Khyzyl Saleem is one of the best digital car renders out there. He posts his work regularly on his Instagram page, @the_kyza, and is currently taking part in a video series with Hagerty showing the inspiration, design, and outcome of his renderings. This latest one is a bit special. Saleem took his own, air-lifted and standard Chevrolet Corvette C5, that he owns, and digitally rendered it, so it now has a JDM style bodykit to create a pretty spectacular looking car.
The Inspiration Behind The JDM C5
Saleem talks quite openly about what inspired him to create the C5 rendering. It essentially boils down to wanting to do something in time with the car, and he took inspiration from the C5R Corvette that was in Gran Turismo. It is one of Saleem’s favorite race cars, and he essentially wanted to create a road going version of the C5R, to potentially use it as a basis for a body package on his own C5 Corvette. Saleem makes quite a few changes to the model, such as lowering the chassis, swapping out the wheels for more JDM style ones and reworking the front bumper. The end result is massively impressive.
A Japanese Looking American Sports Car
What Saleem creates is an incredible looking car. The front of his car is now very reminiscent of the C5, with the splitter design identical and the more aggressive, race looking bumper design. Saleem has added some widebody fenders over the wheels that follow the original body lines as close as possible, and his overall theme is to keep the car like OEM + +, i.e., close to original but with some modifications. The curved lines of the C5 are evident through the whole car, even at the rear where we see much larger quarter panels and fenders.
Staying True To The Original C5 Design
Saleem has clearly stayed true to the original design of the C5 and the C5R. He has even added the ripple effect in the middle of the hood, a feature of the C5R. He has also added extra paneling to the back of the car, but kept the rear wing off to keep it more inline with the road going C5. It's hard though not to spot the rear diffuser that Saleem has added. Plus, the wheel design is incredibly cool. In white, they look very JDM, and they are his own tri-spoke design inspired by classic JDM cars. In red, with the white wheels, this Corvette now looks like it belongs in Japan.
Sources: Hagerty YouTube Channel, the_kyza Instagram Page