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Like their auto show counterparts, engineering test cars usually end up parked in purgatory. Which is to say, squashed. Car companies don’t like to let competitors in on what’s on their minds, so the cars that express it get destroyed in a hurry, usually. It’s uncommon when any of them, particularly Corvette development cars, find their way into open public view.
Yet three have just accomplished exactly that. All of these cars were built by General Motors engineers at various points when the fifth-generation Corvette was undergoing design. That process went back surprisingly far. The black-painted Alpha Build car is one of 14 assembled in 1988 as a basic look at the C5′s shape and layout. The Beta, painted white, was the next phase, fitted with Hydro-formed frame rails and the Gen III small-block V-8. Both are in the collection of Mike Yager and his family, along with the CERV-4b research vehicle, essentially a pre-production C5 within fourth-generation bodywork. All of them were on display this past weekend at the Corvette Funfest, which was held at Mid America Motorworks in Effingham, Illinois.
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