The Chevrolet Corvette is the quintessential American sports car. It has a special place in the automotive universe because it demonstrates that fast and beautiful cars can be affordable. The current Corvette generation, dubbed the C8, is radically different from the previous models: it is the first ‘Vette to have a rear mid-engine setup.
The Corvette looks meaner than ever before, and like with previous Corvettes, there are plenty of mods you can incorporate to sharpen the car’s looks or improve safety. Indeed, one reason why Corvettes have remained so popular over the decades is they lend themselves to modification. People and automotive companies have taken advantage of this, building impressive cars based on the ‘Vette. Here are 10 incredible vehicles that are based on the Chevy Corvette.
In order to give you the most up-to-date and accurate information possible, the data used to compile this article was sourced from various manufacturer websites and other authoritative sources, including Car and Driver, MotorTrend, and Top Gear. The models you see here have been ranked by their estimated value from lowest to highest.
10 DDR Motorsport Grullon GT8 Grand Prix
Estimated Value: $35,500
The GT8 Grand Prix is a kit car built by DDR Motorsport on the underpinnings of a C5 Corvette. The kit consists of a steel tubular spaceframe, a hand-laid fiberglass body, a windshield, a washers package, and a rear window, among others. DDR Motorsport, a Canadian company, also provides reinforced carbon-fiber parts like doors and the front bumper.
Limited Production Specs
|
Production Years |
2001- |
|---|---|
|
Units Produced |
NA |
|
Unique Features |
Steel tubular spaceframe; fiberglass body; Porsche gearbox |
|
Displacement |
5.7-liter |
|
Power |
345 horsepower and 350 pound-feet |
A variety of engines are available, including a 5.7-liter LS1 V-8 and a 7.0-liter LS7 V-8. You can request DDR to turbocharge your engine if you want more power. At $25,000, the base kit is very affordable. For an extra $3,500, the builders add pedestals and a rear wing.
9 Cadillac XLR-V
Estimated Value: $45,000
Built on the skeleton of the C6 Corvette, the Cadillac XLR-V was a performance variant of the XLR. It featured a supercharged, modified version of the 4.6-liter engine powering the base car. Furthermore, its upgraded chassis featured a rear anti-roll bar, stiffer rear bushings, and a recalibrated ride program.
Limited Production Specs
|
Production Years |
2006-2009 |
|---|---|
|
Units Produced |
2,200 |
|
Unique Features |
Deluxe interior; potent engine; super-smooth ride |
|
Displacement |
4.6-liter |
|
Power |
443 horsepower and 414 pound-feet |
As GM’s very own Corvette alternative, Cadillac crammed many standard tech features inside, including a head-up display, heated seats, and dual-zone climate control. The car’s luxurious and elegant interior consisted of aluminum accents, unique leather upholstery, and wood trim.
8 Iso Grifo 90
Estimated Value: $110,000
Iso Motors had built a reputation in the 1960s and early 1970s for building cars that combined American mechanicals and power with Italian design flair. Unfortunately, the company went bankrupt in the mid-1970s, ceasing all operations. Over a decade later, owner Piero Rivolta decided to revive the nameplate. He enlisted Dallara and Marcello Gandini to build the chassis and formulate the design.
Limited Production Specs
|
Production Years |
2010 |
|---|---|
|
Units Produced |
1 |
|
Unique Features |
Pop-up headlights; sleek and angular design; carbon-fiber body |
|
Displacement |
5.7-liter |
|
Power |
490 horsepower and 472 pound-feet |
Hoping to start production in 1991, Rivolta presented a wooden model of the Iso Grifo 90 in 1991. However, the project failed to materialize. The Iso Grifo belatedly went into production in 2007 after Federico Bonomelli obtained permission from Rivolta to build 12 examples. Bonomelli eventually only made one Iso Grifo 90.
7 Rossi Sixty-Six
Estimated Value: $130,000
The Rossi SixtySix was a 2007 C6 Corvette wearing a body featuring design cues from past ‘Vette generations. Pure Rossi, the company behind the SixtySix, marketed their creation as the first in a series of cars it minted to build. The designer, David R., drew inspiration from the C2 Corvette, incorporating the 1963 Corvette StingRay coupe’s iconic split rear windows.
Limited Production Specs
|
Production Years |
2010 |
|---|---|
|
Units Produced |
1 |
|
Unique Features |
Split rear windows; C6 Corvette underpinnings; C2 Corvette design cues |
|
Displacement |
6.0-liter |
|
Power |
450 horsepower and 400 pound-feet |
Underneath the skin, the SixtySix retained the mechanical underpinnings of the donor car. Pure Rossi made minor changes to the interior, including revisions to the door accents and center console area.
6 Equus Throwback
Estimated Value: $130,000
Equus based the Throwback on the C7 Corvette. However, the car looked like an amalgamation of
Volkswagen Crafter Test Mule Spied Inside With Digital Gauges, Bigger Screen
The Volkswagen Crafter, the largest van in the Volkswagen lineup, is getting a refresh. Our spy photographers captured the new Crafter in a test mule, giving us an early look at what’s to come. Unlike typical spy shots that focus on the exterior, this time, attention is drawn to the interior.
The test mule confirms that changes are indeed being made to the Volkswagen Crafter. The dashboard is heavily covered, but our photographer managed to capture the all-new digital driver display. This new display replaces the current analog dials and is positioned behind a newly designed steering wheel. It is also accompanied by a larger floating-style center display.
Why The Hyundai Santa Cruz Just Can’t Compete With American Trucks
There is nothing more quintessentially American in the vehicle universe than the pickup truck. Most of the top-selling vehicles in America are full-sized pickups, such as the Ford F-Series, Chevy Silverado, and Ram 1500. Mid-sized pickups also make it into the top ten list. At the opposite end of the spectrum, ranking low on these lists is the compact pickup.
The Hyundai Santa Cruz seems to be positioned to attempt to change this dynamic, and in doing so, change the bigger-is-better world of American pickups. Does it have the image, features, and specs needed to accomplish this goal in the land of wide open spaces and brawny trucks? Sadly, it does not seem to have what it takes.
With the Santa Cruz, Hyundai is big game hunting in the largest segment of the American vehicle market with a pint-sized predator. We all know what will happen when a fox takes on a grizzly. The Santa Cruz is a marvel of pickup downsizing. It’s a beautiful vehicle with plenty of luxury, and cool tech, and is fun to drive.
J.D. Power even rated it as one of the most reliable pickups on the road. So what’s not to love? In almost every way, the Santa Cruz is more a car than a truck, and in that lies its difficulty in appealing to people who love trucks. Except for gas mileage, in the eyes of a truck lover, it’s one truck compromise after another.
Why Americans Love Pickup Trucks, And The Santa Cruz May Break Your Heart
American full-sized pickups are just as luxurious as any car but also strong, bulletproof, versatile, and durable (think Ford Tough). How can a compact pickup like the Santa Cruz compete with a huge luxury battleship that can take a beating?
There are almost as many reasons why Americans love full-sized pickups as there are different models. For many truck buyers, pickups are the Swiss Army knife of vehicles. With one truck, you can rule all the roads and carry all the loads. There is nothing a full-sized pickup can’t do except possibly find a large enough parking space close to your preferred entrance.
With a full-sized pickup, you can haul the kids and all their friends in the cab while hauling enough construction material in the bed to build them a tree house. You’ll have enough ground clearance and 4×4 power to go off-road almost anywhere, as well as make it safely home through snow-covered roads without ending up in a ditch. You could even connect a snow plow and blaze your own trail.
Driving a full-sized pickup, you will not feel like a bite-sized appetizer in the land of giant trucks. If protection from wild bumpers and wilder road rage matters to the potential buyer, bigger always feels safer, whether accurate or not. When it comes to trucks in America, perception is king.
Does the Santa Cruz deliver comparable hauling capacity, off-road ability, bigger is safer perception, or have enough space for the whole gang as a full-sized pickup? Sadly, it does not. How can it compete with something almost twice its size? A stock Santa Cruz, with its slightly below-average ground clearance of 8.6 inches, is not on many lists of the best off-road trucks, while many full-sized and mid-sized pickups top those lists.
The Santa Cruz is also hurt by an impression of being underpowered compared to its larger brethren. In showrooms filled with big V-6 and V-8 pickups, the Santa Cruz’s four-cylinder engine just doesn’t provide enough perceived fire in the belly. Even the turbocharged 2.5-liter four with 281 horsepower and 311 pound-feet of torque seem weak by comparison, and this weakness appears confirmed by its towing capacity.
Compared to typical full and mid-sized American trucks, the Santa Cruz feels more like it was designed for the urban cowboy and cowgirl lifestyle than people who get their boots dirty. All this does not make it a bad vehicle, and it does not mean you can’t go off-roading with your Santa Cruz, but it does seem to put it at a serious competitive disadvantage in the eyes of the typical American truck lover. The Santa Cruz is a gorgeous, well-made piece of metal, and maybe that’s why it will break many hearts. It’s got the looks but not the coveted truck oomph.
Specifications
|
Engine |
2.5-liter Naturally aspirated/ turbocharged Inline-four |
|---|---|
|
Horsepower |
up to 281 horsepower |
|
Torque |
up to 311 pound-feet |
|
Drive |
FWD/AWD |
|
Transmission |
CVT / Eight-speed DCT |
|
0-60 mph |
6.0-seconds |
|
Top Speed |
133 mph |
It’s A Pickup Truck That Can’t Haul Your Cargo Or Your Friends And Family
Most people in the American truck market likely view the Santa Cruz more as a compact compromise than a full-blooded, born in the U.S.A. pickup truck. The Santa Cruz, with its limited towing capacity of 3,500 to 5,000 pounds, cannot even trailer most mid and full-sized pickups. Compared to the over 10,000 pound towing capacity of full-sized pickups, the Santa Cruz feels like it’s missing that critical towing tool that makes a pickup the Swiss Army knife of vehicles. So if you want to pull anything more than smaller travel trailers or boats, the Santa Cruz is not the best truck for the job.
When most truck lovers think of a four-door pickup, they imagine a spacious crew cab with over 40 inches of rear legroom. On paper, the dimensions of the Santa Cruz’s four-door cab sound fine, with 36.5 inches of rear legroom, but one look inside sends a different cramped message. Again, it’s a case of perception. Can four or even five adults fit inside this compact truck? In theory, yes, but it doesn’t look like they will enjoy a long ride in the back.
Rear Seating Dimensions
- Headroom: 40.1 inches
- Legroom: 36.5 inches
- Shoulder room: 56.1 inches
- Hip room: 53.5 inches
For many American truck shoppers, the Santa Cruz’s pint-size pickup bed is likely the biggest obstacle of them all to true love. One of the reasons people buy pickups is to have the option of hauling big things around in that big open pickup bed. It really doesn’t matter that most people use their pickups to haul little more than bags of groceries on a regular basis. It’s the potential that counts. Once again, it’s the Swiss Army Knife effect.
Not that many years ago, the standard size of a pickup bed was eight feet. That’s changed, and long beds are now 8 feet or more, standard beds are 6.5 feet, and short beds are 5.8 feet. In this field, the Santa Cruz clocks in with only 4.3 feet of bed space. That’s half the length of a long bed. This is not a truck that’s going to be hauling larger pieces of furniture, big household appliances, construction materials, or even luggage for a family of four on a road trip. With its 27 cubic feet of cargo capacity under its included tonneau cover, this is a truck that does not even give you the enclosed cargo capacity of many compact hatchbacks.
Goldilocks, the Three Bears, and most American truck buyers would have a hard time considering the enclosed cargo capacity of the Santa Cruz anything other than ice-cold porridge. Again, none of this makes the Santa Cruz a poor choice for many people. It’s just one more thing many American truck customers will find missing from their must-have list.
This Hyundai Compact Pickup Truck Is Neither Truck Nor A Car
Could American truck lovers learn to love a pint-sized Santa Cruz? If sales figures are any indication, the answer is no. Even among compact pickup trucks, the Santa Cruz is being outsold. The Ford Maverick is arguably the closest competitor to the Santa Cruz. In 2022 Ford sold 74,370 Mavericks, while Hyundai sold 36,480 Santa Cruz pickups. In that same year, a total of 2,702,515 pickups were sold in America.
So the Santa Cruz garnered only 1.3-percent of that pickup market. By comparison, in 2022, Ford sold 653,957 F-Series pickups which equals about 24-percent of the market, while the Chevy Silverado got 19-percent and the Ram 1500 took home 17-percent of all pickup sales. In 2022, only two ICE powered pickups had lower sales figures than the Santa Cruz.
So the Santa Cruz does not appear to have what it will take to attract American truck buyers in droves. Smaller is probably not the answer for breaking into the American pickup market. In the future, long before 2035 and the phase-out of ICE, big pickup trucks in America will have to become more energy efficient, but it’s unlikely that will be accomplished with smaller engines in smaller packages like the Santa Cruz. That route simply won’t fly in the land of the freeway and home of big open spaces.
For the American pickup lover, improved energy efficiency will come from electrification that delivers even more horsepower and more fun per mile. Until then, the bottom line is that the Santa Cruz may be perceived as neither a typical pickup nor a typical car, and as neither fish nor fowl, it risks satisfying few people at the American truck-buying dinner table.