Muscle car fans in this country have always been starved of America’s finest V8-powered tyre-shredders. Our narrow roads, pricey petrol and grumpy neighbours make these lairy, loud and loutish cars a pain to run, so few people have taken the trouble to import them.
Happily, however, that means the examples on offer in our classifieds are usually well cared for and appealingly specified and represent fantastic value relative to comparable European and Japanese machinery.
Take the Chevrolet Corvette, for example. We’ll soon be able to order it in right-hand drive for the first time in its 67-year history, but if you can’t wait or don’t have £80,000-plus to spend, it’s older versions you’ll want.
We found a one-owner, 2009 C6 Corvette with just 35,500 miles, blemish-free bodywork and a load of coveted options for just £27,500. For context, a same-aged Nissan GT-R will cost near £40,000 and a Ferrari F430 Spider more than twice that.
It’s not even as if you’re making any great sacrifice. The 6.2-litre V8 is good for 430bhp and 424lb ft, so you can do 0-62mph in just over 4.0sec.
What’s more, you get a removable roof panel, a Bose stereo, red leather and a Cobra performance exhaust. This is no low-cost compromise.
Sure, it doesn’t offer the dynamics of a Ferrari, nor the build quality of an Audi R8, but people will let you out at junctions and want to chat about it at the petrol pumps, plus you needn’t worry about leaving it anywhere.
This really is a lot of car for not a lot of money and, with ever-tightening emissions legislation and the advent of electrification, it’s among the last of its kind, so now is the time to buy.
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