Concept Car Of The Week: Corvette Nivola [Bertone] (1990)

It began this past week with a few grainy pictures taken from extreme long range at GM proving grounds – a heavily masked sports car with mid-engined proportions flanked by Corvette outriders. And thus began this week’s excited buzz (yet again) about a forthcoming mid-engined Corvette.

For the Corvette faithful, the mid-engine Corvette is a kind of elusive Holy Grail – always just a generation away. And the hopes and dreams of enthusiasts are occasionally fed by a prototype or concept that seems to be so tantalisingly close to production.

We profiled one of the best of these concepts, the Aerovette, back in March. This week we look at another mid-engined concept, this time by Bertone, which gave the Corvette a radical Italian makeover.

Called the Nivola, the concept was named after one of Bertone’s favourite race drivers, Tazio Nuvolari, whose nickname was Nivola. Bertone would further honour the storied racer by painting the rakish new concept a yellow-gold in remembrance of the Nuvolari’s favourite colour.

A twin-turbocharged version of the Corvette’s 5.7 Litre V8 LT-5 engine producing 650bhp was attached to a specially-developed ZF transmission that allowed the engine to be mounted amidships. The powertrain placement gave the Nivola a very balanced weight ratio of 60 percent over the rear wheels, and 40 percent over the front – and, of course, almost direct transmission of power to the wheels.

Knowing the placement of the engine, Bertone set out to design the body for the new concept around a carbon backbone chassis with four-wheel steering, developed by Lotus. The earlier Aerovette, designed in-house at GM, was a radical restyling of the Corvette, but close inspection revealed a strong relationship to past Corvette design cues. Bertone was under no such obligation to tradition, and set out to re-envision the Corvette for a new era.

Introduced at the 1990 Geneva Motor Show, a quick overview revealed a classic Bertone wedge profile with the trademark strong shoulder line. But a closer look at the side elevation showed a more nuanced profile. A cab forward composition dominated, the windscreen and front fascia dropped precipitously at the front, while the roof and engine cover actually sloped rearward. The strong shoulder held a gentle slope, an almost horizontal line, only dropping rapidly as it neared the front.

The roof could be removed to make the Nivola a Spider. It is in this configuration that the car seems at its most rakish, a rolling wedge, even without the strong configurations of the Italian classics of the 1970s.

The overall exterior was rakishly modelled in form, but simple in details. The front and rear fascias were not overly complicated by fussy assemblages of lights, chromes and so forth. The head and tail lights were hidden and turn indicators integrated into surface breaks and shut lines. The exhaust and ventilation ports were similarly minimised as design elements, barely noticeable breaks in the overall form.

Bertone, in its press announcement, compared the structure of the car to a “boat”, and although the word “Barchetta” was never referenced in relationship to the Nivola, it’s clear that this classic typology was never far from the designers’ minds.

The interior was more modest than the exterior, but still had some tricks to reveal the driver and passenger. The doors slid outward on rods and revealed special compartments for a bespoke luggage set. One the occupants negotiated the wide sill, they settled into extremely low seats which had cushioning attached to the floorpan itself, rather than a seat frame. This helped maintain an extremely low profile for the car, which measured only 1100mm in height. Fortunately, for traveling comfort, a special hydropneumatic suspension allowed for a 60mm variation in ground clearance. And the aqua leather couldn’t be more ‘90s.

The Nivola was well received at the few venues where it was shown. But it was always meant to be an experiment in possibilities, not a preview of things to come for the Corvette. The styling was too radical, too Italian for American tastes. The mid-engined concept was part of a long series of concepts and decades-long debate about what kind of car the Corvette should be. It’s a debate that continues today, resurfacing just within the last week.

Although the story of the Corvette continues, the Nivola sadly was a victim of Bertone’s bankruptcy. It was auctioned off with much of the Bertone collection, hopefully to re-emerge someday in the hands of ASI, the Automotoclub Storico Italiano, the successful bidder, which has promised to preserve a bit of Bertone history, and perhaps a prophecy of the future of the Corvette itself.

Tech Spec

First seen Geneva / March 1990

Engine Mid-mounted twin-turbo V8, 650bhp

Length 4205 mm
Width 1980 mm
Height 1100 mm
Wheelbase 2550 mm