montanabob said:
...I wouldn't want to see chevy produce a retro vette for the c6.(leave the retro cars to chrysler
I agree, a Corvette should look like one thing only and that's a Corvette. Though there are some stylistic trademarks that flow from body style to body style, I think each body style should stand on it's own four tires as a new jewel in the Corvette crown. Retro is for cruisers - PT Cruisers that is:eyerole. IMHO, a retro sportscar is an oxymoron. If you go retro, where are you gonna get the aerodynamics and downforce to hold it on the ground? Certainly not from a solid axle body design. Where is the distinction that every other previous iteration has? Will we call the C6 Shark II? I think not. I have no problem with a styling cue being carried over here and there as it helps the public to know what the car is but total retro has been done to death. Yes, F#$d built an incredibly beautiful
retro T-bird but we all know that aside from the seating limitations and drop top, nothing about that car is a 1955 T-bird sports car. That design was cutting edge when Yoda was a boy but it isn't now. Yes, it will sell a lot of cars, but not for the same reasons people buy a Corvette.
As for all of the wedge jabs for C4s, I loved the C4 the day I first saw artist renderings of them - JMHO. Maybe part of the visual shock some have with them can be attributed to the fact that when the C4 came out, the Shark had been around a long, long time (all of my life at the time). As well, almost all of the mechanics of the Shark were mid-year carryovers. Then comes
this totally new (except the L-83 for 1 year) car. It looked nothing like the old vette save for round tail lights and pop-up headlights. Suddenly this decrepit American dinosaur had ascended to the pinnacle of the automotive world. I still have the clipping from MT or R&T (can't remember which) that has a forward drawing of a C4 under the caption "The Best Handling Car In The World." For me, even at age 15, this was total shock - the press liked, dare I say loved, a Corvette. I remember hearing a lot of the same "hate it or love it" statement we now here about the C5 styling with regard to the C4 styling. People were seeing a style from the end of a golden age of styling (60's) replaced with a cutting edge (not wedge) wind splitter. I don't know that I have a point here:crazy other than telling you that I like the C4 but at least you all know where I'm coming from. I, personally, think the C4
is distinctive in it's own right. It's a Vette and that's what matters.
As for C5s, I'm slowly getting accustomed to the styling.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, a Vette is a Vette is a Vette and I wave at 'em all
!
).
