There have always been two kinds of Corvettes: the workaday, star-spangled sports cars, and the special Vettes - domestic supercars like the L88, the ZR1, and the current Z06. As good as the past twenty years have been to the former, they've been downright spectacular to the latter. Let's face it: Hear the word Corvette and chances are you'll still conjure up a sorry tableau of gold chains, lawn chairs, and wife-swapping. Hear ZR1 or Z06, however, and up pop visions of America's sports car putting the smackdown on the high-end Euro weenies. Knowing what most enthusiasts know about GM, it's a wonder these SuperVettes were built at all. So in celebration of their very existence (and, of course, wife-swapping) we have brought together, for your delectation, two colossi of American performance, the "King of the Hill" ZR1 and the current Z06. The point is to see how our homegrown superhero has changed over the past two decades, and how it hasn't.

The ZR1 is based on the fourth-generation (C4) Corvette, which represented a quantum leap over its C3 predecessor. By 1982, when the last of the third-generation Corvettes rolled off the assembly line, they were larded with a smog-choked motor stuck in a chassis - and body - still lingering from the Nixon administration. In 1984, the fourth-generation chassis brought the car into the modern era, at a time when even the exotic competition was equally hampered by emissions controls. Despite its 205-horsepower pushrod V8, the Corvette managed to sprint to 60 mph in 6.7 seconds, a full tenth of a second faster than Ferrari's 308 GTBi Quattrovalvole. As the '80s wore on, Corvette horsepower slowly crept back into the mid 200s, which made for a respectably quick car with a top speed in the neighborhood of a buck fifty. At the same time, high-end exotics like the Ferrari Testarossa were flirting with 400 horsepower and top speeds over 180 mph.

Senior Corvette Engineer Dave McLellan had been dreaming of a SuperVette since the late '70s. As the fourth-generation car came together, McLellan knew the muscle-car wars of the late '60s were etched in the brains of a large number of buyers. But the story of the "King of the Hill" ZR1 was more emblematic of an internal drive to push the performance envelope than it was an attempt to cater to a demographic. Confident in its new C4 chassis, the Corvette team looked at technology common in Ferraris, Porsches, and the new crop of Japanese high-end performance cars looming on the horizon. All these cars' engines bore overhead cams and multi-valve heads. Under the Chevy's hood was a lump that could still bolt in place of the first V8 stuffed into the 1955 Corvette. The team agonized over how to wring more power out of Corvette's drivetrain. Turbocharging was deemed too low-tech, and an existing block with twin-cam heads wouldn't sandwich between the C4's frame rails. GM's 1986 purchase of Lotus flicked the switch. The ensuing Lotus-designed and Mercury Marine-built aluminum V8, known as the LT5, sported four cams, 32 valves, a variable intake manifold, and shared only its bore spacing with Chevy's existing small-block.

Compared with the standard Corvette, the ZR1 offered more to love: wider rear tires, subtly flared rear haunches, 150 additional pounds, and a lot more power - 375 hp gave way to 405 in the middle of the production run. All of which came at a price: The ZR1 option added $27,000 to base Corvette, putting its MSRP at $58,995. By the end of its lifespan, the ZR1 stickered at $68,043. Stats like a sub-five-second 0-60 run, 170-plus-mph top speed, and exoticar roadholding numbers put the Chevy in the same bracket as Ferraris, Lotuses, NSXs, and Porsches, and gave the late-coming, cross-town, Dodge Viper a performance target. Early in the LT5's five-year run, GM pulled the plug on continued development due to upcoming changes in emissions regulations. Lotus engineers speculated they could make some minor changes for '95 that would raise output to 475 hp, but the axe had already fallen. The Z06 model, introduced in the following fifth-generation chassis, brought pushrod horsepower up near ZR1 levels, but it wasn't until the sixth-generation Z06 in 2006 that the Corvette vaulted back into the supercar stratosphere.

Ideologically, the next ultra-high performance Corvette was less of a leap of faith for GM. Corvettes hit international tracks in 2001 with the C5-R factory-racing program, and quickly became an endurance-racing juggernaut. Senior Corvette engineer Dave Hill took what he had learned from the C5-R campaigns and put all of it into the new, sixth-generation racing Corvette (C6-R), which was developed in tandem with the current C6 Z06, transferring technology from the racecar to the street version. The resulting Corvette costs roughly $26,000 more than the base and makes abundant use of carbon fiber, titanium, magnesium, and aluminum to trim weight. A dry-sump, 505-hp, 7.0-liter small block -known internally as LS7 - turns the rear rubber to expensive blue smoke.

Stylistically, the ZR1 is somewhat hard to distinguish from its base counterpart. Chevy integrated the ZR1's squared-taillight rear fascia into the entire Corvette line for the car's second year, so the only visual differences were wider rear tires, a roof-mounted brake light, and a slightly flared rump. The Z06 is less subtle, set apart by fender flares, air ducts, and wider rear wheels. Parked alongside each other, the ZR1 rides higher off the ground than the Z06, but its overall height is shorter.

The interiors of both resemble their less-super counterparts, with emblems as the main reminder of what lurks underhood. The ZR1's gauge cluster was an evolution of the first C4's, but was still a haphazard combination of black and orange analog gauges and an LCD speedometer. In contrast, the new Z06 imparts most of the basics through traditional analog gauges in concert with a heads-up windshield readout that even displays lateral acceleration in gs. Both cars have a similar vibe inside, attributable to their low driving positions and general layout. The ZR1's high door sills, large central tunnel, and narrow footwells give the impression of riding in a small pouch next to the mechanicals, while the current car feels a bit less cramped.

Pushrod engines aside, both cars use the most up-to-date technology from their respective eras. The ZR1's FX3 Selective Ride suspension lets the driver choose from three damping settings (it also adjusts itself based on vehicle speed) and the valet key can restrict engine output to 230 hp. The Z06 doesn't use a key, or even have door handles. Push-button solenoids pop the doors open, and the fob only needs to be within a certain distance of the car to enable the starter button. Instead of letting the driver mess with suspension-damping levels, the Z06's active-handling settings control or disable the traction-control safety net.

Open the hood, and the ZR1 wins the beauty contest hands down. The LT5 V8 looks purposeful, with a sea of intake runners and cam covers that allude to parts whirring away underneath. The LS7 small block in the Z06, by contrast, is hidden below large plastic covers and a plastic intake plenum - essentially three lumps and an alternator. You can't see the titanium rods that weigh 464 grams each or any of the other racing-derived tricks that lurk within. The only real clue to the Z06's seriousness is its dry-sump tank stuffed into a corner of the engine bay.

Driving the two reinforces their familial relationship. Both feel as if a large percentage of their lateral grip is derived from a combination of large tires and wide tracks. And both have the long, sloping hoods, large rear-glass areas, and smooth, overdriven V8s common to all later-generation Corvettes.

Some differences are tactile: the ZR1's steering wheel is thicker and requires more effort to turn a slower ratio; the clutch pedal requires more effort to depress; and the shifter throws are almost twice as long as those in the Z06. Others are auditory: The LT5 is a throatier engine, breathing deeply through its sixteen intake valves, but it has a more metallic roar than the LS7, which bellows sonorously when its active exhaust system opens up over 3500 rpm.

What's the most startling thing they've learned over in Bowling Green and Detroit in the seventeen years that have elapsed since the first ZR1? Stomp the accelerator on both cars, and it's crystal clear. The ZR1 is no slouch, and pulls hard through the rev range, making its crisp engine noise. If you're riding in the car, it feels even stronger because you're not anticipating the moment of added thrust. Do the same in the Z06, and even behind the wheel you feel like a passenger as its massive torque hurtles you back. The difference is jaw-dropping. ZR1 owner Peter Williams tried the Z06 for the first time, and hopped out with a huge grin. "That's unbelievable," he said. Thanks to its aluminum structure and enormous displacement, the Z06's 100 extra horsepower hauls 370 fewer pounds than the ZR1. The development of the C5-R and C6-R racers shines through in the chassis, too. The ZR1 makes big grip on account of its wide tires, but the front end can be felt struggling to cope over uneven surfaces as it jitters and twists. In contrast, the newer chassis, though still suspended by leaf springs, stays true to the intended line and allows the suspension to do its thing while delivering a crisper turn in and slightly smoother ride. Both cars stop well, but the Z06's six-piston front and four-piston rear caliper setup, with individual pads for each piston, stop the lighter, newer car with more authority.

And though the ZR1 was no slouch for its era, the current Z06 is an even bigger overachiever, posting supercar stats in all of the Olympic events of car testing. It's more useable on a daily basis than either the discontinued Ford GT or the slower Viper. The former can trump the Corvette on raw speed and power, but neither car is as comfortable or delivers a gas-guzzler tax-beating 26 mpg on the highway. Porsche's 911 Turbo, Ferrari's F430, and even Lamborghini's Gallardo post similar numbers except in one key category: With a price tag of around $70,000, most of the competition demands double or triple the scratch to get behind the wheel.

Corvettes have always been aspirational vehicles for the working class, but cars like the ZR1 and Z06 deliver power of a higher order. No matter the era, there's one thing you can be sure of whenever you see a SuperVette rolling down the street: The dude behind the wheel is a seriously rich plumber.