'First' Wrecked Chevrolet C8 Corvette In A Bad Way, But Due A Four-Rotor Conversion

Rob Dahm has bought what seems to be the first crashed customer C8 Corvette, and he has grand plans for it

11 May 2020

One poor C8 Chevrolet Corvette owner in Florida went from the highs of taking the keys to seeing their mid-engined sports car wiped out by an apparently drunk driver. There’s a silver lining to this sad story, however - the stricken ‘Vette has been snapped up by Rob Dahm, who’s pledged to give it a four-rotor conversion.

This might seem like a curious and perhaps even sacrilegious choice, but there’s some history at play here. The XP-895 prototype predecessor to V8-powered Aerovette concept was powered by - you guessed it - a four-rotor Wankel unit made by joining a pair of Chevrolet Vega engines.

'First' Wrecked Chevrolet C8 Corvette In A Bad Way, But Due A Four-Rotor Conversion

Dahm also has previous in this arena, having converted a C5 Corvette to rotary power. However, with the Aerovette and the XP-895 being mid-engined, the current ‘Vette with its midship layout seems all the more fitting.

Unfortunately, the car he’ll be working on is in a bad way. Billed as the first crashed C8 (probably the first wrecked customer car - one of GM’s C8 pre-production prototypes was very publically crashed last year), it has significant front end damage, including a bent subframe. It also has a ‘notice of destruction’, so it won’t be possible to get it back on the road again.

Dahm’s previous projects are suitably bonkers enough for us to have no doubts about this C8’s rosy future, however. The first order of business will be to nurse it back to health in its stock configuration before the build project begins in earnest. We’re can’t wait to see it progress.

Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.

Comments

The only person mad enough to 4 Rotor swap a car like this is Rob Dahm!

False, our very own Derwin Performance shop in Québec is attempting to make a 4-rotor swap in a Gallardo.

It’s just not massively advertised everywhere

So, How many years until Rob completes 100% the 4 rotor? hes taking pretty long, I dont want to think how badly long it would take for the C8 AWD 4rotor

Hey! What’s up? It’s been a long time!

On the other hand he doesn’t do things in a botched way just so he can get views on Youtube. He seems to genuinely care about doing projects the right way, which is why it took so long for the AWD 4-rotor RX-7.

Considering that the C8 is still so new and that nobody has attempted such a swap on a C8, and considering that it’s probably a lot less DIY-friendly than the RX-7 and the C5, I wouldn’t be surprised if he took a couple years for it. He pretty much has to open the way because nothing exists on the market to perform such modifications, and that’s without talking about the reconstruction of the frame.