Muscle Car Fan

Posts Tagged: mid-engine

Classic black muscle car cruising on an open road.

Mid-Engine Crown Corvair: Porsche Cayman Fighter

by Wes

Somewhere between the Ford GT40 and the much-mocked Pontiac Fiero sits a 1965 Chevrolet Corvair that owner Chuck Rust turned into a mid-engine V8 sports car using the little-known “Crown” conversion kit. Builders who attempted this exact swap decades ago describe cracked differentials, hand-fabricated input shafts, and a kit that solved only the easy part of the problem. With a claimed pedigree that traces back to Smokey Yunick’s praise for a properly sorted Corvair, this homebuilt project asks what America’s mid-engine sports car could have been.

Two Ford GT models from different eras side by side on a racetrack.

2017 Ford GT vs. 2005 Ford GT

by Wes

Ford has only built two generations of its GT supercar, and Kelley Blue Book’s Karl Brauer — who owns one himself — puts the 2005 original against the 2017 successor to see exactly how far the engineering moved in twelve years. From a supercharged V8 to a twin-turbo V6 and an all-new carbon monocoque, the changes go well beyond styling. Owning one shapes how Brauer sees both cars, and it shows throughout the comparison. Watch how differently a decade of engineering plays out.

John Delorean

The Aerovette Mid-Engine XP-882 John DeLorean Vette

by Pat C

Canceled by John DeLorean, revived by John DeLorean, and eventually powered by an exotic four-rotor Wankel engine that never stood a chance once the 1973 oil crisis hit — the GM Aerovette’s path to nowhere is one of the strangest stories in Corvette history. Developed by legendary engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov as the XP-882, it previewed a mid-engine Corvette layout GM wouldn’t actually put into production for another five decades.

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