General Motors has been teasing a new ultimate Chevrolet Corvette for a while. One that would be so legendary that it was rumored to be bestowed with the name Zora, a reference to Zora Arkus-Duntov, the man known as the father of the Corvette. Now, the Zora is here and it’s all kinds of awesome. But, hold on, what’s up with that name? ZR1X? Did GM not learn anything from the Toyota bZ4X?
The ZR1X might have a silly name, but it’s legit. As Sam Abuelsamid wrote, this thing has the ZR1’s 1064 HP LT7 twin-turbocharged V8, but now there’s also the electric drivetrain from the E-Ray in there, too, making the new ‘Vette have a total output of 1,250 HP. Holy heck. But, still, that name. DialMforMiata:
I don’t get it, GM. You’ve been referring to it as the Zora for years. Everybody calls it the Zora. Zora is a cool name and this monster is a brilliant way to honor the man who gave you your halo car for the last 70+ years. So what do you do when you drop it? Give it a name only McLaren would love! Just call the damn thing the Zora already!
Hotdoughnutsnow:
ZR1X – pronounced Xerox.
Uh oh, looks like we found a new Bees Forks.
Anyway, Jason’s all excited about his new-to-him Citroën 2CV, and he wrote a Cold Start about its funny newspaper ads, which include a comparison between the 2CV and a camel. Sid Bridge:
I miss the good old days when if my camel’s leg broke, I could just shoot it. Now camels just come with a can of Fix-A-Flat.
I’ve been gushing over my 1997 Honda Life, and I finally introduced the car to our readers today. Drew writes:
I still think the headline could have been Mercedes Acquires Honda, (if you wanted to go a different route, Mercedes gets a Life would also work) but I’m very glad you are happy with it. It looks like a great find!
Finally, Thomas wrote about how the Toyota Avalon is actually a great car, and your grandparents were right all along. SoCoFoMoCo:
You can buy one at an estate sale and cruise it until your estate sale comes around. The circle of life.
Have a great evening, everyone!
Make a 4 door version for Caddy and call it the Zoraq.
I’ve just had a terrible, marketable idea. Fix-A-Flat with a gun-shaped applicator. Additional marketing opportunity: make it part of a “go-bag” car kit for roadside emergencies. Make it look tactical, throw some PALS (MOLLE) webbing on there, make some money.
Woo hoo! My Gen-X rant power finally pays off!
I’m glad I’m not the only one who saw the ZR1X name and thought “Xerox”, but I also keep wondering why they didn’t call back another model and call it the ZR1 Grand Sport or ZR1 GS instead of following GMC’s lead of adding an X to their top trim level (AT4 becomes AT4X).
I still can’t get David Gray’s Babylon out of my head for the Avalon. That’s a stupid little thing that’s been rattling around in my head for almost 30 years. If musicians were more willing to sell out back then, I bet they could have made it work, but I don’t think the Venn Diagram of Avalon buyers overlapped much with indy British Singer-Songwriters fans in the late 90s. Maybe Lawrence Welk.
In some versions of Zelda, Zora was called Zola (probably due to the fact that the Japanese sound straddles the two English sounds). I always just loved that it also straddled two famous authors, as well.
Do not take ZRIX if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. Side effects of ZRIX may include whiplash, uncontrolled grinning, and excessive law enforcement attention. If you encounter any of these side effects with ZRIX immediately seek out a twenty year old Avalon.
Ask your doctor if ziyrixxy is right for you!
Even knowing enough Corvette history to know who Zora Arkus-Duntov was and what he did / stood for, I still thought Zora was a goofy name for the car when the rumor mill started a few years ago. Not that ZR1X is much better, but at least it makes sense in context of the car (ZR1 being the big bad of Corvettes and X commonly referring to all wheel drive).
I suppose if it were me I’d have saved ZR1 for this car. Or maybe just had ZR1 electrified and non electrified versions?
Oof. Don’t give GM any ideas. They could still rename it the eZR1.
I was going to get a new Corvette, but the name is dumb so I’m not going to… well that and I dont have the money. But it’s mostly the name.
The difference between BZ4X and ZR1X is a ZR1 exists and everyone knows what it is. The BZ4X means nothing to anyone.
But hey, they shortened it to bZ for the next model year, so it means slightly less of nothing to people!
Last time I got a package of ZR1X, it came with two… a left ZR1X and a right ZR1X. Lots of caramelly goodness to be had.
My package of ZR1X was a tolerable though very sugary cereal, that I had for breakfast in a bowl with milk. The kids really like it, though.