Corvette

Spied: 2009 Corvette Stingray - Car News

650-hp boosted super-Vette is getting closer to reality.

From afar this Vette would appear to be just another Z06. Now rub your eyes and take a closer look, because these are the first spy shots of the highly anticipated, but yet unnamed super Corvette. The large hood bulge you see is rumored to be concealing a supercharged 6.2-liter V-8, and packing upwards of 650 horsepower. This engine will likely use an integrated intake-manifold intercooler and should sprint from 0 to 60 mph in less than 3.4 seconds. And, with the addition of more carbon fiber in the body and expanded use of polycarbonates, this super Vette could weigh less than the current Z06.

GM’s Performance Center in Wixom, Michigan will likely produce the powerplant, but expect only about 1500–2000 copies annually. Initially called the Blue Devil, there has been much speculation in the past several months about the name for this super Z06. Recently we hear that GM has scrapped the Blue Devil name in favor of Corvette SS (we hope not), Z07, or even reviving the Stingray nameplate. Whatever the name may be, expect this beast to carry a sticker around the $100,000 mark, which is by far the cheapest way to get 650 hp in a production car.

"Corvette Sting Ray: One of the 25 Most Beautiful Cars Ever"

The 25 Most Beautiful Cars Ever. When you think about that statement, as I did before reading the story, you have to immediately think Corvette Sting Ray. So did the editors of Automobile Magazine. They've collected 25 of the most beautiful cars ever designed and you guessed it, the 1963 Corvette Sting Ray.

Here's what Automobile said about the Sting Ray, "The 1963 Corvette coupe, the Cindy Crawford of sports cars, would be just another fair fastback without its cleft rear window. GM design boss Bill Mitchell used the thin band of bodywork to sweep his signature windsplit from the top of the windshield to the tail--and to assert his dominance over Corvette chief engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov, who hated it. (It was gone for '64.) The split rear glass was considered a radical design gesture in its day, but Corvette stylists experimented with even more extreme proposals. One sculpted in 1957 by Peter Brock, code-named the Q-Corvette, featured doors that hinged up and forward from a split windshield."

A big thank you to Automobile Magazine for featuring, and acknowledging, a classic piece of American history, the Sting Ray.