Is the Million-Dollar Prato Orage Actually Just a Modified C6?

New Clothes?

Of the many cool cars making their debut at this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed, the Prato Orage was one of the more interesting. Mainly because, at least to us, it looks a whole lot like a previous-gen Corvette. And according to British automotive journalist Lewis Kingston, that's exactly what it is.

Photos: Prato Automobiles

Total Ripoff?

Thus far, Prato hasn't shared many details about its new model. If you look at pictures of the car, it's pretty clear what it was influenced by. But Kingston went the extra mile on Twitter and accused the Orage of being a total Corvette ripoff. 

Photos: Prato Automobiles

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Scant Details

Prato hasn't made any mention of the Orage being based on the C6 or any Corvette, however. Really all we know at this point is that it produces a claimed 888 horsepower from its 8.1-liter V8, making it the most powerful naturally-aspirated V8 of any production car. 

Photos: Prato Automobiles

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Corvette Noises

If you listen to the Orage make its run up the Goodwood hill, it most certainly sounds like a Corvette. Obviously with higher displacement and greater output, but a Corvette rumble nonetheless.

Photos: Prato Automobiles

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Where There's Smoke

Of course, it's not uncommon for upstart automakers to utilize parts, entire engines, or even most of an existing vehicle to produce a new model. But the fact that they haven't mentioned this is somewhat strange.

Photos: Prato Automobiles

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Full Disclosure

And that's the kicker. Other companies that have done this have always been pretty upfront about it from the start. And folks don't seem to mind. So why all the secrecy about the plumbing?

Photos: Prato Automobiles

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Seems Legit

Photos of the interior provide many more clues as well. The steering column is identical to the C6, with the same exact stalks. The window toggles, side mirror adjustment knobs, and shifter location are the same, too.

Photos: Prato Automobiles

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Big Money, Old Car

There's just one big problem with all of this, of course. Prato is asking a whopping $955,000 for the Orage, which is a lot of money for a souped-up older gen Corvette.

Photos: Prato Automobiles

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Waiting Game

So far, Prato has remained mum on the topic. But we imagine that these accusations will force them to make some sort of statement. And if the accusations do prove to be true, it seems likely that they won't exactly have folks lining up to buy the Orage. At least not at the current asking price. 

Photos: Prato Automobiles

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