Where oh where to begin with this one…
Automotive designer Rain Prisk took to Facebook to post this interesting renderingof a C8 Corvettewith a split rear window. It’s reminiscent of the 1963 Corvette, the first year of the C2 when GM designers thought adding a split rear window to the coupe would be stylish. That design aesthetic lasted just one model year because people complained about the diminished rearward visibility, and now collectors fawn over them.
See a junked 1963 Corvette Z06 split window here.
Not only has the Rain Prisk added a dividing element down the middle of the back window, the glass has shrunk to more closely mimic the dimensions on the C2 Corvette. After all, being able to see when reversing your car these days is easier thanks to rearview cameras, which of course give you a commanding view far superior to a large rear window.
That’s not all the changes incorporated into this rendering. The plastic element which almost mimics a rear quarter window has been deleted, and that really changes up the looks of the C8. What’s more, the designer added two sets of vents behind the side windows, similar to what you find on the C2 but only they look to be made of black plastic (or maybe they’re carbon fiber).
You’ll also note there’s a “roof stinger” on this Stingray. A black stripe which looks like it starts out wide tapers as it swoops backward, going along the split in the back window, finally terminating right above the Corvette badge on the rear.
This modification would fulfill modern DOT safety standards since there’s no third brake light. With modern LED lighting tech, the element could easily have been switched to under the Corvette badge, but it wasn’t for reasons we can only guess at.
We don’t expect GM to even sort of kick this design idea around, but maybe some aftermarket shop will? After all, we have C7 Corvettes with C2-inspired kits fitted, so why not this?
