Corvette whiffery

[sequoiaranger]

When the Corvette was introduced as a concept car in 1953, and came out in 1954, the idea was a light, fast "personal" car of two places, using the best engine available (at the time all Chevy had was a six-cylinder--the V8 would come later). It was only SLIGHTLY narrower than other cars (mid-50's cars were about as narrow as "compacts" these days), lower, and definitely shorter.

Somewhat similar British cars, like the Jaguar XK-120/140/150 series were as wide as "normal" Jags, but were only slightly shorter. Cars like the MG (and current Mazda Miata) were smaller overall. The Sunbeam Alpine/Tiger could be a close match!

In 1959 the Ford Falcon came out, which was shorter and slightly narrower than normal cars, signaling a "compact revolution" as regular cars grew ever wider and longer. The early 60's Tempest, Chevy II, Falcon, Valiant, and Buick Special were downsized and CLOSE, but not really "Corvette" sized (being four-seaters).

There is some rich material there to mine, shortening these to make more of a Corvette rival. Even Mustang/Cougar/Barracuda/Valiant, Javelin cars could be shortened by taking out the abbreviated-anyway rear seat to make a "Corvette" out of.

But if we retrograde to the mid-50's, one could still take out chunks of normal sedans and convertibles from other manufacturers and create some "Corvette" rivals. All it takes is a saw and some imagination.

[puddingwrestler]

Particularly the AMX 3 concept:

[jcf]

In the early '60s Ford had the Cougar:


Cougar II:


and Mustang I:



Back to GM, the Cadillac LaSalle II Roadster of 1955, right in line with your original notion:


Personally speaking and as a bit of going off on a tangent I've always liked the Chrysler Ghias:
http://www.shorey.net/Auto/American/Chrysler/Ghia/htmltree.html

[puddingwrestler]

Aha! I was sure Caddilac would have gotten in on the 'lets make a show car corvette-ish thing' act since all the rest of GM seem to have done so, but I had no idea what it was called or what it looked like. My book on concept cars (which I have had since I was about nine) is sadly inadequate in some ways.

[Daryl J.]

I miss the two I had for just a few days!  It was required that I borrow them...a happy story for another day.

One was a 2005 black on black on black convertible with magnetic ride control.    The other was a 2006 black on black on black convertible Z-51.    The electroshock equipped machine rode like a Buick until the moment you wanted it to snarl.   What an amazing suspension.   The Z-51 rode like a buckboard.   



They make you feel happy.

[Archangel]

After some searching I foud my two Corvette what ifs. The first one was build using the old Monogram Corvette SS kit with the station wagon hatchack . I added the whale tail spoiler from the John Travolta Trans Am kit by Revell and the Front Spoiler from an AMT 1975 Camaro . Then I added the side parts from a 1977 Trans Am kit. I also cut into the tail end to add Camaro tailights from a Mongram Camaro kit.  Unfortunenatly That one didn't survive much after the kit took a dive off the shelf. The second go rouns was using the same kit but leaving off the hatch and using the louvures from anothe Mongram Corvette kit. I added a back cover to a car seat to make a buldge for the hood. The first kit was painted Testors Dark Red Metallic and the Second was painted with a mix of Testors Drak Red Metallic and Tail Light Red. That one came out more of a red cinnimon color when seeen up close. It's missing the wheels and needs a new frame from one of the old Monogram kits

The first Corvettes shell

http://img534.imageshack.us/img534

http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/381/s6301337.jpg

The second Corvette

http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/8684/s6301338edited.jpg

http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/6631/s6301340w.jpg

http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/2189/s6301342.jpg


The second one

[arkon]

the couger II reminds me of the cobra daytona used in racing

[puddingwrestler]

I've decided to build something similar to the Cadillac/Corvette photoshop. Not exactly the same, more like a custom corvette incorporating Cadillac ideas than and out and out Cadillac version corvette. Build thread soon.

[puddingwrestler]

I think cutting down to two seats makes the rear lines too abrupt; if they didn't slope down so fast it'd work a lot better. And it'll look nothing like a sunbeam tiger when seen from any other angle, those studes had a VERY distinctive nose.

[sequoiaranger]

>Greg's Studebaker rag-top got me thinking 2-seaters. One's a hardtop, the other a more extreme convertible (which ended up looking a bit like an overgrown Sunbeam Tiger).<

I like them both very much. I don't think the rear lines are too extreme. At first, the "quick" slope of the hardtop put me off, then I began to appreciate it. They would both be VERY MUCH like a Sunbeam, methinks!

Too bad car kits of 50's cars aren't around anymore, except for a few "classics". If anyone out there has a gray beard like me, they may remember the plastic Jo-Han flywheel-drive cars of the 50's that were wonderful renditions.