“Dad spec”

Car and Driver introduces a new concept starting with …

Why did this Camaro seem so familiar? It was a 2021 SS coupe and I’d never driven it before. And yet, it seemed like I knew it: burgundy paint, Bose stereo, tan leather interior, sunroof. Somehow, this car was already in my brain. Eventually, I figured out why.

When I was in high school, a kid named Bill would sometimes drive his dad’s IROC, which was conspicuously nicer than my own. My car had no air conditioning, T-tops or power windows, and its cargo area was sealed off by 12-inch MTX subwoofers. Bill’s dad’s car had the options—leather, power everything, T-tops, the 5.7-liter engine and respectable factory premium audio. The 2021 SS seemed familiar because it was the reincarnation of Bill’s dad’s car, tastefully optioned and respectably low-key. All it was missing was gold pinstriping and louvres over the rear window. OK, fine—Bill’s dad’s car didn’t have the trashy louvres. Mine did.

When we pay attention to the Camaro, we tend to focus on the outrageous versions, the 1LEs and ZL1s and the extroverted trims (of which the current roster includes the Shock Edition, Steel Edition, and Redline Edition). The only thing wild about this Camaro, though, was its color: wild cherry tintcoat. You know, burgundy. Its seats were heated and ventilated, its ride control magnetic, its exhaust note subdued. But the SS still packed 455 horsepower, hooked to a six-speed manual and a limited-slip diff. The brake calipers were black, not red or yellow or orange, but they were Brembos. This thing had the performance goods, but it wasn’t being obnoxious about it.

And that’s the definition of Dad Spec: you take a vehicle with stacked performance and a possibly juvenile rep and option it toward luxury and understatement.

Corvette Blogger takes it from there:

Last week, we hit our friends at Car and Driver with some good-natured ribbing after they somehow awarded a slower, less-practical, less-comfortable, and more expensive car, the W, in a comparison test based on an “impartial” points-based scoring system. While we are still scratching our collective head over that one, we have to give credit where credit is due. C&D is still one of if not THE most prominent name in our industry, and they deserve credit for coining a new car category that we didn’t know we needed: The Dad Spec.

From Mr. Dyer’s excellent original “DS” write-up: “Not all performance cars need to be edgy and outrageous. That’s where Dad Spec comes in.” Dad spec’d cars should be “tastefully optioned and respectably low-key.” They have all of “the performance goods, but [aren’t] obnoxious about it.” He continues explaining that not all cars can go DS – like a Civic Type R – but “any luxury car with a performance version that’s rational rather than all-out (M550i instead of M5; Audi S instead of RS) is [automatically] Dad Spec and even a Mustang can be Dad Specced… Does it have the Ford Safe and Smart package, you ask? You’re damn right it does. [The DS] is one Mustang you’re not going to see wrapped around a light pole in an empty parking lot. Not because dads don’t rip doughnuts, but because they’re good at them.” So, that’s the quintessence of Dad Spec: “you take a vehicle with stacked performance and a possibly juvenile rep and option it toward luxury and understatement.”

Well, next week, as Mecum’s traveling tent extravaganza touches down in Pennsylvania, you will have a crack at owning the king of all Dad Specs! Ladies and gentlemen, we present to you 2019 ZR1 #2,549, or as it’s known by Dana’s crew, LOT S217. Of course, there’s no place for the ZTK track package and its ostentatious “Batwing” on a true Dad Spec. The model’s signature Sebring Orange paint is also a no-no! How about the classy combo of Long Beach Red over Kalahari? Now we’re talking! Top it off with chromies and the smooth-shifting 8-speed automatic, and Daddy’s officially home!

Interestingly, its high VIN puts this one in the last 13% of front-engine swan songs ever minted. And what would a good Dad Spec be without a dirty joke to remind everyone that even though this Corvette would look right at home in front of the country club, it’s still packing the rowdiest Small Block ever concocted!? You’re right; it wouldn’t be any good at all, so here it goes – Guess how many C7 ZR1 Coupes were produced in Long Beach Red? Give up yet? It’s Sixty-Nine – Nice! The low wing also puts it in rare company as one of only 30% of all LT5 ZR1s that can actually hit the car’s official – and still record-holding – top speed of 212.54 MPH! With just 4,572 miles on the clock, we are looking forward to seeing where this unique gem hammers!

But wait, there’s more! Juvenile ruffians like your author needn’t worry; the Harrisburg auction has you covered, too! LOT S145.1 is a 7,688-mile coupe with an immature blacked-out Batmobile motif to go with its previously mentioned pointy-eared big wing. Oh yeah, and this one has three pedals! Nowhere near as rare, VIN 1675 is one of 453 Black Targas, and, with that ZTK package, it finds itself in the 70% that the DS car wasn’t a part of. BUT its 7-speed does put it in its own 30% portion of the one-year production cycle that saw a vast majority of buyers opt for the auto. So, pick your poison, Corvette Nation. Is it the Dad Spec for you, or would you rather be a peacock in all black? When it comes to 755-horse monsters, you can’t go wrong either way!

Well, actually, you can. The aforementioned SS is correctly equipped with a manual transmission. The aforementioned Z06 is incorrectly equipped with an automatic transmission. I don’t care how many gears it has, and whether it shifts faster than a teenage boy eating an entire package of Oreos. Older men can drive sticks much more often than young adults can. If it doesn’t have a pedal to the left of the brake pedal for shifting, you equipped it wrong.

However, the concept is sound. There is, for instance, no reason to own a car that you don’t want to drive in the summer because it doesn’t have air conditioning. The state of AM radio being what it is, a sound system upgrade improves the driving experience (if for no other reason than to obscure the suspicious sounds coming from an aged car). How people survived driving hot cars in the era of bias ply tires and drum brakes … well, maybe they weren’t idiots about driving in contrast to today.

“Dad spec”

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