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Imagine having the confidence of 1980s General Motors. The kind of confidence that bolsters you to design a svelte, tapered, mid-engined hypercar thing loaded to the gills with (then) ultra-advanced tech and a small-displacement V-8 designed primarily to race at the Indy 500, and then proudly proclaim that, yes, this may well be what the fifth-generation Corvette could look like. This is exactly what happened back in 1986 with the mega-cool Corvette Indy concept. Of all the mid-engined Vette concepts, design studies, and engineering prototypes, the Indy and subsequent CERV III perhaps sting the sharpest as the ones that really should have been built. Instead, this pie-in-the-sky concept ended up primarily showcasing the engineering might of General Motors without the company having to bring all the resulting tech to market. Aesthetically, the Indy remains one of the most striking Corvette concepts ever created. It’s a very long and lean supercar shape, like someone took a pari...

Of all the mid-engine Corvette prototypes, the 1990 CERV III was arguably the closest one to reaching production reality. The third Chevrolet Engineering Research Vehicle was an evolution of the 1986 Corvette Indy, and while it was intended as GM’s showpiece for the 1990 Detroit auto show, many of its elements indicated the possibility of a production-ready car. Much of the CERV III’s technology is relatively commonplace today, but in 1990, it was dreamy stuff: All-wheel drive, four-wheel steering, and a computer-controlled active suspension. The transmission was a six-speed automatic, built from the existing Hydramatic three-speed, and the brakes used dual discs at each wheel. The body was made from an exotic mix of carbon fiber, Kevlar, and Nomex and reinforced by aluminum, and the suspension components were made from titanium. In an era where many young men had Lamborghini posters on their walls, it comes as no surprise that the CERV III sported scissor-style doors. Insid...