No video game, no matter how good, should smack around cars like this. It's just a waste.

So, warning: The commercial below — of a 1969 Corvette Stingray and a 1988 Lamborghini Countach swapping paint on the track — contains footage that may be unsuitable for small children and, you know, anyone who loves cars. Viewer discretion is advised.

Rick Pinito, with GM color and trim, told us:

"Corvette (in all its variations from the very first C1) has always utilized unique composite materials (fiberglass body, fiberglass springs, balsawood composite floor, carbon fiber, etc). The stingray is true to this hertitage with the extensive use of carbon fiber and graphite/nylon reinforced plastic for the various underhood structures (door hinges, hood mechanism, intake manifold, etc) Only in the past 10-15 years have composite materials been used more extensively in production vehicles (and often only expensive sportscars). Corvette has been doing this since 1953."

The Corvette Stingray concept, first introduced at the 2009 Chicago Auto Show, and starring in the recently-released Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen as Autobot Sideswipe, represents a visionary modern interpretation of the past, present and future of the Corvette. Conceptually, it represents the merger of high technology with high design in the powertrain, exterior and interior.

Exterior Design

Despite the recent trend toward concepts as nothing more than an exaggerated preview of a production car, don't expect the next-generation C7 Corvette to look like this concept car. Tom Peters, designer of both the Stingray concept as well as the new Chevy Camaro says very plainly "it's not the C7." Then, pausing, he continued by saying

"that's not to say there aren't elements here that can translate into what the C7's about. There's no parameters to this concept...our goal...I would tell my team, guys, go kick that car's ass. Go beat that."

Despite only being revealed earlier this year, and despite obvious similarities in exterior design between it and the new Chevy Camaro, it's not for the reasons you think. You see, the Stingray was actually first sketched over six years ago, predating the Camaro.

What that means is Peters took the methodology used designing the Stingray concept and applied it to the new Chevy Camaro. That's why you'll see design elements from the Stingray concept in it.

So, despite many enthusiasts' belief the Camaro influenced the Stingray concept car, it was, in fact, the other way around. As Peters says, "that [Camaro's egg crate] grille came from that grille [egg crate grille on the Corvette Stingray concept]." When you see the Camaro sitting next to the Stingray concept, you realize immediately the design influence from the concept's front end to Chevy's new mullet-lover muscle car.

What the Corvette Stingray concept's exterior design did draw inspiration from was almost every generation Corvette — starting with the 1959 Corvette Stingray racer concept, the iconic split rear window from the 1963 Stingray and front wheel arches and side coveys from more modern generations — mixed with distinct, classical aeronautic lines.

The doors open like a Lambo — scissor-style — and the reverse-clamshell hood both open at the touch of a button. With the three carbon fiber appendages spread, it look like nothing less than a bird of prey. It's a sight to see in person.

Achieving the design took a mix of materials that Corvettes are used to seeing as part of their make-up. The concept utilizes advanced composite materials — no new thing for Corvettes, as Richard Pinto, Creative Designer on interior trim told us, aseven the first generation utilized composites — but nothing like the carbon fiber and graphite/nylon reinforced plastic found on the newest Corvettes.

Interior Design

Taking cues from artwork outside the GM Design Center and the flowing, aerodynamic exterior, GM interior designer Micah Jones built a dual-cockpit design to exist in cohesive harmony with the Autobot surrounding it. Sitting in it, we've got to say it works — the ergonomics and touch-zones feel snug but not tight — with all controls available in close proximity to the driver.

Because, unlike base models of the current generation Corvette, this concept's filled to the carbon fiber-gills with conceptual and currently available technology designed to be totally customizable for the driver. To that end, on the steering wheel are two spherical balls. Right side controls shared functions like entertainment, air con and nav. Left side controls the driver's arena — items explained in more detail in the powertrain section below.

The information cluster features, in addition to basic information from a speedometer and a tachometer, small circular screens with 3-D animated shocks and brakes spinning around to give you a visual of what you're adjusting using the two spherical balls.

The center console screen is a dramatic and expansive display where you'll see five settings able to be controlled — the same five you find on the wheel — Entertainment, Air, Home (laptop mode that allows you to access the internet and your information from home. And yes, Twitter fans, you'll be able to tweet from it), Nav and Race modes — allowing you to utilize the advanced haptic touch screen to alter all of these. The really cool features in the center console are a very iTunes cover flow-like ability to shuffle through songs and a system designed to allow for downloadable iPhone app-like racing content — think 0-to-60 timers, race course maps with the fastest lines and the like. Which, given the powertrain, is something we think you'll need.

Powertrain

Under the hood there's a radical conceptual hybrid powertrain, theoretically mating mild hybrid technology with a high performance V8 engine with cylinder deactivation for even higher fuel economy in non-performance driving situations.

The theoretical concept extends to include the driver's ability to switch from pure electric mode for city driving to full use of the big LS-series V8 with five different settings (the left-hand control sphere on the steering wheel) controlling the feel and sharpness of the shift, the intensity and sensitivity of the regenerative brakes, and playing up some of the hybrid system's opportunities. You could theoretically control the output — and how quickly the electricity is put back down to the road — from a more Eco-friendly mode or crank it up to ultimate sensitivity and just pound power out of the car.

But, despite the lettering "Hybrid Stingray" emblazoned on the underhood packaging, it merely represents a futuristic vision from the design studio and not a powertrain exercise. So don't expect the C7 Corvette to get a hybrid powertrain.

How'd It Drive?
It's a multi-million dollar one-off concept car driven at 15-20 MPH, how do you think it felt to drive? Right. It felt awesome, which is exactly how it should feel.

Click here to go back to GM Stingray Concept: Transforming Corvette To High-Tech Hybrid Super Car. Photo Credit: Alex Conley

Click here to go back to GM Stingray Concept: Transforming Corvette To High-Tech Hybrid Super Car. Photo Credit: Alex Conley

Click here to go back to GM Stingray Concept: Transforming Corvette To High-Tech Hybrid Super Car. Photo Credit: Alex Conley

Click here to go back to GM Stingray Concept: Transforming Corvette To High-Tech Hybrid Super Car. Photo Credit: Alex Conley

Click here to go back to GM Stingray Concept: Transforming Corvette To High-Tech Hybrid Super Car. Photo Credit: Alex Conley

Click here to go back to GM Stingray Concept: Transforming Corvette To High-Tech Hybrid Super Car. Photo Credit: Alex Conley

Click here to go back to GM Stingray Concept: Transforming Corvette To High-Tech Hybrid Super Car. Photo Credit: Alex Conley

Click here to go back to GM Stingray Concept: Transforming Corvette To High-Tech Hybrid Super Car. Photo Credit: Alex Conley

Click here to go back to GM Stingray Concept: Transforming Corvette To High-Tech Hybrid Super Car. Photo Credit: Alex Conley
Click here to go back to GM Stingray Concept: Transforming Corvette To High-Tech Hybrid Super Car. Photo Credit: Alex Conley
Click here to go back to GM Stingray Concept: Transforming Corvette To High-Tech Hybrid Super Car. Photo Credit: Alex Conley
Click here to go back to GM Stingray Concept: Transforming Corvette To High-Tech Hybrid Super Car. Photo Credit: Alex Conley

N2A has been responsible for some rather questionable styling exercises in the past, but the n2a Stinger attempts to blend modern and vintage in perfect balance. The Stinger is built atop the 200/2010 Corvette C6 chassis but tosses every piece of body work in the hamper. Instead, Fred Kantor and his crew have designed an all carbon fiber throwback body emulating the C2 Corvettes from 1963 through 1967. The interior will be all leather wrapped and uniquely customized for each customer and in fact the first three examples will be based on the rip-snorting Corvette ZR1 with 638 HP.

n2a sent along these sketches and images of their freshly cut styling buck along with the announcement they'll be taking orders on the unique automobile. If this car manages to live up to the sketches we can imagine a ready crowd of coachbuilt Vette buyers frothing at the mouth for their own copy. Complete press release below:

SANTA ANA, California, March 17, 2009 – n2a Motors announced today that it is
accepting deposits on the Stinger, the latest model in their line of critically-acclaimed
coachbuilt automobiles. Slated for January 2010 delivery, the Stinger is inspired by the
2nd
generation 1963, '65, and '67 Corvette Sting Rays and is built atop the 2009/2010 C6
Corvette chassis.

The '63-67 Corvettes are among the most revered, iconic, and beautiful cars in
automotive history. The Stinger pays homage to the historic 2nd
generation Corvette with
a sleek, carbon-composite body featuring the front end and hood scoop from the 1967
Corvette, a mid-section reminiscent of a '65 Corvette, and the famous split-window rear
end of the '63 Corvette, and has a level of performance and safety that engineers of the
era could never have dreamed possible. Utilizing a new Corvette donor car, the Stinger
achieves 0-60 in 4.3 seconds with a 430 hp/424 lb.-ft. torque LS3 V8 engine rated at 16
MPG city and 26 MPG highway. Since the chassis and safety equipment remain
unmodified, GM's 100,000 mile powertrain warranty remains completely intact and the
Stinger can be serviced at any GM dealership.

n2a Motors starts by removing the donor Corvette's body panels and installing the new
carbon-composite Stinger body, a process that takes over 800 hours for n2a's
coachbuilding craftsmen to complete. The interior is entirely new with re-contoured
leather seats, leather dash, wool carpeting, and leather-wrapped interior panels. Wheels
and cat-back exhaust are removed and replaced with n2a's custom-made components.
The n2a moniker stands for "no two alike," referring to n2a Motors' policy of building
unique vehicles for each customer. No two vehicles will be built with identical color
combinations, ensuring that each customer receives a unique car customized to his or her
tastes.

n2a Motors has reserved serial numbers 001,002, and 003 for ZR1-based Stingers.
Featuring the 638-hp LS9 engine, the ZR1 is the fastest and most powerful Corvette ever
produced. Stingers built on the ZR1 platform rocket from 0-60 in 3.4 seconds with a top
speed of 205+ mph. Serial numbers 004-010 are reserved for Z06-based Stingers, which
are 505 hp with a 0-60 time of just 3.7 seconds. n2a Motors is accepting deposits to
reserve a serial number and a place in the production order. Production is expected to
commence October 1st
.

The Stinger is n2a's third model, following the successful 789 and Anteros models that
debuted in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Both are built on the C6 Corvette platform and
utilize carbon-composite bodies, a carry-over from n2a's background in stealth
technology prototyping for military contractors.

We came this close to pushing the big red button, deploying the emergency Jalopnik search and rescue team to recover this poor, neglected split-window, but it's apparently not up for sale. Instead, we're sitting here lusting after an oxidized heap anyway. Doesn't this owner know there are gearheads in Detroit starving for Stingrays? Yes, it's in a rough state, but just imagine dropping a freshly rebuilt 327 in this car and cruising it around as-is — it would be the ultimate rat-rod.

View Larger Map[ClassicNation, CorvetteBlogger]

So it's an all-new Vette, with nothing from the factory, sporting hi-po parts and custom bodywork. What's not to love? Well, nothing really, it just makes us feel icky. Call us traditionalists, but a 'Vette should look like a Vette (we still have nightmares about Corvette Summer, so don't get us started) and this business of mixing peanut butter into one's chocolate makes it feel like we're seeing something... unnatural. And then there's the problem of a fully functional trunk in the back — heresy! Now, if the question goes from "do you like the design?" to "would you drive the hell out of it?" the question becomes an emphatic yes, but these fiberglass Frankensteins are still freaking us out. [Street Rods Only, via Corvette Blogger]

Anyone who's been to a car show featuring vintage Detroit machinery has heard this song enough times to know the two vehicular protagonists by heart: Corvette Stingray and Jaguar XK-E. Dead Man's Curve is a real piece of road, by the way; it's a stretch of Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles (yes, that Sunset Boulevard).

So if all you want your hapless street-racing opponents to see is your six taillights, you'll need to start shopping for a '64 Corvette Stingray. You can find plenty of painstakingly restored ones for 80 godzillion bucks, but where's the fun in that? Try lowering your budget to just south of $25K and you can pick up this St. Paul Stingray (go here if the ad disappears). Since it's in Minnesota, you have to assume the only thing that isn't rusty is the fiberglass body and maybe the tires. It has "Motor 350 Trans. 4 speed and posi. rearend" so you know it's nowhere near original... which is fine, because you'll need to rip out that dime-a-dozen 350 and drop in an LS9, anyway. Or you could get all obsessive and try to find the exact right 327 for it, down to the date-coded carburetor floats. Either way, you'll be in Corvette Hell, where scary consumed-by-single-interest Corvette fanatics will feel compelled to administer electrical shocks to your genitals as punishment for the Wrong Things you've done to their object of veneration.

Those of you who listen carefully to the song may notice that, even as the Corvette eats shit and wrecks horribly on Dead Man's Curve, the Jaguar "slides into the turn" and, presumably, emerges unscathed. Does this mean that the XK-E had better brakes and suspension than the Stingray? Well, yes, but that's not the point here. The point is that era-appropriate XK-Es are even harder to find at PCH prices than are Stingrays; the closest I could come is this '63 XK-E roadster (go here if the ad disappears) for a gut-wrenchingly steep asking price of $45,000. According to the seller, who claims to be moving the car due to a divorce (probably caused by fighting over this Hell Project), all the car needs is seats, console, and top and it will be "finished." Of course it will! What else could it need? It had "new metal and paint" in 2005, so maybe it's not rusty. Figure on six months just to get the car so that 80% of the electrical components all work on the same day, and then there's the whole carburetor thing. Dead man's curve, it's no place to play!

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Earlier this year, Motor Trend reported on a new V6-powered Corvette it dubbed the Sting Ray, which was reportedly in deep cover. Powered by a version of the Impala's 3.9-liter V6, the Kappa-platform roadster in development was reported to be Chevy's own version of the Saturn Sky / Pontiac Solstice. Now, dealer Rick "Corvette" Conti says the V6 'Vette is closer than we think, but won't be named "Sting Ray."

I hear the car is to be a 6 speed auto with $$$ tag of $29,900 - out sometime in 2008...more soon and who knows what Detroit Auto Show will bring us in January...

It makes sense that GM would want to leverage its new roadster architecture across the company, but we have one question: Who gets the V8 version, Buick? [Thanks to Sebastian for the tip.]

V6 Vette, closer than you think [CorvetteConti.com]

Related:
Spy Photos: 2008 Corvette SS, Stingray, Mako Shark, "Blue Devil" [internal]

Motor Trend's the latest buff book to chime in on Chevrolet's upcoming Viper-beater Corvette. (You'll recall that car was dubbed "Blue Devil" for an early prototype spied on the N rburgring, which happened to be blue.) According to the magazine, the new super 'Vette will indeed have a supercharged version of the 7.0-liter LS7 V8, but will be dubbed Stingray (one word), and according to their illustration, will get Super Sport badging. A liberal use of carbon fiber will reportedly bring weight down to 2900 lbs — 232 lbs less than the Z06. MT says we'll see the launch in mid-2007.

Motor Trend Hails Return of Corvette Stingray [Corvette Blogger]

Related:
Automobile on the 650 hp Corvette [internal]