Curren$y's 10 Favorite Chevrolet Corvettes

Seven minutes and 19.6 seconds. Those are the only numbers you need to know. Produced since 2009, the Corvette ZR1 holds the eight-best Nurburgring lap time for a production car. Some people were astounded that a Corvette could cost this much (about $111,000 base). Others were astounded that a car that cost this little could pack this much technology and speed (that time is faster than the Porsche 911 GT2, the Nissan GT-R, Pagani Zonda, and the Ferrari Enzo). We think it's worth every penny. It's proof that the American auto industry is still a world player.

The Corvette C5-R was a dominant race car in the GTS class of ALMS and at Le Mans in France. It won eight races out of 10 in its first year. It later went on to win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 12 Hours of Sebring, and 24 Hours of Daytona.

The fuel-injected L84 might have been cool and powerful, but the Corvette that really made enthusiasts go slack-jawed was the big block. Engines from 6.5L to 7.0L had outputs from 425hp all the way up to the 560hp, 103-octane-only, 7.0L L88 engine.

At the time, the introduction of the C6 generation Corvette was easily the most refined model yet. It debuted with a 6.0L engine that made a respectable 400hp, although this was replaced with a 6.2L 430hp unit in 2008. Once again, transmission trickery has been used to avoid the gas guzzler tax.

The Corvette makes a damn good Indy Pace Car. It also makes a damn good Indy Pace Car special edition when wearing blue paint with some obscenely bright-yellow stripes. Except for the safety equipment needed to pace an Indy 500 race, this special edition was a perfect replica of the '98 pace car.

The Z51 1984 was the C4 with a performance handling package. This add-on included the four Goodyear Eagle VR50s that were specially designed for the 'Vette, transverse single-leaf spring of E-glass and epoxy, tube shocks, an anti-roll bar, rack-and-pinion steering, and a 5-link design rear suspension.

At the end of the C4's lifecycle, Chevy produced the Corvette Grand Sport, in honor of the racing car from 1963. It came with the high-performance LT4 engine, and if you didn't like blue cars with thick white stripes, you were out of luck.

The Z06 was the successor to the ZR-1. Even though it wasn't as powerful, it outperformed the ZR-1 in every way, due to its greatly reduced weight. Eventually, power did rise all the way to 405hp, which enabled the Z06 to get from still to 60mph in as little as 3.9 seconds.

The C3 Corvette's mako shark-inspired design was an instant hit, and it is still one of the most beautiful cars ever made. It is one of the few designs that has aged so well as to look fresh and striking all these years later. The C3 generation ran for 14 years and a lot happened in thos years. From the early models, which were graced by things like the massive 454ci (7.4L) big-block V8, to the '80s, in which the Corvette languished under new fuel economy and air cleanliness laws. The 1980 California 305 made a sad little 180hp. For most of the years the C3 was in production, it was a high-performance, proud, loud, fast piece of ostentatious Americana ... just how we like it.

GM had just purchased Lotus, and the Corvette division got the idea that Lotus, with decades of motorsport experience, could help make the world's fastest production car based on the C4 Corvette. The ZR-1 was the result. The V8 in the ZR-1 made 375hp, but the real importance of the car was the ungraded suspension, braking, and chassis, as well as the FX3 adjustable ride control. Eventually, the ZR-1 also gained traction control and another 30 horsepower. Sales were poor, due to the extreme price, but the car itself was brilliant.