Customers who order a 2011 Corvette Z06 or ZR1 in the US can now choose to pay an additional $5,800 to hand-assemble their own car's LS7 or LS9 engine at GM's Performance Build Center (sic) in Wixom, Michigan.
Chevy reckons this is the first time a major manufacturer has offered a programme where customers can get so intimately involved with their new car's internal organs. If it was us, we'd prefer to build a different customer's engine and let the pros take care of our own, but that doesn't seem to be an option...
Corvette buyers are already offered chances to attend a driving school in Arizona or Nevada, take delivery of their vehicles at the National Corvette Museum, or watch their vehicles being built at the Corvette assembly plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky - all of which seem likely to enhance the ownership experience greatly.
In contrast, and if the attached footage of the Corvette Engine Build Experience is anything to go by, the latest offer doesn't look like the sort of premium thrill that punters might be expecting for their $6k investment. Although if you have a special thing for engineered aluminium, it could be money well spent.
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