C7 Corvette
 

According to a one-sentence blurb in Automobile Magazine, the next generation Corvette will be mid-engined!?

This delights sports car fans like me, but is sure to piss off the Corvette faithful.

Why would it piss them off? If it's fast, handles well, looks good and isn't too pricey, wouldn't they be happy as can be? :confused:

But...but...

The engine is in the wrong place...

"Only durn furn cars have der injuns in back."

Just wait, someone will call it "not a real Corvette".

Slowly but surely the Vette is winning me over. This is a big step in that direction, but Chris I think you're right - it may alienate the gold-chain crowd.

They should make both a front engine and mid-engine vette. make the mid-engine one called the Aerovette or Corvair III.

Heck in the latest Car and Driver the standard C7 beats the 997TT around VIR--and thats not even the Z06. Nice.

You mean like changing the engine position in a 911? :p

They have been talking about a mid engine Corvette for over a decade... and I think it would be a good thing... but look what happened when Porsche tried to replace the 911 with the 928.

It will not be the first time they toyed with a mid engine design in the Vette.

I do not hate the car but the politics in certain racing venues that I was involved in. That is what caused me to only want to do one thing with my RX7, beat Corvettes.

Honestly, if they keep improving this car much more I will no longer be able to do that.

A mid engine vette would get my attention and might win me over.

I don't think Corvette guys get hung up on this stuff. As long as the ponies are there, and you give them better weight distribution, I'm sure they'll be giddy. The 911/928 analogy is different, as the appearance of the car changed completely, it got a lot heavier, and it handled completely different. They were trying to change from a capable sports car to a GT cruiser...kinda like going from a 'vette to a Buick. ;)

Didn't GM already try a mid-engine Corvette with the Fiero?

Huh? Fiero? Oh...you must be thinking Chevette. :p

well as an owner of a 2007 C6 Z51 vette and a 1983 911SC Cab I can tell you that the vette is definately faster! ;)

I love the power (mainly the torque) of the Vette, its addicting, but my 911 is so much more fun.

Its more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow. The sounds of my flat 6 are awesome. The C6 is very modern, which is nice for AC, but when I am in the 911 I cannot imagine leaving the Porsche family....

I'd like to look back on this post about a month before the mid-engined 'vette is due to launch :D

I bet there are Corvette purists who will be up in arms just like the 911 crowd when Porsche changed to a water cooled engine in the 996.
Saying that there weren't many objections when Chevrolet changed the traditional Corvette design to one that went round corners. ;)

That's whack.

As pointed out above, the Fiero was a mid-engined Chevette.

I'll stand by my post. :D

As a old Corvette owner of many models, I would find a mid engine car to be the next best evolution of the make. Its been in the plans for many years, so why not.

Nice...but still a !"/$%?&* GM....!

I just wish they would do something about those horrible interiors. Corvette is a very capable car, but when you get in, you are obviously sitting in a Chevy.

Now we need a mid engine c7 vette killer. OH, like the Cayman.

...Waiting for other shoe to drop.








Like that will ever happen

I always thought it would be fun to fabricate a mid-engined sports car with an SBC.

Looks like Chevy beet me to it...

Mid engine V-8...... Hmmmmm.......


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1184114859.jpg

There is a brief write up in WInding Road Magazine and it looks awesome!

Lots of others have beat Chevy to it.


http://members.cox.net/stdotjohn/pos...1177882757.jpg

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads...1163482298.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...Picture198.jpg

http://www.v8914.com/Images/Big/Blower-Shield.jpg

Pontiac had plans to twin turbo charge the 2.8 and make a Ferrari eater out of the Fiero. Problem was the car would possibly be faster, and undoubtedly handle better than the Corvette. Chevrolet was against this, of course, as the Corvette was their marque car. Research it. This has been documented in a few car magazines as one of the reasons the Fiero was killed.

Yeah, and if my aunt had nuts she'd be my uncle.

Some unfulfilled "plans" does not equal "already tried a mid-engine Corvette."

GM never tried a mid-engine Corvette with the Fiero.

Again, do your research. They fulfilled the plans, and the car did serious credibility damage to the Corvette's ability as the top American road car. GM top brass thought "the better" and killed it.

To worsen things (I imagine in your view), a couple aftermarket people came out with turbo kits for the Fiero back in the day, and it produced more horsepower than the stock Corvette engine.

I'm not saying the Fiero is a better car. I'm only saying there has been serious internal competition from other GM's division to potentially knocking the Corvette from its position.

But then, I imagine you don't think the CTS V (a four-door sedan) can pose a competition threat to the Vette on the race track. Well, it has.

Same song, different millenium...
 

A decade? The General has been periodically floating the same old PR balloon for almost 40 years... Excuse my skepticism.


1968:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1184123343.jpg



1970:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1184123368.jpg



1971:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1184123389.jpg



1973:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1184124932.jpg



1976:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1184124960.jpg


1990:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1184124995.jpg


I'll believe it when I see it, interest level or lack thereof notwithstanding.



Tim

I'm interested. GM's building some good stuff lately. Hell, I've even retracted my dis of Ford and its products. Those Shelby Mustangs are awesome, and the Ford GT, no matter what I've said in the past, is a damn nice piece of engineering.

All may be true. But the Fiero was never an attempt by GM to build a mid-engined Corvette. Even if they would have built a high performance version of the Fiero that was a fast as a Corvette, it would have been a high performance Fiero, not an attempt to build a mid-engined Corvette. The Fiero had nothing to do with the Corvette, mechanically or otherwise.

It would be like saying the 944 Turbo was an attempt by Porsche to build a front engined 911.

Would a 914 with an all aluminum chevy qualify? Seen those.

I'll take the 1968 model from Tim Hanson's post please - I like!
Then again 1968 was a very good year.

The 1973 Model was to have a Rotary Engine in it. One Prototype they made had a 2 rotor engine another had a 4 rotor engine.

Bad analogy there - that was the original mission of the 944 Turbo - the Turbo is not a special version of the 944, the 944 is a cheap version of the Turbo. The Turbo was the original design, but they released the 944 NA first to replace the 924, it would of originally still had t he 924's narrower fenders, but it got those belonging to 944 Turbo's.

The 944 Turbo would of come out sooner, but there where labor strikes delaying production.

I've been waiting to post this...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1184158029.jpg

Huh. The 951 is a front engined 911?

Zora always wanted to make the corvette a mid engined car from day one. GM brass shot him down every time.

Seems like the natural progression to me.

At least they got smart by placing the gearbox in the rear and removing those popup headlights...

Problem solved, and put a $200,000 price tag on it, and limit production.

http://www.haitianconnection.com/USE...t-1280x960.jpg

That looks kinda cool. But 200G's? Yikes!

That's just a number I tagged it with. The $150,000 Ford GT was not going to compete with a Boss or Shelby Mustang so it did not have to sell for $200,000. What's a special top of the line Vette list for these days?

For a base line:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrari_F430
Vette:
http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/04/spy-shots-corvette-ss-z07-stingray-caught/
http://www.edmunds.com/new/2008/cadillac/xlr/index.html#
http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/1...20121580-E.jpg