These Cool and Obscure Corvettes are Truly Special

Not to mention quirky.

1963 Chevrolet Corvette Rondine Concept

Corvette history is filled with some special examples of America’s sports car, many of which are well known among both enthusiasts and more casual fans of automobiles. However, there are some far more obscure models scattered over the years as well, including the 1963 Corvette Rodine concept, for example. Designed by legendary Italian outfit Pininfarina, the one-off is pretty much what one might expect – a C2 with Italian styling, a dream car that never came to fruition – at least not in production form.

1958 Corvette XP-700

Next up, we have the XP-700, a truly futuristic take on the Corvette that was based on a 1958 model and built just for Bill Mitchell, GM’s vice president of styling. It wound up becoming a prototype for different ideas, served as a show car for some time, and then gave up its underpinnings for the XP-755 Mako Shark Concept.

1995 Guldstrand GS90 Corvette

Corvette driver and all-around racing legend Dick Guldstrand turned to building custom versions of the sports car following his retirement, with the GS90 serving as perhaps his finest creation. Based on the C4 ZR1, the GS90 is intended to conjure up memories of the Grand Sport racer he piloted in the 1960s, though only six of these cool machines were ever built.

Callaway B2K Twin Turbo Corvette

Speaking of special tuner cars, the Callaway B2K twin-turbo Corvette was also an incredible machine, particularly given the fact that it was built in an era that lacked much in the way of performance cars in general. Just 500 units of the B2K were produced in total, each bearing a twin-turbo L98 V8 that generated an impressive-for-the-time 345 horsepower and 465 pound-feet of torque.

Duntov Turbo Corvette

Fast cars were hard to come by in the later 1970s and early 1980s as well, which is precisely why Zora Arkus-Duntov teamed up with fiberglass parts maker ACI to create the Duntov Turbo Corvette, which is based on the C3. With a turbocharged L82 underhood, the Duntov models were much more powerful than their factory counterparts, but also much more expensive, which means that just 86 were ever sold.

Corvette Ghia-Aigle GT Coupe

Ghia went to work to reimagine the Corvette when it needed something to show off at the 1954 Geneva Motor Show, and it certainly came up with something different in the Ghia-Aingle GT Coupe that resulted. Based on a 1954 model Corvette, the concept sported a custom aluminum body that was so different no one would ever confuse this one-off build for a C1.

Baldwin-Motion Corvette

Most Corvette fans are aware of the wild builds that came from Baldwin-Motion in the late 1960s and early 1970s, though the company only built them in tiny quantities. Designed to provide eager buyers with a more track-focused version of the C3, Baldwin Motion Corvettes made over 500 horsepower and could easily rip off 11-second passes at the drag strip.

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