More was always better in the early 1990s. And if the 10-cylinder was good enough for Dodge’s American supercar, Chevy really had a little time to push back. The Corvette team created a one-of-a-kind design study called ZR-12, to see what would happen if you put a 10-liter All-American goodness in C-Generation’s ‘wheat into’. Obviously good things happened.
Ryan Faulkner Industries was and still is:The business of building GM-based marine engines includes the Fame Faulkner V12, based on the small block Chevy engine architecture. It’s basically SBC and let half. Like the Viper, the Chevy had to pull the front of the car to fit many of these cylinders, and the C-4 chassis needed an extra eight inches to get the V12 under its oyster.
Chevy never made these 12-cylinder animals for customers, mostly because it would have been too expensive. A Corvette in 1990’s money would cost you about thirty-two grand, and amazing DOHC mercurizers-Power ZR-1 about sixty g. If the ZR-12 had been pushed into production, it would have had at least an extra ten grand prices on top. Considering the Viper started around Ip 50,000 it would not be much of a Viper fighter.
Since 1990, inflation has risen almost 100 percent, which means that this V12 ‘VAT’ in money today would be the equivalent of 8 138,000. Now when I think about it, the brand new NSX starts at 157,000, so maybe there’s room for a big displacement V12. Curve in today’s lineup. Especially now that it’s a mid-engine, the V12 is definitely welcome.
The car was initially taken out for magazine tests in the early 1990s, but the car overheated and was a bit uncontrollable to drive. The weight balance did not change as much as the aluminum V12 did as much as the Iron V8, but the stretched chassis was a bit winky. The car had a wiper-ping side pipe at the time, which was later pushed from the inside. It was, issue, issues.
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After that test, the car was very mothballed and was given to the national Corvette Museum many years ago. Back in 2017 I visited the museum and found the car up close and personal. She hadn’t been on display in so many years and was pushed into the back room on the rack. For a recent change of display, the NCMA fired the Faulkner V12 and drove the car around a bit, both inside and outside the museum. Thanks to YouTuber DtRockstar1 was present to capture it on video. You don’t live until you hear of the Curve V12.
Man, that sounds really hilarious. I wish they could get the item up to a higher rpm, but make sure there are decent exhaust pulses even at fast parking speeds.
HT: Chris
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