Ask the experts
If there's an ounce of gasoline in your veins, you'll have an opinion about the Corvette. It's that sort of car. But these guys know Corvettes better than most. So what do they think the C7 should be like?
The experts:
Dick Guldstrand: Racer; Guldstrand Motorsports
Wendell Strode: National Corvette Museum
Mike Yager: Mid-America Motorworks
Steve Davis: Barrett-Jackson Auctions
Chip Foose: Foose Design
Peter Brock: GM Design (1957-1958)
Jay Leno: Informed enthusiast
Front or mid-engine?
DG: Front engine. It's tradition! It's not some European undriveable exotic frustration.
WS: Front engine. Corvette practically has neutral weight balance, and a small front bias is actually good since it counteracts the lift at high speeds.
MY: Front engine! To change the car's configuration would spoil almost 55 years of successful evolution.
SD: Front engine, as this is the tried and true foundation of the Corvette that still delivers and is the link from the past into the future.
CF: The Corvette lineup should be split into two models. The base car should be a front-engine convertible. The Z06, or whatever the top model is called, should be a mid-engine coupe.
PB: Mid-engine. Even if GM came up with an even better front engine Vette, it's still not going to be the technological step that is needed to be a world class player.
JL: I think the Corvette will eventually go to mid-engine. Mid-engine is the future.
How far should the styling go?
DG: It should continue in an evolutionary direction, but still start a revolution, like the California Corvette concept car from a few years ago.
WS: Corvette has always been a forward-looking car, and it should remain so. GM Design should work in elements that are suggestive of prior designs, constrained only by packaging, performance, and manufacturing issues.
MY: The next generation of Corvette should go to the top end of "evolutionary." A total revolutionary change might miss the mark and destroy the brand.
SD: Evolutionary, with a retro-spin, but not too radical.
CF: GM needs to attract and entice younger buyers. Right now it's too much of a retirement car.
PB: They shouldn't do a "George Jetson" car; it has to be an honest automobile right from the start. Design the car so that it works, and it'll be a classic design forever.
JL: The styling can go as far as they can take it. The key to the Corvette is that it's a car the average guy can aspire to.
How can GM make Corvette a world-beater?
DG: It must be as light as possible and probably all-wheel drive, too. GM also should spend more money on the interior to compete with the Europeans.
WS: Do everything they did this time around, just go one step better. An important part of that also would be to follow up on the upgraded leather interior option and find a happy medium that gets it into every car. Nobody should have to apologize for a cheap-looking interior in a world-class car.
MY: Just get the seats improved and the interior right. Check out the quality of Ferrari F430 and 599 GTB. If I were on the Corvette platform group, those interiors would by my target.
SD: The next Corvette has to deliver appeal, performance, design, and relative affordability. It needs to reflect the remarkable heritage of its forefathers while celebrating the innovations of the sports cars of today and into the future.
CF: Chevrolet needs to do things with Corvette that'll engage younger buyers.
PB: It has to be quality all the way through. Get rid of the cheap plastic inside.
JL: They're already making a world-beater. I hear people bitch and moan about the interior. For the money, what would you rather have? Power, handling, or interior?
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