like
a pair of fifteen year old Levi’s or a pair of broken in Birkenstock sandals –
comfortable, and in my sixth decade comfort is important.
When I turn the key in the C5 and my aftermarket Borla®
exhaust bellows and burbles there is no better sound. Literally I never have turned on the radio in
the car other than when the car was purchased to see that it worked. Once that was determined it has remained silent. Though Pink Floyd, Metallica, and even REM is
nice to listen to, it just doesn’t compare to the symphony of sounds the “outdated” LS1
makes. And maybe it’s just my
imagination but it seems to me the road feel communicated through the leather
steering wheel, which feels like it was custom made for my hands, is the perfect balance. The often maligned leather seats seem like it
was molded for aging ass and I can get in and out of the driver’s seat without
having an engine hoist lower me in or hoist me out of the cockpit like I do in
the C4. And even after all these years
the inside of the car smells like leather, not like the evaporating PVC
molecules (or whatever the stuff is) in my C6.
By the way whatever happened to the smell of a new leather interior – I
am interested to find out if the new C7’s upgraded interior has been able to
rediscover the smell of real leather. I
hope so, even if it is “canned”.
In the performance category the C5’s 345 HP LS1 coupled with
the lighter weight of the FRC offers me a good balance of performance and
handling. It offers me a spirited
driving experience and is plenty fast for the public roads. If I were going to race the car I would want
more power and better handling of the C6, but I gave up my SCCA pro license
years ago so I won’t be doing any competitive track events in the foreseeable
future. So my other C6’s and their even
improved suspension and power may never be put to the ultimate test, at least
not by me. I’m content to watch my son on the track these days. The car handles the turny-twisties country
roads like on rails – and yes the C6’s are even better but at this stage in my
life the C5 can handle everything I can in good judgment throw at it.
Quantitative analysis and statistics aside, simply we are a
good match. If not a match made in
heaven, then a match made in John Cafaro’s and Dave Hill’s design studio, deep
in the bowels of the GM’s Warren, Michigan tech center and on the assembly line
during the second week of November of 1999 in Bowling Green, Kentucky. When I am driving my little Fixed Roof Coupe every one of my senses (other than taste) are
“maxed out” and what else can an enthusiast ask from any of their cars. To paraphrase a popular song from the
sixties, “I’m not braggin’ babe so don’t
put me down, But I’ve got the hottest set of wheels in the town… It’s my Fixed
Roof Coupe, now you know what I got!”
