2007 Corvette buyer's guide: the last LS2, the Ron Fellows Z06, the Pace Car and what a 2007 is worth

GM’s August 2006 release (opens in new tab) listed what was new:

• Audio buttons on the steering wheel, with the Bose stereos. GM’s order guide codes them UK3 (RPO, GM’s code for a factory option) and puts them in the coupe and convertible 3LT and the Z06 2LZ, or a 1LZ ordered with the Bose six-disc or navigation. A 1LT or 2LT car has none.
• Two-tone seats, perforated leather with crossed flags embroidered and contrasting stitching, in Red, Cashmere or Titanium with Ebony. Coupe and convertible only.
• A bigger glove box. The 2005 needed a switch to turn off the passenger air bag; the 2006’s passenger sensing system made it unnecessary, and taking out the old switch box, GM said, gave designers the room.
• Atomic Orange Metallic Tintcoat in place of Daytona Sunset Orange.
• Cross-drilled heavy-duty brakes with F55, the Magnetic Selective Ride Control option. Before, they came only with Z51.
• The power top included in the convertible’s 3LT group.
• On the Z06: OnStar for the first time, and an acoustic package to cut road noise, both with the 2LZ group.

One change wasn’t in the release. GM’s five-year, 100,000-mile powertrain warranty started with the 2007 models; on a car this old it has long run out.

And then the LS2 was gone. The 2008 got the 6.2-liter LS3, at 430 hp (436 with a new dual-mode exhaust), easier manual shifts, quicker automatic shifts, better steering feel and a keyless fob with the key built in, by GM’s 2008 release as the C6 guide gives it. Owners add a new Tremec TR6060 manual gearbox for 2008. The LS2 still has its fans for the money: in a 2012 CorvetteForum thread, one 2007 owner said he’d saved at least $5,000 against an equally equipped 2008.

No ZR1 and no Stingray. Searches for a “2007 Corvette ZR1” find nothing real: the supercharged C6 ZR1 arrived for 2009. The Stingray name returned with the C7 (2014–2019). A 2007 is a C6.

The engine figures, oil capacities and VIN codes are from the 2007 owner’s manual, in this site’s manual library; weights are GM’s media figures, and the EPA ratings are today’s.

How fast is a 2007 Corvette? GM’s 2007 release gave the LS2 coupe a top speed of 186 mph. For the Z06 it gave 0 to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds “in first gear,” the quarter mile in 11.7 seconds at 125 mph, 1.04 g on the skidpad, 60 to 0 in 111.3 feet and 198 mph on Germany’s Autobahn. GM’s 2007 release quotes no 0 to 60 time for the LS2 car.

Fuel and wheel nuts. The manual recommends premium, 91 or higher, for the LS2 and allows 87; the LS7 wants 91 or higher, and 93 for best performance. The tank holds 18 gallons on both, and the wheel nuts torque to 100 lb ft (140 N·m).

Gearboxes. The manual on an LS2 car is coded MM6 (2.66 first, 0.50 sixth) or, with Z51, MZ6 (2.97 and 0.57, closer gears for the track). The automatic is the six-speed 6L80 with paddles, MX0 on the 2007 order sheet (the gearbox itself is MYC), always with a 2.56 axle; every manual has a 3.42. The 2006 guide covers the automatic’s first year.

The groups. GM’s order guide sells the coupe as 1LT, 2LT or 3LT, the convertible as 2LT or 3LT, and the Z06 as 1LZ or 2LZ:

• 1LT coupe: frontal air bags only and the CD and MP3 radio.
• 2LT: sport seats with side air bags, a power passenger seat, a cargo net and luggage shade.
• 3LT: adds the head-up display, memory, heated seats, the power telescoping column, auto-dimming mirrors, Home Remote, the steering-wheel audio buttons and, on the convertible, the power top.
• 1LZ Z06: frontal air bags only and the head-up display, which every Z06 has.
• 2LZ Z06: side air bags, memory, heated seats, the telescoping column, the audio buttons and the acoustic package, and the only way to get OnStar on a Z06.

What it cost new. GM’s own 2007 price list didn’t turn up for this guide. Corvette Blogger published launch prices in June 2006 of $44,970 for the coupe, $52,910 for the convertible and $66,465 for the Z06, each with an $825 destination charge, plus $1,695 for Z51, $1,250 for the automatic and $695 for the two-tone seats. Treat those as launch figures, not GM’s paper.

Corvette Action Center’s 2007 production page (opens in new tab), from Bowling Green’s figures, counts 40,561: 21,484 coupes, 10,918 convertibles and 8,159 Z06s. That beat the 2005’s 37,372 and the 2006’s 34,021, and the 2008’s 35,310 didn’t catch it. The shares are this site’s arithmetic.

By subtraction, 6,944 coupes were 1LT and 9,980 LS2 cars had a manual. A manual convertible is the scarce one: 2,589.

The two-tone seats came in three combinations, Ebony with Light Titanium (2,131), Light Cashmere (1,554) or Cobalt Red (1,105), and a 2006 never had them. Plain Ebony went in 59.8 percent of all cars.

Black was the Z06’s color too, on 2,527 of them; no Z06 got Monterey Red. Atomic Orange went on 1,749 coupes, 1,368 convertibles (the 500 pace cars among them) and 673 Z06s. And just 399 Z06s were Arctic White, every one a Ron Fellows car.

GM announced both editions in Chicago in February 2007, in a release the C6 Corvette Registry reproduces (opens in new tab): 399 Ron Fellows Z06s and 500 Pace Car Replica convertibles. Neither came back for 2008.

The Ron Fellows ALMS GT1 Champion Z06. Fellows had driven for Corvette Racing through all six of its American Le Mans Series (ALMS) GT1 manufacturers’ titles. His Z06 is Arctic White, door handles included, the first white Z06 GM offered, with double Monterey Red fender stripes edged in Machine Silver that carry his autograph, his championship years and a maple leaf for his Canadian roots. It came with a full-width spoiler, a windshield banner, chrome wheels and the 2LZ group; inside, red seats, console, door panels and instrument panel, and the signed armrest. Price: $77,500 with destination, or $79,945 with OnStar and navigation, the only options.

GM planned 399: about 300 for the US, 33 for Canada and 66 for export. Bowling Green’s count shows 399 Z33 cars (Z33 is the edition’s option code), and Corvette Action Center’s VIN list (opens in new tab) names all 399, built, by its estimates, from January 23 to April 5, 2007.

The Indianapolis 500 Pace Car Replica. A 2007 convertible paced the 91st Indianapolis 500 on May 27, 2007, the Corvette’s ninth time and Chevrolet’s record 18th, and GM sold 500 replicas, all convertibles. GM said it was the first regular-production pace car replica Chevrolet had offered since 1998. Each is Atomic Orange, door handles too, with gold ribbon graphics from the front fender vents, Indianapolis 500 door logos and fender badges, a Z06 rear spoiler and Sterling Silver split-spoke wheels, plus Ebony seats embroidered with the race’s logo and Atomic Orange trim and engine covers.

Every replica has the LS2 with Z51, navigation with Bose, and OnStar. A six-speed manual was standard; the paddle-shift automatic was the only option. GM priced it at $66,995 with destination, $68,245 with the automatic. CAC lists 500 replica VINs built from March 1 to June 21, 2007. It also counts 57 automatics sent to the Speedway as track and festival cars (GM said only “several”); those are not replicas.

Fakes. Stripes and graphics can be added to any white Z06 or orange convertible. The VIN decides: it must be on CAC’s list, and the option label must show Z33 for a Fellows car or Z4Z for a pace car.

8,159 Z06s made 2007 the Z06’s biggest year, as the C6 Z06 guide records, and nearly four in five were 2LZ cars. GM’s 2007 release credits the LS7’s titanium connecting rods and intake valves for its appetite for revs, and gives the car 198 mph and a 7:43 lap of the Nürburgring.

The catch is in the cylinder heads, and on a 2007 it’s heavier than on any other C6 year:

• Valves. By a full reading of every complaint narrative, done for the Z06 guide, 42 of the 2007’s NHTSA complaints describe an LS7 valve problem, 18 of them a valve breaking or dropping or a valve-related engine failure. That’s the most of any C6 year in that reading (31 for 2006, 34 for 2008). The C6 guide’s quicker keyword count finds 27; the method differs, not the facts. Neither is a rate, and one 2007 owner filed the same complaint twice. Owners told NHTSA of a valve dropped at 49,562 miles on a stock car and an $18,722 quote for a new engine.
• Rockers. GM bulletin 4156A, issued in October 2007 and written for the 2007 alone, covers a possible broken LS7 rocker arm. The Z06 guide gives Hib Halverson’s account: about 1,500 rockers with faulty needle bearings went into LS7s assembled from January to late July 2007. The Ron Fellows cars were built in those months too.

The rule is the hub’s, and on a 2007 it’s not optional: receipts for heads-off guide work and new GM rockers, or the cost of both off the price. The Z06 guide has the check and the fix.

The 2007’s biggest complaint theme is fuel. By this site’s keyword count, 93 of its 386 complaints describe fuel smell or a leak, about a quarter of the file; 78 of those are LS2 cars and 9 Z06s, where NHTSA kept a VIN. Owners describe fumes in the garage and the house with nothing visible, a smell that comes only above half a tank, and fuel seeping from the top of a tank toward the exhaust. They filed from 2011 to 2026, most heavily in 2015–2017.

GM answered with Special Coverage 15682 (opens in new tab), first released in July 2016, for a leak at the flange of the left-hand (driver’s side) fuel pump module on 2007–2013 Corvettes: fuel odor, fuel drops under the left-hand tank with the gauge above half, or a check engine light. Dealers replaced the module free, for 10 years or 120,000 miles from the original in-service date. Parts came in phases: every 2008 first, then the other years, the 2007 among them.

The 2007 is the first year in the program, and it got the worst of the timing. A 2007 sold new in late 2006 or 2007 reached its 10 years in late 2016 or 2017, by this site’s arithmetic, so the coverage arrived within months of running out. One owner got GM’s letter in February 2017; another told NHTSA it came 10 years after GM knew of the problem. It has expired on every 2007, and one owner reported paying $1,200 in 2023 just to diagnose the leak. The C6 guide covers the repair and its cost.

That’s NHTSA’s whole recall list for the 2007 (opens in new tab): two, against five for the 2006, six for the 2005 and none for the 2008. The 2005–2006 Active Handling column recall (10V172000) and the painted-roof recall (06V181000) stop before the 2007.

The complaint record. NHTSA’s complaint file (opens in new tab) on the 2007 held 386, or 9.5 per 1,000 built, on October 23, 2026, against 14.4 for the 2005, 12.1 for the 2006 and 16.7 for the 2008, by this site’s arithmetic. Where the VIN shows the engine, LS2 cars and Z06s complain at about the same rate, 8.6 and 8.9 per 1,000, about different things. By this site’s keyword count (approximate; one complaint can count twice):

• Headlamps: 42, the low beams that 14V251000 deals with among them.
• Automatic stuck in Park: about 35. One owner says it can take up to 50 tries; another had the whole shifter replaced. No GM bulletin for it turned up, as on the 2005 and 2006.
• “Service Active Handling”: 30. Bulletin 060235002B (a C0710 steering wheel position sensor code, 2005–2008) and PIC-4868 and 08-05-25-004A (ABS, traction or stability lights with codes C0035–C0052, 2007–2008) reach the 2007.
• Air bag light: 19. Special Coverage 15643, for the power seat connector, has expired; bulletin 06-08-50-009I covers the passenger sensing system.
• Roof: 13. One owner told NHTSA in January 2010 that his roof separated at 40 mph, and three owners say their VIN was outside 09V491000. A convertible has no roof panel to worry about.
• Clutch: 8. Special Coverage 14717 for the clutch hydraulics has expired.

Bulletin 08-07-30-021 covers 2007–2008 automatics with a no-crank or a transmission that “may not shift,” from a terminal backing out of the harness connector, and 4288 water on the passenger floor of 2005–2007 cars. The 2005’s column-lock no-start doesn’t appear on the 2007 in NHTSA’s complaints or GM’s bulletins.

The generation’s other faults, the harmonic balancer and the rest, are in the C6 guide.

The VIN. A 2007 reads 1G1YY, then a 2 for a coupe or Z06 or a 3 for a convertible, a 5 for frontal air bags only (a 1LT coupe or 1LZ Z06) or a 6 with side air bags, U for the LS2 or E for the LS7, a check digit, a 7 for 2007, a 5 for Bowling Green, and the sequence. The owner’s manual puts the VIN plate at the driver’s front corner of the dash and says the eighth character is the engine code.

The option label. The same page puts the Service Parts Identification label inside the glove box: VIN, paint and every RPO code. Read it for Z51, F55, MZ6 or MX0, the equipment group’s tells (UK3 for the wheel buttons), the paint code (83U for Atomic Orange) and, on the specials, Z33 or Z4Z.

Against a 2006. Audio buttons on the steering wheel, the bigger glove box, Atomic Orange paint, two-tone seats on a coupe or convertible, OnStar on a Z06. Missing buttons don’t make a car a 2006: about 10,500 1LT and 2LT coupes and convertibles never had them. The 2006 guide lists the same tells from the other side.

Against a 2008. A 6.0-liter LS2 with U in the VIN’s eighth place, not the LS3; a fob without the key built in.

When the clues disagree, the tenth character settles the year.

1. Run the VIN through NHTSA’s recall lookup. Ask for proof of the low-beam jumper on every car, and the 09V491000 roof repair or the new-design panel on a coupe or Z06.
2. Fill it past half and wait. Then smell around the back and look under the left-hand tank. Ask whether the fuel module was replaced under 15682, or since, with receipts.
3. Drive until it’s warm, then check the low beams.
4. Work the automatic’s lever. Out of Park and back, cold and warm, every time. Then D, S and both paddles: clean shifts, and no “may not shift” message.
5. On a Z06: the heads and the rockers. Receipts for heads-off guide work and new rockers, or the money set aside. Check the dry-sump oil warm, the way the manual says, never on a cold reading.
6. Listen to the roof on rough pavement and look at the headliner for stains.
7. Watch the dash for “Service Active Handling,” an air bag light or ABS and traction warnings.
8. On a manual: a clutch pedal that returns every time.
9. Read the option label against the ad: the group, Z51, the paint code and, for a special, Z33 or Z4Z and a VIN on CAC’s list.
10. Battery and storage. Owners mostly report a Group 90 battery in 2006–2007 cars (battery guide); a car that sits wants a maintainer.
11. A pre-purchase inspection by a shop that knows C6s, and the service records.

How much is a 2007 Corvette worth? On Bring a Trailer (opens in new tab), from January 1 to October 23, 2026, by this site’s count:

Base cars brought a median $22,250 (6 sales), Z06s a median $49,500 (10 unmodified cars). The six base cars were two 45,000- and 48,000-mile coupes at $21,500 each and four convertibles, all 3LTs, at a median $23,125; the top sale was a 34,000-mile 3LT Z51 six-speed. Left out: a Callaway-supercharged convertible ($25,069) and a C2-style rebody bid to $59,776 that didn’t sell. Low-mile Z06s pulled their median up: a 310-mile car brought $77,500. The pace cars all had under 3,200 miles. No Fellows car sold there in 2026; the last, with 1,200 miles, brought $55,000 in November 2025.

Samples this small move with one sale, and auction cars skew clean and low-mile. Base 2006s brought a median $19,400 over the same months and base 2005s $23,875: no premium for being the last LS2.

Hagerty’s valuation tool, in archived copies, put a 2007 coupe in #3 (“good”) condition at $22,200 in April 2025, less 10 percent for an automatic, and a Z06 at $37,200 in January 2026. Its #3 figures for the specials are older: $39,100 for a Fellows car and $24,400 for a pace car, both October 2023. Those are what values were, on those dates, not a forecast.

Buy a 2007 coupe or convertible in 3LT trim. It’s the group that got the year’s audio buttons and, on a convertible, the power top, along with the head-up display and heated seats. Add Z51 and the six-speed if it will see a back road worth driving. Then buy it on paper: the low-beam jumper, the roof repair on a coupe, and a fuel module replaced with receipts or a car that passes the half-tank sniff test. The four 3LT convertibles on Bring a Trailer in 2026 brought a median $23,125, for 400 hp and the last of the LS2.

The Z06 is the faster buy and the riskier year. Buy a 2007 only with heads-off and rocker receipts, or with $3,000–6,000 off the price for the work, the C6 Z06 guide’s 2024–2025 figure. Do that and America’s sports car hands you 505 hp for a median $49,500.

Buy a Ron Fellows car or a pace car replica for what it is: one of 399 or one of 500, from the only year GM built them. Pay the premium knowingly, and only for a VIN on the list and a label with the code.

For the years either side, the 2006 guide and the 2005 guide cover the LS2’s first two seasons, and the best Corvette years guide names 2006–2007 as the C6’s budget years.