Any company that’s been around for 100 years is doing something right. Chevrolet has been around that long, but in addition to doing something right, it’s also made something great––100 somethings, according to Edmunds’ insideline.com.

“100 Greatest Chevrolets of All Time” was compiled by insideline.com’s John Pearley Huffman, a self-confessed “former Vega owner.” The list is made up of the Chevys that made the company’s reputation and secured its place in automotive culture. Entries include not only production cars, but racers powered by Chevy engines, and concept cars, prototypes, and movie cars made by or based on Chevrolets.

You might find fault with some choices, such as the 1971 G-Van and the 1962 Chevy II, but others, like the 1957 Corvette SS and the NASCAR Chevy Monte Carlo, are harder to argue over. The top 10 include:

1. 1955 Bel Air Sport Coupe
2. 1963 Corvette Coupe
3. 1967 Camaro Z/28
4. 1990 Corvette ZR1
5. 2009 Corvette ZR1
6. 1985 Camaro IROC-Z
7. 1969 Camaro ZL-1
8. 1970 Chevelle SS 454 LS6
9. 1957 Bel Air Convertible
10. 2011 Volt

Check out Huffman's entire list of 100 greatest Chevys and let us know if you think of any that didn't make the list––and should.   

It was a worthy effort—and a close call as well. Aaron Pfadt was hell-bent on getting into the 341 Club, an elite group of drivers who have scaled the 5.2-mile Geiger Grade between Virginia City and the Comstock Lode area in 3:41 or less.

The 2011 Spectre 341 Challenge Hill Climb was Pfadt’s first run up the mountain and, technically, was a way to showcase his Salt Lake City company’s—Pfadt Racing—new suspension system for Camaros. The driver knew his car and the suspension; what he had to learn quickly was the tricky 22-turn closed course.

Pfadt is a veteran of performance street driving and road courses. His criteria for participating in racing events was the degree in which they were unusual. The Spectre 341 Challenge made the cut.

He and his 2010 Chevy Camaro SS were well on their way to cracking the code of the winding, treacherous Nevada highway. With a full tank of gas, a passenger and an approximate two-ton weight, he’d managed a 3:56 on the first run and knew the goal time was within reach. More...

Corvettes did better than any other single type of car on this year’s Spectre 341 Hillclimb to Virginia City. Given the potential for full-throttle thrills, it’s no surprise that several participants were Corvette owners. This year, four in particular took on the Geiger Grade leading up to Virginia City: winner Lou Gigliotti, Randy Harris (Sixth place), Ryan Tauchen (14th place), and Frank Vanson (19th place). This quad of Vettes all had exhilarating experiences to relate. We’ve already covered Gigliotti of Wylie, Texas, who drove his winning LG Motorsports 2010 ZR1 to blistering elapsed time of 3:14 (averaging 96.27 mph), a full 7.3 seconds faster than his race-winning run last year.

Besides Gigliotti, seasoned 341 contender Randy Harris manned the wheel of a tricked-out black 2000 C5 for the first time, having run a ’91 ZR1 and Porsche 911 Turbo in the previous two decades. Even though his 650-hp, twin-turbo Lingenfelter mill has less torque than Gigliotti’s grinding machine, he still maintained a speed 88.58 mph over the five-mile sprint, finishing a scant 15 seconds behind the fastest time. Even so, he was not to be consoled:

“That’s a long 15 seconds,” he winced. “What Lou did in the last two years—it’s incredible!”

Harris compensated for having comparatively less power by adding bigger Baer brakes, wider wheels, Fox shocks and fatter swaybars, along with a weight reduction by stripping out the interior.

“I feel I went way overboard with gutting it, but then you turn the key and press the accelerator, and you forget about what’s missing as your senses overtake you,” he points out. “At the Virginia City hill climb, it’s all adrenaline, with your mind and the dangers keeping that adrenaline in check.”

Confirming Gagliotti’s observations, he admits that the most challenging aspect of the 341 is staying focused and, “Not messing up … It’s not a 10/10ths course. I’ve had two wrecks on it over the years, and that kinda slows you down a bit.” Even so, he went home happy: “It was a good year,” he summed up.

Spectre Performance: (909) 673-9800, 1720 South Carlos Ave., Ontario, CA 91761, www.spectreperformance.com.

It might come as a surprise that R.J. Gottlieb and his 1969 Camaro, Big Red, finished fifth in the 2011 Spectre 341 Challenge Hill Climb. After all, most of the competitors were decades younger and, at least on the surface, had way more power and performance. But this Camaro is only skin-deep in the Sixties, since underneath that crimson lipstick is a ferocious contender with an 800 horsepower 540 big block, fitted into a NASCAR-style tube frame.

5th Place, 3:30

Also surprising is Gottlieb’s commitment to maintaining the look of an American muscle car. He’s not about to change the Camaro’s aerodynamics to whack a few seconds off his time, nor will be supercharge Red. The Camaro ran with a 4-barrel carb. To hell with anything but a naturally aspirated mill; with 800 hp you can blast your way through that thin mountain air.

Big Red is the stuff of legends. R.J. and his father, Dan, built the beast in the late ‘80s on a stock ’68 Camaro chassis. The first Big Red ended up in a heap on its first road race, the La Carrera Panamericana in Mexico. Big Red One rose from those ashes, this time with a full tube frame and bodywork truly based on a ’69 Camaro with an all-aluminum Big Block built by John Lingenfelter. Later engines and refinements were done by Larry Mollicone. Big Red sustained speeds to the north of 200 mph on every roadrace in North America. The Red that Gottlieb piloted up Nevada’s Geiger Grade is Big Red Three with modern technology incorporated into the massive engine. While it still looks like all-American muscle, it has lived up to the Gottlieb’s goal of being the fastest super production car at any event. More...

Jeremy Kappus is a tuning wizard. He unleashed his 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer EVO’s four-banger, bringing home a fourth-place finish in 3:24.2 at this year’s Spectre 341 Challenge Hill Climb from Virginia City to the Comstock Lode mountaintop in Nevada with an average speed of 91.69 mph. “I raced all day,” he said. “The EVO was flawless.”

Jeremy Kappus, 4th place, 3:24.2

The speed and time are impressive enough, but Kappus’ little road-rocket was competing against the biggest and best in high performance American and European autos. It helped that Kappus is a Reno, NV native and well versed in the art of tearing up mountainsides. But his strongest asset is his talent at coaxing more horsepower out of small engines than seems possible. This was Kappus’ second hill climb and second fourth-place finish. His 2011 finish reflected a one-second improvement over 2010.

Kappus started his racing odyssey with the vision of a tarmac rally car, a 2000 Subaru. “The Subaru was a rough draft,” he admitted. “I was just getting into tuning. I really couldn’t compete. I was always blowing it up before I even got to the track.”

He took the Subaru “learning experience” and upped the ante with the 2006 EVO. “I figured it was better to start with more,” he said. “The EVO was a stronger foundation, a much better platform.” It also had a programmable ECU, as rich a vein for Kappus as the Comstock Lode proved for gold miners.

Reno touts itself be the biggest little town, but it’s not exactly the epicenter of high performance. Kappus street tuned his EVO by ear since no dyno was available to him. He did the same when it came to race tuning the rocket.  He took his EVO to the local track and figured he was pulling 450 hp out of the 2-liter turbo-charged engine. He also boosted his confidence level by learning how to keep his new ride from blowing up and keeping it on the track. Kappus still considers his performance tuning conservative. “I like to keep it as simple and refined as I can,” he said.

Kappus works out of his garage, performance tuning other people’s EVOs, a tough niche in pick-up-prone northern Nevada. “I like to show people just how much they can get out of a 4-cylinder engine. It excites me. You really get a lot of game for the money.”

How much game for the money? Kappus’ 2006 EVO cost him a comparatively low $26,000. You could buy five or six EVOs for the price of Kappus’ competition on the Geiger Grade.

Check out the other winners and their cars in the related posts below.