This Just In: The 2016 Corvette Will Be Mid-Engine…Just Like The 1977, 1984, 1997, 2005…

I picked up my copy of Autoweek from the mailbox today and noticed that the most frequently wrong prediction has once again reared its ugly head. Right there in bold type on the cover: “Deep Secrets — Mid-Engine C8 Chevy Corvette”.

I don’t want to burst anyone’s bubble, but the mid-engine Corvette rumor has been around longer (and with less traction) than Ringo Starr’s solo career. I must have at least ten magazines with similar claims, dating back to a 1970′s copy of Road & Track. The common thread is that all of these claims have proven false — unless you consider the Fiero a Corvette in disguise.

Like in the past, the claim comes from an unidentified GM executive who says that this generation will be the last for the traditional front-engine V8 configuration. As in stories of old, the rationale is the need to reinvent the brand to go head-to-head in the supercar ranks with more performance and more efficiency. This time the rumor is a high output twin-turbo six-cylinder and a modern monocoque tub. After all, how is Corvette going to compete when the Feds are forcing 35 mpg CAFE standards and the Lamborghini Gallardo and Ferrari Italia are already out there with mid-engine placement…

or the Porsche Boxster, Acura NSX, Porsche 911 Turbo, Lamborghini Countach, Ferrari 246 GT, Lambo Miura? Exactly…it has never had any problems competing. It didn’t need the mid-mounted engine, or the Wankel rotary engine pipe dream from the early 1970s or turbocharged-enhanced small displacement units claimed around the corner throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

At the end of the day, GM always comes back to the same rationale for the traditional layout. Front engine placement still allows 50/50 weight balance, but also maintains large amounts of room for six-foot humans and their luggage. (The C5 Corvette Convertible has 13 cubic feet of luggage capacity, for god’s sake!) It also is cheaper to build, allows for more parts sharing with the likes of the Camaro. Then there’s the ease of service of the current design…and that when matched to the six-speed manual the V8 already can deliver 32-plus MPG.

Given GM’s bent towards not offending the purists, there is no way in hell they are going to risk putting off the traditional Corvette buyers — you know, the ones who have been buying front-engine, V8-powered cars with great performance and surprising occupant and luggage room at an annual rate of nearly more than all the mid-engine sports cars available here combined? It never makes sense to build a more expensive car that in the end is not as profitable, or popular, for that matter.

So don’t hold your breath — for if you believe the 2016 C8 Corvette will be mid engine, you probably also believe that nobody will be using gas propulsion by then, because hydrogen and all-electric will be the standards. The magazines have claimed those for fifty years.

GM Plans To Sell ACDelco, Buy Chrysler, Sell Viper

Today General Motors confirmed it is shopping around its ACDelco aftermarket parts division. According to GM, the move is just one of many it hopes to do to bolster liquidity.

The interesting twist is that if GM indeed buys Chrysler, they will get the Mopar parts division. Mopar’s high positive name recognition makes the century-old ACDelco operation more expendable.

GM also is desperately looking for anyone to take Hummer, which is less buoyant right now than a cinderblock wrapped in a dirty steel diaper. They’d like to dump Saab, too.

And while GM has not confirmed it, the going rumor is that if the buyout of Chrysler is green-lighted, the Viper brand and production will be sold outright…most likely to Ford. While it is not unheard of for a single model approaching the axe to be sold to a private investor in the interest of carrying it on, such as the Lotus/Caterham Seven and Studebaker Avanti, it is rather unheard of for a single halo model of a large automotive going concern (if you can call Chrysler/Dodge a going concern right now) to be sold to a competitor.

In actuality, the move would make sense. GM has a long history of preventing its many divisions from “competing” against the Corvette. The closest competitors from within GM have come in the forms of the (faster and equally luxurious) ’77 and ’78 T/A 6.6 Trans Ams and the more recent Cadillac XLR and XLR-V. (The Caddies, though, were targeted at the Mercedes SL.) GM has little to gain by keeping the Viper.

On the other hand, with its GT halo gone, Ford could use a new high-end sports car. The market has always resisted putting Mustang in the same group as Corvette and Porsche, so having the Viper would help. Most importantly, since the Viper loses more money than a convention attendee in a Vegas card room, the product fits perfectly in Ford’s backwards business model.

One car’s excellent styling cue is some American car’s gimmick

The 2009 Corvette ZR1′s transparent hood section is a gimmicky rip-off of the 1999 Ferrari 360 Modena’s see-through rear deck

Once again, an American auto manufacturer has found a way to take a great styling statement from a European company and bastardize it into a worthless, gaudy joke. I’m not talking about a Pontiac, Cadillac, Lincoln, or Ford Mustang this time, rather the newest Corvette – the ZR1.

The Corvette ZR1 is a fantastic car. And don’t get me wrong, it’s even a fairly pretty car. Unfortunately, though, it has a Plexiglas engine cover that is simply goofy.

Ferrari debuted a see-through engine cover on its 1999 360 Modena. It was a wonderful styling touch, especially due to the fact that its mid-mounted V8 was itself a work of art. The unique transparent lid enabled people to drool over the chiseled engine with red valve covers without the owner present. This styling element not only found its way to the 360 Spider, but also to the Enzo and 430. Audi used a similar treatment to expose the engine in its mid-engined R8.

Chevrolet designers, however, chose to take a different approach on the front-engined Corvette. The ZR1 uses a transparent plastic cover on the front hood that recalls the size and location of a Shaker hood scoop. Instead of seeing a beautiful engine in all of its glory…or even some of the valve covers, all people will see is a cheap plastic engine cover. What a letdown.

Obviously, Corvette designers knew they couldn’t pull off a full transparent panel due to the restraints of having a front-mounted engine. And they also were stuck with the power-over-pretty supercharged V8. (Stuck is probably the wrong way to say it, as it is a world-class engine that produces supercar-spec numbers with utilitarian reliability and economy.) Given the lack of visual appeal, maybe they should have just bagged the transparent cover gimmick.

Corvettes have never been cutting edge in the looks department. Early generation Vettes stole heavily from Ferrari and Jaguar. The 1968 C3 Corvette used a tail stolen lock-stock and barrel from the Ferrari GTO. The 1997 C5’s voluptuous curves follow nearly identical lines in some areas to the Mazda RX7 that had gone out of production in the USA two years earlier.

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel, but at some point GM is going to have to realize that a styling element that works for one car can appear as a foolish gimmick detracting from the overall package in another.