Modern-day Corvette Stingray set for stardom

General Motors is using this week's Chicago motor show to unveil this stunning modern-day interpretation of the Corvette Stingray... but, alas, it's not destined for production.

The Corvette Centennial Concept -- as it's known -- was conceived to commemorate the General's 100th birthday, but its real raison d'etre is to feature as one of the star cars in the upcoming Hollywood blockbuster Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which releases in the US on June 26.

According to an Autoblog report, the concept car is nothing more than a styling mule "that was influenced by the original 1959 Stingray racer when it was spotted by director Michael Bay while he was touring GM's operations looking for inspiration for the first Transformers movie".

In the film, the Centennial Concept will take the role of 'Sideswipe' -- a skater with wheels for feet -- reports Autoblog, and it will star alongside other GM products including the Chevy Volt extended-range electric car, which will take on the role of an autobot named Jolt.

The Centennial is a clever piece of styling work as it successfully reprises classic Stingray design elements such as the thrusting egg-crate grille, coke-bottle flanks and classic split rear window.

Yet the car embraces modern cues that extend from the slit-like headlights to the LED rear lamps that are housed with cooling vents not too dissimilar to those that feature on the Lexus LFA.

As for the quartet of drainpipe exhausts, they look cool, but we can't imagine they'd satisfy any existing drive-by noise regulations...

Nevertheless, seeing the offbeat 'Vette in (virtual) action might be reason enough to go and see the movie when it releases locally.