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Dear Everybody; Please Shut Up About The Next Corvette Already

[1]

I feel like we are setting ourselves  up for nothing but disappointment when the C7 doesn’t turn out to be a twin turbocharged, sub 2,500 pound, 700 horsepower monster.

Being a member of the automotive media (albeit a small, almost insignificant one) comes with a lot of perks, and a lot of ground to cover. Just ask anyone who has tried to report from one of the major auto shows without backup. Then again, what with today’s never-ending 24-hour news cycle, it can be hard to come up with something relevant, intelligent, and enlightening to say.

That is why we have almost endless speculation on the C7 Corvette. And quite frankly, I am sick of it.

This aggravation at the endless speculation has been building up for a while, but now that we’re actually seeing C7 spyshots all over the Internet, it’s like…what was everybody getting so excited for? It looks an awful lot like the current Corvette, and the one that came before that (the C5.) Sure, part of that is all the camouflage, but if it isn’t a radical redesign like most websites seem to suggest…well, why spend so much time on it?

Of course we are as guilty as anybody of feeding the frenzy of C7 Corvette speculation, having cited rumors ranging from a mid-engine setup (ain’t ever happening) to a twin-turbo V6. That said, some of the worst offenders seem singularly obsessed with C7 Corvette rumors, churning out new spyshots or rumors on a regular basis. These are respected automotive institutions with people who have as much experience in the auto industry as anybody else. One would think that the biggest names on this list might be above endless, rampant speculation, but you’d be wrong.

A Not-Very-Exclusive Club

This (very incomplete) list of offenders includes

This is just the tip of the iceberg really. The auto media has grown so desperate for Corvette information that student designs with zero basis in reality regularly make it around the Internet [7]. Don’t even get me started about the endless rumor mill churning out every Corvette enthusiast’s wet dream cars. The mid-engine Corvette rumor has been around dating back to at least the mid-70’s since a few mid-engine Corvette concepts snuck out of GM’s dream factory. But it has never led to anything more than speculation and false hope.

What You Shouldn’t Expect

If you ask me, hoping for a mid-engine Corvette at this point is as close to automotive heresy as one can get. The Corvette has survived nearly 60 years as a front-engine, rear-wheel drive sports car. More importantly, the Corvette has remained comparatively affordable to European exotics that offer the same levels of performance. This is due in part to GM’s decision to stick with pushrod V8’s, and the front-engine/rear-drive setup that is as simple as it is cost effective.

I am pleading with them to put the Corvette C7 speculation to rest for a little while at least; in return I promise to keep my own mouth shut.

Yet the rumors won’t die, because auto journalists won’t let them. Instead, the same guys churn out the same rumors year after year after year, hoping that enough of the crap they throw against the wall will stick. And if you throw enough crap, some of it is bound to be right on the mark.

I do understand the obsessions, really, I do. You’re excited for the next Corvette, a car that most Americans can only dream about owning these days. And it has been a while since the Corvette got any sort of update, so I can even understand the impatience, which is why we have C7 renderings dating back half a decade.

But can we please put it to rest for a while? With all the hype, rumors, and renderings floating around the Internet, I feel like we in the automotive media are setting ourselves (and our audiences) up for nothing but disappointment when the C7 doesn’t turn out to be a twin-turbocharged, sub-2,500 pound, 700 horsepower monster with a 7-speed transmission, all-wheel drive, mid-engine setup for $50,000 and not a penny more.

And I am guilty, guilty, guilty, and guilty of all of these sins. I’m not trying to elevate myself above my peers, not by a long shot. I am pleading with them to put the Corvette C7 speculation to rest for a little while at least; in return I promise to keep my own mouth shut. Not that anybody is listening, mind you, but by constantly spreading the hope and hype, I am part of the problem. At the very least, I acknowledge this, and I feel bad for my part in it. At some point, the C7 Corvette will come home to roost, and I just don’t think it will live up to the ambitious image we’re creating in the absence of anything solid and material.

At this junction, I am content to let Jalopnik have the last word on this issue [6]. Ray Wert has said in no uncertain terms, this is the 2014 C7 Corvette, which is more than anybody else has been able to say up to this point. The  rendering he commissioned is not so outlandish a design that it is beyond belief; neither is it very exciting, to be honest. Yet he’s the only one who claims to have actually seen it in person, which is more than any desk jockey salivating over the latest hopeful rendering can say.

So for now, can we all just STFU about the C7 Corvette, and still pretend we’re at least a little bit excited when it finally is revealed?