The dealership hotrod special feels is a uniquely American phenomenon. One of the forbears of the practice, Yenko Chevrolet in Pennsylvania, was building big block Chevy Camaros back in the 1960s — they’re now some of the most collectible muscle cars from the era. Yenko closed some time ago, but the practice of stuffing Chevy products with oodles of horsepower lives on today with Specialty Vehicle Engineering in Tom’s River, New Jersey, and the introduction of its latest project, the Yenko/SC Corvette Stage II.
And what a way to keep the name alive, as the firm has announced a new Corvette Grand Sport tuning package featuring a truly ludicrous 1,000 horsepower and 875 lb-ft of torque. To eke out so much power from the standard car’s naturally-aspirated LT1 V8, a massive 2.9-liter supercharger was added, while the block was bored and stroked to displace 6.8 liters (up from 6.2 liters).
There are also larger throttle bodies, as well as upgrades to the fuel and exhaust systems. Modifications to the transmission (which you can get either as a manual or automatic) are also made to keep it from bursting into millions of pieces under pressure from all that power. Naturally, you can also choose from a variety of racing stripes. This is, perhaps, the most important modification of all.
The best part? You can simply walk into your local Chevy dealership and order one. Once you place your order, pay out a whopping $69,000 on top of the price of the base Corvette Grand Sport (and another $9,000 more if you want an automatic), Chevy will ship a Grand Sport to CVE in New Jersey, where they’ll perform all the upgrades. A month later, your 1,000-horsepower monster is ready.
CVE says it’ll only make 25 Stage II Corvettes, though, so if you’re in the market consider driving down to your nearby dealership sooner rather than later.
The best way to catch up on the day’s most important product releases and stories. Read the Story
