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Crashed C8 Corvette Will Be Reborn With Turbo Rotary Engine Swap

After he said he’s not interested in a wrecked car for his turbo four-rotor project, Rob Dahm did the exact opposite by purchasing a crashed C8 Corvette we’ve covered a month ago in a different article. To make a long story short, the Z51 in the photo gallery T-boned a drunk driver’s Hyundai Accent approximately 24 hours after the owner took delivery of the mid-engine sports car.
I Bought The First WRECKED C8 CORVETTE! 4 Rotor Aerovette Coming! 23 photos
Photo: Rob Dahm on Facebook
I Bought The First WRECKED C8 CORVETTE! 4 Rotor Aerovette Coming!I Bought The First WRECKED C8 CORVETTE! 4 Rotor Aerovette Coming!I Bought The First WRECKED C8 CORVETTE! 4 Rotor Aerovette Coming!I Bought The First WRECKED C8 CORVETTE! 4 Rotor Aerovette Coming!Drunk Driver Crashes Into C8 Corvette 24 Hours After Owner Took DeliveryDrunk Driver Crashes Into C8 Corvette 24 Hours After Owner Took DeliveryDrunk Driver Crashes Into C8 Corvette 24 Hours After Owner Took DeliveryDrunk Driver Crashes Into C8 Corvette 24 Hours After Owner Took DeliveryDrunk Driver Crashes Into C8 Corvette 24 Hours After Owner Took DeliveryDrunk Driver Crashes Into C8 Corvette 24 Hours After Owner Took DeliveryDrunk Driver Crashes Into C8 Corvette 24 Hours After Owner Took DeliveryDrunk Driver Crashes Into C8 Corvette 24 Hours After Owner Took DeliveryDrunk Driver Crashes Into C8 Corvette 24 Hours After Owner Took DeliveryDrunk Driver Crashes Into C8 Corvette 24 Hours After Owner Took DeliveryDrunk Driver Crashes Into C8 Corvette 24 Hours After Owner Took DeliveryDrunk Driver Crashes Into C8 Corvette 24 Hours After Owner Took DeliveryDrunk Driver Crashes Into C8 Corvette 24 Hours After Owner Took DeliveryDrunk Driver Crashes Into C8 Corvette 24 Hours After Owner Took DeliveryDrunk Driver Crashes Into C8 Corvette 24 Hours After Owner Took DeliveryDrunk Driver Crashes Into C8 Corvette 24 Hours After Owner Took DeliveryDrunk Driver Crashes Into C8 Corvette 24 Hours After Owner Took DeliveryDrunk Driver Crashes Into C8 Corvette 24 Hours After Owner Took Delivery
First things first, we need to talk about the YouTuber’s choice in terms of video titles. “I Bought The First WRECKED C8 Corvette” is incorrect. Excluding the development prototype’s accident at Virginia International Raceway, a blue-painted example of the breed was severely damaged in California in August 2019 after colliding with a white utility vehicle, also a Chevy.

Having said that, let’s return to Rob. He loves pretty much everything as long as it has a rotary engine driving the wheels, be it the rear axle or both of them. Having built a four-rotor turbo Mazda RX-7 with close to 1,000 horsepower (1,014 PS) on tap, Rob has embarked on a different adventure with the C8 Z51 in the photo gallery because of the midship layout.

In a Facebook post, the rotary enthusiast with a wrecked ‘Vette in the garage says that the first stage is to “tear into the C8 platform long before most will.” The car “feels less like a Corvette and more like a supercar.”

About the latter comment, Jason Fenske of Engineering Explained believes that the Z51launches like an AWD supercar thanks to the rear-biased weight distribution (60.6 percent in the case of the Stingray). On that note, there’s a possibility that all-wheel-drive will be implemented in a future version of the eighth-gen model.

It remains to be seen if the C8 Grand Sport will get e-AWD but everyone suggests the C8 Zora will add an electric motor up front. Based on a recent report, the LT7 twin-turbo V8 with a flat-plane crankshaft and the e-motor will total close to the 1,000 horsepower (1,014 PS) of the four-rotor RX-7.

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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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