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How do you beat a slew of Fox-Body 5.0 Mustangs that seemingly dominated the roads in the late '80s? You take a 454 cu.-in. big-block engine and stuff into a C4 Corvette and call it "Big Doggie". An experimental vehicle used to determine how to convert from a small block to a big block. Its 454 big block V8 along with its orange paint make this high horsepower engineering study a one-of-a-kind standout in Corvette history. The car had as much HP as the '90 ZR-1 did and it was named "ZR-2" or "Big Doggie". Old dog, new tricks joke?
1959 Chevrolet Corvette CERV 1
The “CERV-1” (Chevrolet Engineering Research Vehicle) was developed as a research tool for that company’s continuous investigations into automotive ride and handling phenomena under the most realistic conditions. The car was built at the Chevrolet Engineering Center at Warren, Michigan in a special project headed by Mr. Zora Arkus-Duntov, Chevrolet Staff Engineer.
In 2006, the company behind the Corvette C6.R pulled out all the stops and developed a Corvette (based on a Z06 donor car and a lot of amazing engineering) that featured an unprecedented amount of horsepower and torque under its hood while packing ultimate luxury inside its ultra-wide carbon-fiber body. The car, which was revealed at the SEMA show in 2007, was called the C6RS Corvette.
The story of this Chevrolet begins with Fords - specifically, the purpose-built IMSA Mustangs and SCCA Trans Am Mercury Capris that became major forces in those series in 1984-85. In 1985, a Mustang built by Jack Roush and chassis firm Protofab took a young John Jones to the IMSA GTO crown and a Roush Protofab Mercury Capri had done the same in the Trans Am championship.
When first introduced to the world by Pontiac in 1964, the car showed so much promise that Chevrolet (allegedly) put a swift end to its development to prevent its production from hindering the sales of the Corvette.  Afterall, with the introduction of the 1963 Split-Window Corvette, Chevy was finally seeing an increase in sales, something lacking for most of the first-gen.
Only Bill Mitchell could get away with this. Bill always managed to have a hot daily ride. Engineering prototypes that weren't street-legal stayed behind the fence, but many of the show car Corvettes managed to go home with Bill. His usual statement on his "design study" cars was, "This thing runs like a bear!" For the Mulsanne Bill added, "This is the best Stingray ever."
The Corvette team decided to one-up the Viper with four extra cylinders, they decided on one of Ryan Falconer’s stunning, all aluminum, 600-cubic-inch, 683hp, 680 lb-ft V-12 racing engines. The biggest challenge was the fact that the all-aluminum V-12 engine was 8.8-inches longer than the production Corvette engine. So the front end of the ZR-1 would have to be stretched 8 inches. This test car was named Conan, after his raw, beastlike charisma.
The offspring of collaboration between Corvette performance guru Reeves Callaway and designer Paul Deutschman, the Super Speedster LM is an astonishing step up on the original Speedster, taking full advantage of the ZR1’s Lotus-engineered, all-aluminum DOHC engine and 6-speed manual transmission. One of only three twin turbocharged and intercooled LT5 engines built by Callaway, it delivers a pavement-shredding 766 HP.
Greenwood didn’t just build Corvettes for the track, constructing a variety of different street car kits over the years. The story goes that the original ’wagon concept was commisioned by a drummer who wanted a Vette with enough cargo space to haul his drums to various gigs. Since the demise of the Corvette trunk, easily accessible cargo areas were definitely on the wish list for many enthusiasts. Chuck Miller designed and built this first Shark-era Sportwagon.
The engineers came up with a unit-body construction that relied on strength coming from the side sills of the chassis. These contained the exhaust which probably easily overheated the cockpit, especially in the coupe. Unfortunately, GM fitted fake V6 engines in both cars with a concept valve train that included dual overhead camshafts.
In 1977, GM chairman Thomas Murphy gave the Aero-vette the green light. It was approved for production, and slated to be released in 1980. Despite being greenlit for 1980 production as the upcoming C4 Corvette, Arkus-Duntov's replacement Dave McLellan decided for a number of reasons (cost and tradition among them) to stick with the Corvette's tried and true front-engine configuration
A Chevrolet Corvette Z06 paced the field for the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard on Sunday, July 29 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. A Chevrolet has performed pace car duties for all 14 editions of the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, one of NASCAR's most highly anticipated events since the inaugural in 1994. Also, Chevrolet once again supplied event support vehicles, including Silverado pickup trucks, for on track activities.
The 2005 Corvette Pace Car paced at the 89th Annual Indianapolis 500 on May 29, 2005. It was driven by Retired Army General and former Secretary of State Colin Powell. There were three Pace Cars produced. Eight Track/Festival convertibles painted Victory Red Corvette were used on race day. These Track/Festival Pace Cars did not have the center silver stripe, logo-embroidered headrest, and graphics that were on the actual pace car. There were two replica pace cars produced.
When one of his cars was severely damaged in 1972, John Greenwood converted his 1969 L88 Convertible into a formidable race car. Included as the formidable ZL1 engine with 750 bhp on tap. Other modifications included a rear spoiler, quick replacement radiator and camber adjusters. At Le Mans, this car set the GT-class record for top speed down the Le Mans straight with 215 mph.
1971 ZR2 Convertible
Finally in 1971, both the ZR1 and ZR2 packages were offered side by side as initially intended. The solid lifter, 350 cubic-inch LT-1 found under the hood of the ZR1 featured a ‘178’ high-performance camshaft and a 780 CFM Holley four-barrel carburetor, which resided atop a specialized aluminum intake. The LT-1 featured a reduced compression ratio of 9.0:1 for the 1971 production year, relative to 11.0:1 specified the year prior.
As early as the late 1990's, San Francisco based coach-builder SV Motor Company envisioned a car that took the raw performance of a Corvette and refined it with a touch of Italian flair.  Their vision was to infuse many of the design elements found in the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione (from which the SV 9 clearly drew its inspiration, as well as its name) with a 2009 Chevy Corvette.
The Z06 arrived for the 2006 model year as a homologation vehicle in the third quarter of 2005 and is the lightest of all Corvette models. The Z06 was equipped with the largest-displacement small-block engine ever produced, a new 7,011 cc (7.0 L; 427.8 cu in) V8 engine codenamed the LS7. The engine has a power output of 505 hp and 470 lb⋅ft.
It was announced on July 23rd, 2010 that the 2010 NASCAR Brickyard 400 will be paced by this Green and White Corvette Grand Sport Coupe while Arctic White Corvette Grand Sport Convertibles wil serve as Festival (parade) cars. Camaro Coupes will also be used as support vehicles. The color is reminiscent of Bowling Green Metallic, last seen in 2001. This marked the 17th time that Chevy paced the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.
2008 Corvette Daytona Pace Car
With defending Daytona 500 Champion Kevin Harvick at the unveiling, surrounded by Chevrolet, General Motors and Daytona International Speedway officials, hundreds watched the much-anticipated unveiling of the 2008 Corvette Z06 Daytona 500 Pace Car ~ the Official Pace Car of The Daytona 500, NASCAR's biggest race. Apart from its special paint and the addition of a integrated light bar, it is almost identical to the street version.
The Corvette SS racing car and its mule test car were planned as far back as August of 1956, well before the Super Sport show car. However, that one was referred to within GM as the XP-64, and it was finished in march, well after the show car had been on the show circuit for a couple of months.
CERV IV was nothing more than a C4 with the all new powertrain and interior in it. Read the commentary of a car magazine reporter: "We suspect that the first, very early prototypes of the all-new, Gen III ran on the dynos at GM Powertrain sometime in the early spring of 1993. In-vehicle testing began at the GM Milford Proving Ground in the first week in May of 1993 with the "Chevrolet Engineering and Research Vehicle IV-A".
The Stingray that never was. The stretched version of this new Corvette model for 1963 has rear seating and was built as ordered by Chevrolet chief Ed Cole. Larry Shinoda designed this coupe, that never went into production because the demand for the two seated Stingray already was overwelming. A running prototype of a 2+2-seat C2 Corvette intended to compete with the Ford Thunderbird was built, but the project was canceled.
This 1961 Chevrolet Corvette factory race car possesses a host of rare options and a provenance worthy of the velvet rope treatment at any of the world’s finest auto museums or vintage races.  Gulf Oil sponsored and driven to an SCCA B-Production national championship by the likes of Dr. Dick “The Flying Dentist” Thompson and Don Yenko, it stands as one the most successful and important production-based Corvette race cars ever constructed.