Italian-American Pride: Corvette-based SV 9 Competizione by Noah Joseph on Jul 21st, 2009 at 7:58PM
[center]SV 9 Competizione – Click above for high-res image gallery
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Reclothing Corvettes with Italian coachwork is a time-honored tradition; one that sadly lapsed for years in between the age of classics and the modern era. But in an industry where old designs and old badges are resurrected with increasing regularity, this is one practice we're glad to see come back. Following such recent examples as Castagna Aznom comes the SV 9 Competizione, a re-skinned C6 Corvette with a touch of Italian flair.
Imagine a cross between an Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione – from which this creation clearly draws its inspiration (as well as its name) – and a contemporary Corvette and you're well on your way towards summing up the SV 9 Competizione's design. And while we have some reservations over the front-end styling with its protruding snout, overall, the design strikes an intriguing balance between American muscle and Italian style. And when you consider the price of many contemporary coachbuilt customs, the $99,995 sticker price – including the donor Vette – doesn't seem all that outlandish.
Along with the carbon fiber bodywork, SV has tweaked the interior, fitted a new intake and exhaust for a 14-horsepower boost to 450 and fitted a new set of wheels with Pirelli Pzero Rosso tires, giving the SV 9 Competizione a claimed 0-60 time of four seconds flat, a 12-second quarter-mile sprint, a braking distance from 60 of 107 feet and 1.03g of lateral grip. Not too shabby by any standard. And with configurations based on 25 exterior colors, five interior trims and four wheel choices, SV figures there's no reason any two of the 1,000 units to which production is limited will ever need to turn out the same. We wouldn't mind seeing one up close ourselves; the first example is set to debut in San Francisco this weekend ahead of its unveiling at the local Concorso Italiano next month, but in the meantime you can check out the computer renderings in the gallery below.
Gallery: SV 9 Competizione Corvette
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