Black Chevrolet Corvette head-on with red seats visible through the windscreen

Black on Red

Black ChevroletCorvette

A mid-engined V8 supercar for three hundred and forty-nine dollars a day, which is the least believable sentence in this issue.

Every other car in this issue costs four figures a day. This one has the engine in the same place and does not.

The C8 is the Corvette that finally moved the V8 behind the seats — 495 horsepower, sixty in under three seconds, a roof that folds into the deck, and a cabin trimmed in red. It is the only car we rent that gets mistaken for something Italian and then undercuts it by a thousand dollars.

Specification

Horsepower
495
0–60 mph
2.9s
Top speed
194mph
Seats
2

6.2L V8 · RWD

Black Chevrolet Corvette in profile with the roof stowed, beneath palm trees
01Roof down, the cab sits so far forward it looks like a concept car that escaped. Chevrolet spent sixty years building the nose long and then deleted it.

Moving the engine backwards changed everything. The driver sits almost over the front axle, the nose drops away out of sight, and the car turns in with a precision no front-engined Corvette ever managed. It is also the reason the boot is under the bonnet and there is a second one behind the engine.

What has not changed is the sound. It is a naturally aspirated pushrod V8, six point two litres of it, and it makes the deep flat noise Americans have been making since 1955 — now from a foot behind your shoulders, with the roof stowed, on Mulholland.

It gets mistaken for something Italian.
Then it undercuts it by a thousand a day.

Squared steering wheel and red interior of the Chevrolet Corvette
The spine of climate controls running down the centre of the Corvette cabin

02A squared-off wheel, and a ridge of switches down the middle that walls the driver off from the passenger. Nobody has ever been able to decide whether it is brilliant.

Two red leather seats of the Chevrolet Corvette with the roof removed
03Two seats in red, and above them nothing at all once the roof is in the deck.
The 6.2-litre V8 of the Corvette under its glass engine cover
STINGRAY tread plate in the door sill of the Chevrolet Corvette

04Red cam covers under glass, lit like an exhibit, and STINGRAY set into the sill — a name Chevrolet has been using since 1963.

The particulars

The guest book

Queries

How much does it cost to rent a Corvette in Los Angeles?
The black Corvette is $349 a day, with multi-day stays discounted. Delivery to our Beverly Hills partner hotels is complimentary.
Is the roof removable?
Yes — the hardtop folds into the deck behind you at the touch of a button, and it will do it while you are moving at city speed. The luggage space under the bonnet stays yours either way.
Is it really mid-engined now?
It is. The V8 sits behind the seats under a glass cover, which is why the nose is so low and why the car looks like nothing Chevrolet has built before.

The diary

When you can have it

Checking live availability…

Reserve

Spend a thousand less and arrive the same.

Give us the date and the address. The Corvette arrives hand-detailed at the hour you name — the canyons are twenty minutes out.

Check dates & reserve or call +1 (424) 303-6496

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