23 Spy Photos Of Corvette SS Production Mule Up-Close

[DetroitWonk]

This guy's totally going to lose his job over this:

http://jalopnik.com/cars/spy-photos/spy-ph...mule-238647.php

Ray @ Jalopnik

[jbartley]

i don't like how they put up the engine pics for "everyone" to see...

[Sixty8panther]

If this new Corvette looks like a riced out Z06 I'll be pissed!!!

C'mon GM, give it an all new skin!

[Chris_Doane]

Calm down its a powertrain mule.

[BatmanGTO]

hmmmm

[gm4life]

I am glad we can see the pics. Poor man lost his job, I am glad to know what GM is up too.

[toyoguy]

i think Ferrari charges $20k for brakes like those.

[Nick]

Hmmm...the label on that metal piece on top of the engine say BEHR on it. BEHR produces cooling components for cars (my car has a behr radiator and I'm sure many other cars do as well)...So I can only assume that is the chargecooler for the supercharger.

I just want to know what that big pulley next to the intake is (as well as what is going on with the intake...looks like it is going into some oddly shaped throttle body)...It's kind of hard to tell what anything is...I'll be interested to see how they integrate the engine and how the final presentation will look.

[hyperv6]

If this new Corvette looks like a riced out Z06 I'll be pissed!!!

C'mon GM, give it an all new skin!

Relax as long as this is not another winding road prank, this is just a drivetrain test mule.

The hood may be the only thing on the outside that makes it to the final car. if you noted the under side and cover on it.

Also I expect we will see pictures of this car on track in Germany in a week or two along with somew other cars. I would not be suprised if GM has several cars going for testing at the Ring.

I expect the clue of this in a German airlines storage area is a clue to where it is going.

The final car is said to be more like the C6-R body with the needed areo advancments to keep the car planted at the speeds it will be able to do. What add ons will be light and functional.

Hmmm that intake could fit under the hood of many cars. CTSv, Camaro SS, GTO, Super Impala, Holden, G8. I would not expect the top HP in those cars but the same package with less boost could make a limited top line performance car with many other bodies or even a truck.

[zimmy01]

I love the fact that gm is doing this.....I am just scared at how fast this thing is actually going to go.

Every supercar under a half a 500k, Chevrolet no name uberfast corvette

Yeah....hopefully that will describe it.

[rueben44]

While I love getting to see things like this I really hate that this person is doing this because it give the competition a heads up on what GM is doing. They will still get owned but that is not the point. As for the styling the thread said they are mulls so why are some getting all crazy about styling? I will never understand.

[Sixty8panther]

I know that this car is nothing but a Z06 that has been molested and modified

as a prototype but I was VERY dissapointed at how modest the C6-Z06's

cosmetic modifications looked as compared to the regular C6. Don't get me

wrong, I love the Z06. It's a freekin'awsome car, the fender flares and those

steamroller wheels look like they mean business but this car is going to be

even MORE exotic & therefore should share NO body panels with the reg. C6.

[NOS2006]

How could you possibly be dissappointed in how the Z06 looks compared to the regular C6? It looks much better and more aggressive than the base C6 models.

Also, why would this StingRay model have completely different body panels across the entire surface of the car? It's still a Corvette! Why would they make this supercar Corvette look like something it isn't? There's no reason to redesign every body panel on this car to make it look more aggressive because no matter what it's still a C6 Corvette, but one with a hot ass engine and an amazing suspension and brake package.

And nobody can say the Corvette isn't the least bit classy, flashy, attractive, sporty, or worth the money paid to buy one inside and out once 2008 hits...

[jbartley]

How could you possibly be dissappointed in how the Z06 looks compared to the regular C6? It looks much better and more aggressive than the base C6 models.

for real. and isnt' that part of the reason why people buy the Z06? (a) it's a bargain, (b) it's looks can be deceiving, especially when your ripping past people on the roads. On closer inspection it looks more agressive, yet at first glance, you might not take it seriously.

I expect the corvette SS to look way more agressive, besides the body panels are all probably going to be resin or carbon.

[ellives]

This guy's totally going to lose his job over this:

http://jalopnik.com/cars/spy-photos/spy-ph...mule-238647.php

Ray @ Jalopnik

As he should. What an idiot. What benefit could there have been to releasing pictures like this?

[dwightlooi]

The big, squarish, aluminum contraption is not the aftercooler. It looks like the intake plenum. In the classic "M" arrangement for a roots type blower, the blower is underneath in the valley of the "Vee". Air goes into the blower horizontally from the front or the rear. It blows upwards through an air-to-water aftercooler and ends up in the squarish manifold plenum on top. The intake runners from the side of the plenum straight down to the intake ports.

[Nick]

That's what I was kind of getting it. I figure it is an integrated application being that Behr specializes in engine cooling products (including chargecoolers)...which would also explain the lines which look to be some sort of coolant lines running through the front of it.

[ohsnap]

It was supposedly a Lufthansa employee who leaked these photos. Another reason to love Lufthansa!

[NOS2006]

It was supposedly a Lufthansa employee who leaked these photos. Another reason to love Lufthansa!

Oh snap!

(sorry, just had to. haha)

[hyperv6]

THE DREADED BLACK SUBURBAN STRIKES AGAIN.

Just saw on autoblog.com that the shipping employee who took the photos was fired and a second was jailed. They were unsure of the charges of the arrest.

If you want these pictures save them now!

Just a word to the Moderators, Autoblog has removed the photo's because GM has been asking sites to remove them.

I don't know if they will have a problem with the link here or not.

Edited February 23, 2007 by hyperv6

[Flybrian]

This guy's totally going to lose his job over this:

And his freedom...

Super Corvette spy photog arrested!

[Cadillacfan]

I'm sure the guy was questioning whether or not it was truly worth it to leak these photos out. Shame on him and shame on Emo Trans for not preventing this from happening. Having said that, at least we get to see it. Woo Hoo! I'm excited. Performance shouldn't be an issue seeing how good the Z06 is already without a supercharger. What I can't wait to see is the design. I'm sure GM will never let that happen... ever!

[maxximus1]

ooohhhh! someone is gonna be in trouble!!....

http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A...PDATE/702220467

better take a look at these pics before they're taken away!

Edited February 23, 2007 by maxximus1

[Flybrian]

The police report from that person's arrest for the interested:

[ZL-1]

He took the car for a test drive!

[toesuf94]

He took the car for a test drive!

You beat me to it ZL-1...not only was the guy dumb enough to take photos of a prototype car - but he drove it! Can you imagine the shear stupidity here? Imagine if he wrecked it! Oh I would not want to be this guy for anything! Sure he had a few minutes with a great car, but it looks like he will be in trouble for quite some time here.

Do any of the lawyer types think he can be sued for industrial espionage for releasing photos of a top secret car to the public without consent - thereby releasing said photos to GM's competition? I think there may be something in there if he SOLD the photos to anyone or profited in any way.

Either way - I was pissed to see these photos on the web - as we see the Land of the Rising Sun is watching everything that GM is doing and trying to beat them to the punch. I doubt Toyota will be bringing out a Corvette challenger, but they can now see the future of how GM is making BIG Horsepower Today and get started on thier project to say the next Lexus or some other product they may have.

[JWilly48519]

Do any of the lawyer types think he can be sued for industrial espionage for releasing photos of a top secret car to the public without consent - thereby releasing said photos to GM's competition? I think there may be something in there if he SOLD the photos to anyone or profited in any way.

Very generally, an action is either criminal, if there's a specific law regarding it, or it's not. AFAIK, the perpetrator did not violate any laws regarding the photographs he took and posted unless there was a seal on the hood that was understandable to be intended to prevent opening and yet he cut or broke that seal to open the hood. Regarding the perpetrator having driven the car, that's harder to evaluate, since there was implied permission for the car to be driven in the context of its being loaded, unloaded and otherwise handled. My guess would be no, the perpetrator gets the benefit of the doubt on anything criminal.

An action can be non-criminal and yet expose you to civil suit if that action imposes costs or other harm to another party and if there exists a legal relationship creating a responsibility not to cause such harm. I doubt if the perpetrator had a contractural agreement with GM...AFAIK, he was just an employee of the transport company. Thus I'd guess that GM doesn't have a basis for a civil suit against him unless he's convicted of a criminal act. GM however very likely does have a basis for a civil suit against the transport company, depending on the terms and conditions of the contractural agreement between them. The transport company may have a basis for a civil suit against the perpetrator depending on the terms and conditions of his employment, which amounts to a contractural relationship.

"Industrial espionage" is just a buzz-phrase, with no specific legal meaning. It's not even applicable here unless the perpetrator in fact intended to profit in some manner from his actions. My understanding is that he was just being an idiot, not a spy. He posted the photos on a public website...clearly no intent to profit there. "Top secret" similarly has no legal meaning. "Consent" is a great legal concept, but it doesn't apply here unless there was a contractural relationship between GM and the perpetrator, and it appears that there wasn't.

[motorman]

The big, squarish, aluminum contraption is not the aftercooler. It looks like the intake plenum. In the classic "M" arrangement for a roots type blower, the blower is underneath in the valley of the "Vee". Air goes into the blower horizontally from the front or the rear. It blows upwards through an air-to-water aftercooler and ends up in the squarish manifold plenum on top. The intake runners from the side of the plenum straight down to the intake ports.

i bet the corvette is twin turbocharged because belt driven blower eat up HP and hurt fuel mileage. JMHO