What if?

[BacktotheFuturePete]

This is an interesting read.https://www.hagerty.com/articles-vid...Syrf1x2CfbR_y8

[Sierra977]

Those are hideous

ETA: In 1958 there was no demand for a 2-seat sports vehicle. Chevrolet sold Corvette as a tool to get people into showrooms and sell them Biscaynes. Ford sales didn't need such a tool. Thunderbirds outsold Corvette 5:1 and Thunderbird production only started in mid-December.

Ford builds cars to sell. What people do after they buy them is another matter.

Ford had a 2-seat performance street car in 1964 that totally eclipsed Corvette, the GT40 MkIII but only built a handful and the car did not exhibit the classic proportions of the MkI and MkII.

Click the link to see the MkIII
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xRKeloyzF2...gt40-mk3-7.jpg

ETA2: Fifty-five years later Chevrolet says it will sell a mid-engine performance car and from the pics I've seen the mid-engine Corvette is another Tom Peters styling disaster.

[BLACK BEAUTY]

Thanks for sharing Newman

[007Cruiser]

Plus in ‘58 Ford had the new Edsel. Pleaded with Dad to buy one but he got a better deal on a leftover ‘57 Dodge. Still would like to have an Edsel.

[Frank Dreano]

I am a member on the Corvette Forum and a C1/C2 owner.....the '58 (currently, a much desired year Corvette with many one-year-only features) was considered garish and overdone in its time....the washboard hood, the funky trunk irons, etc.. What was considered ugly once is sought after now in some cases... I'm not surprised it undersold the T-bird back in the day...

As to the C8 mid-engine Corvette - I think its a mistake....

I thought hard about restomodding my 61 Corvette; modern chassis/suspension/electronics/sound with an LS-3 engine....the price for a high end build would have been about $80K on top of already owning the car. I feel I get something close to the same effect with my '02 Bird. A retro look with modern amenities and drive train and a small fraction of the cost...

[Sierra977]

Frank, yes this is a T-Bird thread but I gotta say this - the mid-engine C8 Corvette is gonna RUIN the used Corvette market. There's a real marketing problem to stopping production of traditional, front-engine Corvettes. Rare Corvettes will likely be okay pricewise but the value of 99.9% of the ones out there now are gonna be hurt BADLY. Can't believe Chevrolet is going to discontinue C7 and earlier style cars. Chevrolet must think they are going to make a one-time, short-term killing.

ETA: It won't surprise me to see Chevrolet introduce a less expensive V6 Corvette to re-capture sales. Chevrolet almost did this once before.

[Sierra977]

Oughta jump back in and better clarify an earlier post.

The street version Ford GT40 MkIII was originally referred to as the GT46 as it was taller by 6 inches than the GT40 race car.

GT40 was developed to be the Ferrari killer. It was. Destroyed Ferrari at Le Mans four years in a row. To this day, senior Ferrari executives awaken screaming with nightmares of the Ford GT40.

GT46 was going to be the Corvette killer but never went into mass production (only seven were built). The MkIII/GT46 would have been a game-changer street car, decades ahead of its time.

Some time I will tell the story of how Ford got the GT40 from Lola Cars, John Mecom and a fateful meeting in a Houston warehouse.