Lucas Bell 
Chip Foose is a bit of a legend in the automotive world, known for his immense talent when it comes to design. Hot rods and muscle cars have long been his forte, but don’t let his time on Overhaulin’ fool you. Foose is more than capable of drawing more exotic shapes than the ones we’ve become accustomed to seeing with his name attached. On his new show “Chip Foose Draws A Car” for Hagerty, the fan-favorite designer takes a crack at reshaping a car that arrived with a controversial look: Chevrolet’s C8 Corvette.
When the C8 Corvette made its debut in July of 2019, the car was met with mixed reactions from fans. While nobody could deny the level of performance on tap from the mid-engined sports car, some were left wanting more of the car’s heritage to shine through in its appearance. Chip Foose is among the latter, clearly stating that he isn’t really in love with the car at this point. He specifically cites the fact that the Corvette was one of two cars on the market that had a constant throughline in it’s design language, behind the never-changing Porsche 911. This changed with the C8, in ways that Chip Foose isn’t a huge fan of. As a result, we now get to watch as he shows us what he thinks Chevrolet should have done with the car.
Right off the bat Foose notes that the absence of a long nose and short rear overhang makes the C8 look like a mishmash of other supercars. Furthermore, he finds some of the detailing, like the side intake and rear spoiler, appear tacked on and not part of a cohesive design. Starting with a basic outline of the C8 Corvette, the designer gets to work bringing some of the car’s 60+ year heritage back into the form we see today. He extends the rear engine cover to bring more mass to the rear of the car, and adds the hip line we first saw on the 1963 C2 Corvette model. From there, the side intake is replaced by one reminiscent of the front fender vents on the C7 Corvette models. The end result certainly looks more Corvette-like than what Chevrolet gave us.
There are likely a litany of reasons as to why GM felt the need to make the C8 Corvette look the way that it does. The car represents a massive leap for the brand as a whole, and this is something they likely wanted to represent in the design language. That said, we’re sure that there are plenty of folks who side with Chip Foose in this argument. What do you think of his take on what a mid-engined Chevrolet Corvette should look like? Let us know in the comments down below.
