The C2 Corvette is often regarded as one of the most beautiful Corvette designs of all time, and along the way, it ushered in a fan favorite: the split-rear window. Potentially as a surprise to many, not everyone was onboard with the design trait and it had one notable critic: Zora Arkus-Duntov.
Peter Brock, a former Corvette designer, tells the story of Duntov’s feud with late GM vice president of global design, Bill Mitchell. After Brock finalized his sketch, Mitchell entered the design studio and asked for a cut line straight down the middle at the rear, which effectively split the rear window into two.
Brock and the team did as the boss man said. They took a knife to the clay model and implemented the change. Mitchell was out the next day, and Duntov happened to stroll into the design studio. In his best Duntov impression, Brock says the former Porsche engineer was incredibly turned off by the design and called it “stupid.”
The design team explained Mitchell requested the change, but Duntov made his case for the impracticability. Notably, he said it would cut down the visibility (very true), and cost would increase in production for such a design.
The next day, Mitchell returned to a screaming match between Duntov where Mitchell eventually kicked the famed Corvette engineer out of the design department. From then on, Duntov didn’t have much to do with the car’s design and focused on engineering expertise. After all, Duntov remained in favor of a mid-engine layout even before the C2 Corvette entered production.
Decades later, Duntov will likely see his dream come to reality.
Horsepower and grip take the win.
Amid a legal battle with a GM supplier.
With multiple model years recommended.
Generally following the market trend.
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While I would have likely agreed with Duntov the majority of the time, and he is certainly correct about the split window reducing visibility, the split-rear window C2 is the best looking Corvette of all time in my opinion. So, Mitchell got it right. Too bad they changed soon afterward.
Since the Split Window was a one year only design, I wonder if Mitchell gave into Zora and the full rear window design was adopted?
The story I read was that Mitchell was incensed that a lowly engineer on a low production Chevrolet line would come his studio and tell HIM how to style a car!
Apparently they had quite a shout-fest. Mitchell called Duntov, "Zoro" (a very popular TV series back then about a wild west masked hero named Zora, and his faithful companion, Tonto) and Duntov called Mitchell a "red-faced baboon!"
Both men had massive, bloated egos. Duntov LOVED the limelight from the press and Mitchell was famous for saying, "I'M the only one around here that designs Corvettes!" Ahhh... Those were the days...
I remember this one. Zorro, The Lone Ranger, and Tonto get stuck in a Corvette...and then something about The Green Hornet Showing up in a Caddy...right?
Thanks for the neat video....we Corvette-nuts loved Zora, warts and all. RIP
Mitchell's unwillingness to back down was the key to his success, and to GM's during the fabulous Mitchell era. There were, and always will be, competing interests in designing a new vehicle and a lesser man would give in to Fisher Body's insistence that a design element couldn't be produced or to Engineering's insistence that a body component needed to be thicker, higher, narrower, etc. Mitchell refused to be bullied and fought for the right proportions and for design elements, like the split window, that made his designs so memorable.
Equally talented men have succeeded him at the helm of Design Staff but they weren't equally forceful and the result has been watered down compromised designs that are mere shadows of the greatness GM once sent out of its factories and that are now the iconic and beloved designs cherised in garages across America.