Stingray concept (right) with original car
The design boss of General Motors, Ed Welburn, has revealed that the next-generation Corvette will mark the return of the classic split rear window, a design trick made famous by the 1963 Corvette C2.
Welburn told US website Edmunds that the split window on the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray concept (pictured), star of this February's Chicago show and the film Transformers 2, will be a part of the next 'Vette. "That car is not the next Corvette," said Welburn. "But the split window is something that I expect for the next Corvette."
Welburn also confirmed that, although GM looked carefully in to the possibility of a mid-engined Corvette, the next car will retain the classic front-engined, rear-drive layout.
GM's global head of design is credited with the responsibility for the retro-flavoured reborn Camaro, and he definitely gets PH kudos for that, but bringing a retro accent to the Corvette? We're not so sure whether it needs it.
The split rear screen has always been a controversial point on the Corvette, however; it was only actually a feature of the car for just one year. By 1964, the split screen had disappeared, but the impression that it left has made it part of Corvette folklore ever since.
The '63 original...
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...and the star of Transformers 2
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