Talk about Speed Racer!
The fact that a Chevrolet Stingray has been photographed after a crash would normally not make for hot-buzz news. But this particularly Stingray is a 2014 model.
That's right: an unreleased Stingray has already been caught in a wreck, less than a month after the model was first unveiled by Chevrolet.
As Yahoo! News suggested, since the vehicle has yet to go on sale, "chances are someone at General Motors will have a sizable expense report to fill out."
The new two-seat Stingray, which is set for official release this fall, is the seventh generation of the sports car. Improvements made to the redesigned series by Chevrolet include:
- New all-aluminum frame
- Sharper "shrink-wrapped" exterior
- 6.2-liter, 450-hp, 450 lb.-ft. V-8. that can now be paired to an optional Tremec 7-speed manual, a GM first, that will automatically match the engine's RPMs to the anticipated gear in all shifts
The most significant changes to the Stingray, however, have come by way of the car company's integrating contemporary electronic controls. This will be the first time Chevrolet has done so.
Capable of hitting 60MPH in under four seconds, according to Corvette engineers, it's no wonder that a 2014 Stingray has already been taken for a bit too fun of a ride ... no matter how it happened.
An Ocala, Flor. resident, who's been a member of forum Digital Corvettes since Nov. 2003, posted the photo of the wrecked Vette on Tuesday, including the notation that he had received said picture from a friend a week earlier.
"Driving through some mountains in Arizona about 30 minutes ago," wrote the friend in user gpetry's DC posting. "In some tight switchbacks when we passed this '14 Vette. Cop had just arrived. Car is in worse shape than looks. Hit guardrail on left and bounced back to rocks."
Gpetry then punctuated the posting simply, "Somebody had a bad day..."
On closer inspection of the photograph, Yahoo! News found that the "worse shape" qualification may have been justified, as "the front wheel looks too far askew, and there's long scrapes on the side of the body and the wheels. There may have been a side air bag deployed as well, but it's hard to tell under the tinted rear glass."
Because the particular Stingray in question is fashioned with a Michigan manufacturer license plate that all GM prototypes drive with on public roads, it's possible the photo is actually showing the unfortunate turn of events in a hot-weather and handling test (often held by car companies in Arizona) that went awry.
Autoblog disagrees, however, stating that, "This crash is likely not part of the Chevrolette testing regimen.
"No circumstances are given, other than the incident occurred in the thick of a set of curvy roads, and the coupe ping-ponged off a guardrail and into the rock wall. Hopefully everyone involved in the incident walked away."
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