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Friday, August 9, 2019

A gorgeous Italian job on American muscle car

The Chevrolet Corvette name has always been known as an American muscle car, with a body design that is no less muscular and has always been a dream car in the land of its birth.

It's just that, the charm of the Chevrolet Corvette's flagship V8 engine is apparently not enough to hook any consumers on the Blue Continent, due to the European-style cars is considered have more beautiful designs.
Chevrolet Corvette Rondine concept car by Pininfarina. (Picture from: http://bit.ly/2YsrEN3)
Therefore, in 1963, the Chevrolet Corvette C2 had to undergo a makeover to be more pleasing to the eyes of European consumers.

As a result, Chevrolet collaborated with the famous Italian car designer house which used to design Ferrari and another premium cars, Pininfarina, and gave birth to the Pininfarina Chevrolet Corvette 'Rondine' (pronounced 'Ron-din-ay') coupe concept. And the car was unveiled at  the 1963 Paris Motor Show.
Unlike the original Corvette with a fibreglass body, the Rondine was made of steel. (Picture from: http://bit.ly/2YsrEN3)
In the process practically unchanged chassis and frame, it still had a standard 5.4-litre V8 engine mounted in front that produced 360 horsepower and was paired with a four-speed manual transmission system.
Interior of Chevrolet Corvette Rondine. (Picture from: http://bit.ly/2YsrEN3)
Unlike the original Corvette C2 which has a fiberglass body, while Pininfarina Rondine has a steel exterior, so that the weight increases, and the control changes completely. The front overhang is longer, and the Corvette's distinctive pop-up lights are gone, and the rear doesn't look anything like the original car, and is leaning like a Fiat 124.
Because the responses were quite diverse, Chevrolet was reluctant to continue Pininfarina Rondine to the production table and is now the only one ever made to reside in the Corvette museum. The one-off Rondine sold for $1.2m (before commission) at an auction event in 2008. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCE | DRIVE TRIBE | MOTORIOUS]
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