It's no secret that Zora Arkus-Duntov, the late father of the Chevrolet Corvette, wanted the machine to have a mid-engined layout from the very beginning, as his 1960 CERV 1 concept shows. Nevertheless, GM decided to wait for 2019 to give the world a mid-engined 'Vette. But what if the project had received the green light from the very beginning?
Well, a very good answer comes from digital artist Abimelec Arellano, who has decided to render a mid-engined C1. Now, the pixel wielder could've just brought us an image portraying a C1 Corvette with its engine behind the front seats and call it a day.
However, the aficioando did much more than that. As part of a concept series he recently kicked off, the artist also set out to render a brochure for the mid-engined 1959 Chevrolet Corvette, while going as far as showcasing this on the factory floor.
So this is an elaborate micro universe, much like the one that that saw another digital artist bringing us a mid-rear-engined GT1 incarnation of the 992 Porsche 911.
Since the nose of the car no longer has to accomodate an engine, this has been shortened and now sits lower. Once again, the artist put in the extra time and came up with a plan for the tech side of the vehicle.
"The sides are now curved to accommodate the independent suspension all around and the rear cradle where the Flat-4 engine lies. I did this engine with a normal style transaxle and some Volkswagen design parts. The cradle is completely based off the design in the Porsche 550 Spyder [...].The original blue-flame straight six jus wouldn’t fit, and I wanted to do a V8 but in ‘53 there weren’t many high-hp, low-weight options," Abimelec explains on social media.
Sure, purists might not enjoy the German oily bits envisioned here, but one has to admire the real life feeling of this who visual stunt.
However, the aficioando did much more than that. As part of a concept series he recently kicked off, the artist also set out to render a brochure for the mid-engined 1959 Chevrolet Corvette, while going as far as showcasing this on the factory floor.
So this is an elaborate micro universe, much like the one that that saw another digital artist bringing us a mid-rear-engined GT1 incarnation of the 992 Porsche 911.
Since the nose of the car no longer has to accomodate an engine, this has been shortened and now sits lower. Once again, the artist put in the extra time and came up with a plan for the tech side of the vehicle.
"The sides are now curved to accommodate the independent suspension all around and the rear cradle where the Flat-4 engine lies. I did this engine with a normal style transaxle and some Volkswagen design parts. The cradle is completely based off the design in the Porsche 550 Spyder [...].The original blue-flame straight six jus wouldn’t fit, and I wanted to do a V8 but in ‘53 there weren’t many high-hp, low-weight options," Abimelec explains on social media.
Sure, purists might not enjoy the German oily bits envisioned here, but one has to admire the real life feeling of this who visual stunt.