1968 Chevrolet Corvette L89 on 2040-cars

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1956 Corvette SR-2 factory racer profiled

The Chevrolet Corvette has earned its place as America's sports car, capable of taking on the best the world can throw at it. Much of that winning reputation was earned with victories on the track. Now, there was a chance to own an early piece of the nameplate's motorsport history in the form of a 1956 Corvette SR-2 racer, but some deep pockets were necessary to get it, with an estimate of $6.885 million. The story behind the SR-2 is fascinating. In 1956, famous General Motors designer Harley Earl's son was racing in a Ferrari. Obviously, that wasn't going to work given his father's position within the automaker, and Harley and Corvette engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov got to work on a faster racecar. Three were made. This one was reportedly the first, and for 1957 it also received a fuel-injected V8 making a claimed 331 horsepower and four-speed manual gearbox, according to "Corvette Mike," the owner and seller. The SR-2 went on display in Scottsdale, AZ appropriately timed to coincide with the big Barrett-Jackson auction there that wrapped up this weekend. The car wasn't part of that event; instead marque specialist Mike Vietro sold the racer as a private treaty sale. Company spokesperson Troy Worrell told Autoblog both the bids and identities of the bidders will remain undisclosed. The video above goes into even deeper detail about this rare, finned Vette or check out the car's full description for even more info.

Here are your 2016 North American Car and Truck/Utility of the Year finalists [w/polls]

The 2016 Detroit Auto Show will kick off with the announcement of the annual North American Car and Truck/Utility of the Year awards, and the three finalists in each category have just been revealed. Following this announcement, the jury – which includes Autoblog editor-in-chief Mike Austin – will re-evaluate each candidate before casting a final vote for the winner. This year's finalists are: Car of the Year Chevrolet Malibu Honda Civic Mazda MX-5 Miata Truck/Utility of the Year Honda Pilot Nissan Titan XD Volvo XC90 The 23rd annual awards will be announced on the morning of Monday, January 11. For now, we want to know where you stand. Let us know which vehicles you think should win, by voting in the polls below. Chevrolet Honda Mazda Nissan Volvo north american car of the year NACTOY

GM files for Z71 Trail Boss trademark

Try as they might to keep their plans a secret, automakers have their hands tipped through a variety of methods – be they through loose lips, spy shots or patent and trademark applications. That's how we know, in this instance, that General Motors is working on (or at least considering) an off-road machine wearing the name Z71 Trail Boss – the name which our compatriots at AutoGuide.com tell us that GM has registered for use on light-duty trucks. Now if that alphanumeric designator sounds familiar, it should. GM has long used it to designate the off-road packages on many of its body-on-frame trucks from Chevy and GMC. These days you can order a Z71 package on the Chevy Colorado, Silverado, Tahoe and Suburban and on the GMC Canyon, Sierra and Yukon. The package typically includes components like a beefed-up suspension bits, high-capacity air cleaner and underbody protection plates. The Trail Boss designator would seem to suggest something further reaching than a suspension package, though. Just what it would entail we don't know; minds immediately start running toward Chevy or GMC going after the Ford F-150 Raptor, but we'll likely be looking at something closer to the Trailhawk packages Jeep offers on the likes of the Renegade and Cherokee. Featured Gallery 2015 Chevrolet Tahoe Z71 View 16 Photos News Source: AutoGuide.comImage Credit: Chevrolet Chevrolet GM GMC Truck SUV Off-Road Vehicles patent trademark