Dateline: 1.25.12
A Salute to the design the set the style for America’s sports car, the Corvette.
It’s only been a week or so since the photos of a disguised C7 Corvette surfaced and already the critics are weighing in. One report commented that the profile and proportions look too much like the current C6. And therein lies the designer’s dilemma when it comes to designing a new Corvette. The new design has to “look like a Corvette,” but has to “look new.” This isn’t a new problem actually. But before we come down on the Corvette design team too harshly, we should all just breath… and be patient. Those disguised cars always look bad.
But, there is no doubt that the Corvette’s image will forever be locked into the design that goes all the way back to 1963-1964 when GM’s VP of Design, Bill Mitchell charged his designers with the challenge to, “Design a “narrow, slim, ”selfish” center section and coupe body, a prominently tapered tail, an “all of one piece” blending of the upper and lower portions of the body, prominent wheels with protective fenders, distinctively separate from the main body, yet gaffed organically to it.” The end result was the Mako Shark-II.
To truly appreciate the advanced thinking of the design, you have to look at cars from 1963-1964 when Mitchell was percolating his ideas. While the actual Mako Shark-II show cars no longer look “futuristic” today, the shark spirit lives on in every C4, C5, C6, and no doubt the C7 Corvette. I have covered all of the Mako Shark cars extensively in my VETTE Magazine Illustrated Corvette Series monthly column, so I thought it was time for a special Mako Shark tribute print to salute all four of the Mako Corvettes.
Judging from the general shape and proportion of the disguised C7 mule that was spotted out on the road, I’d say that the spirit of the Mako Shark lives on. And from my perspective, as it should! – Scott
Related:
Mako Shark Attack Week!!! The 1961 Mako Shark
A Look Back At the First of Bill Mitchell’s STUNNING Non-running Mako Shark-II Corvette Concept Car
The 1969 Manta Ray Corvette Show Car – Bill Mitchell’s longer, lower, louder, sleeker Mako Shark.
The above 11×17 Parchment Paper print is available for just $24.95 + $6.95 S&H and is signed and numbered by the artist. You can order your with the secure PayPal button below, of by calling 1-800-858-6670, Monday through Saturday 10AM to 9PM Eastern Standard Time.
The above 11×17 Laser-Etched print is available for just $49.95 + $8.00 S&H. Each Laser-Etching is made to order and produced on brush-finished, metalized-mylar. You can order your with the secure PayPal button below, of by calling 1-800-858-6670, Monday through Saturday 10AM to 9PM Eastern Standard Time.
Here’s the BEST way to keep up with K. Scott Teeters’ Corvette blog!
Scott, I sent you an email back to “CorvetteReport” and forgot about this link.
In case you didn’t get it right away, I wrote to you ref doing some artwork for me with the upcoming Mako Prototype (yet to be named correctly) and the future Hammerhead Shark series.
I was checking out the rest of your artwork… saw the C7 version you penned. AWESOME! ANy ideas of doing this FOR REAL, in REAL FIBERGLASS, put on a C5 chassis???? If GM is not going to do it, I WILL! Let me know. It’s a GREAT DESIGN, and could be accomplished pretty easily with the techniques I am using to produce Glass… then put it onto a C5/6 chassis. WOuld be great with twin turbo, or even a Paxton supercharger on a LS7? What you think?
Steve Kuryla
Hi Steve,
What I created here…
http://www.illustratedcorvetteseries.com/images/ICS_160_C7_Sting_Ray.jpg
Was a variant of the Corvette Stingray Concept Car, aka, The Transformers Corvette, seen here…
http://www.illustratedcorvetteseries.com/images/ICS-II_170_Stingray_Concept.jpg
My version keeps the basic size and proportion of the real concept car, minus the front and rear gills and a few other things. Corvette designer, Tom Peters explained that his concept car was an outlet for his design team to try out a few ideas in 3D and has NO CHANCE of ever being a production Corvette. In other words, it’s NOT the C7.
I think that making a custom body version of what I’ve drawn would be a real challenge, unless you have the ability to make a unique windshield. A C6 production windshield is shaped differently from what I have rendered. If a C6 structure was used, the styling would have to be adjusted to the shape and height of the production glass. So the final result would look “similar” but different from the ultra-low, swept back version I created. But, it would be an interesting design study.
We’ll talk. – Scott