| The frame is aluminum. That means that if you get hit, you can forget about simply straightening the frame out: the frame pieces will have to be replaced. The reason is that aluminum (if I'm not mistaken) loses a lot more of its strength after being bent than steel does. And the new frame pieces will likely have to be welded into place, which is much more difficult than it would be for steel. More difficult == more expensive. I won't be surprised if bending the frame in an aluminum-framed Corvette means totalling the car.
Another way aluminum is unlike steel is that it has a limited fatigue life. Which is to say, it loses its strength due to normal flexing over time, while steel does not. This is the primary reason aircraft, and particularly airliners (most of which are made of aluminum alloy) have a limited service life.
I have no idea what to expect out of the aluminum-framed Corvette in terms of life expectancy. I would expect the number of flexing cycles the frame experiences to be much higher than what an aircraft experiences in the same amount of time, so I won't be surprised if the life expectancy of an aluminum-framed Corvette under normal driving conditions is no more than, say, 15 years.
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02:59:06 07/02/06
