Does the 1LE look too much like the ZL1?

[Rock36]

Originally Posted by LOWDOWN

You know, the SAME WTF!! headscratching went on last Feb. when the ZL1 Model was "surprisingly" announced instead of Z28..."What's a ZL1"?!

Today, no one complains about that ZL1 moniker...even though, to be "historically correct", it should have housed an all-aluminum 427 naturally aspirated LS7, in some "history professors' " minds...

Re: SHELBY...wasn't there a pickup truck with a crappy convertible top (!?!) by that name? And some FWD econoboxes (I could have used the SHI_-word in front of "boxes"...) with the Shelby name...

Names, and cache', are ALWAYS in the mind of the beholder...and "frame of reference" is NOT "constant"...

I'm not sure that too many people are claiming to be "history professors" or that to be "historically correct" you have to blindly copy the past. If that was the case Z06s would have 327 ci engines and ZL1s would have 4.10s in them too.

No, what remains constant about cars like the Z06 is that it implies a certain track readiness, and of course "track ready" means different things in 1963 and 2003, or 2012, but the underlying concept is essentially the same. For instance, the BMW M3 has run a wide range of engines (I4, I6, V8, and soon a TTV6); they don't historically carbon copy one another, but when you hear "M3" you get an instinctual feel for what that means and represents to BMW and the 3 series. Maybe not to the same degree, but I think "ZL1" "1LE" "ZR1" "Z51" "Z06" "Z28" should at least give you a sense of what is being offered.

Or maybe I just didn't have a problem with Chevy bringing back the ZL1 title, or using the 1LE option code. I also don't think there is anything wrong with appealing to enthusiasts with tradition and/or history, while attracting new people to the brand with competitive/relevant performance. If executed and balanced correctly, I think it is a solid strategy.