Sunday, January 2, 2022

Corvette influence in Communist cars...


Here's another of the race car projects from the USSR. Much more conventional than the gargantuan ZIS in an earlier post, this 1958 ZIL112AS still used a much-shortened limousine chassis (down to about 115 inches this time) and utilized a new 6 liter V8. This engine was rated at 200 hp and featured a Russian version of the Rochester 4 barrel carb. The 3 piece body this time was made of fibreglass molded over a wooden buck and clearly has inspiration from the Corvette. 

I find it interesting how influential the scalloped-sides Corvette appears to be, even though it never sold in big numbers- less than 29,000 sold in the first 4 years- it is now again- more than 50 years later, influencing the styling of a Chinese sports car, the Dolphin SS. You be the judge...





 

3 comments:

  1. If I saw the Dolphin driving down the street I'd say "Damn, someone built them a fake Corvette!" That's how close they look, to me, at least.

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  2. I thought the profile of the front end looked a bit goofy, so I went looking for a side view of a '58-'60. Found one here:

    https://dealeraccelerate-all.s3.amazonaws.com/ideal/images/1/6/1/161/51627131b04b_hd_1958-chevrolet-corvette.jpg

    The original looks much better.

    rdguy

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  3. Yea kinda missed the mark, a bit stogy to me. But hell what else you gonna buy?

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