4LT GS Roadster
Putting a different body on an automotive chassis is a time-honored technique, dating back to the first cars ever produced. These early vehicles had wooden coaches, followed by sheetmetal bodies bolted to wooden frames. Henry Ford even experimented with a plastic body made from soybeans. Of course, the Corvette was the first production car to have a fiberglass outer skin. As composite technology advanced, so did the lamination quality, with sheet molding compound (SMC) replacing the old-school resin-and-glass layup starting with the C4 model in 1984. Later, high-tech materials such as carbon-fiber were introduced.
Vette Magazine
