Revealed in October last year, the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 is the next extension of the C8 Corvette family. With a ludicrously long waiting list, it won't be easy to get your hands on one of these Chevys. The main appeal of the Z06 compared to the regular Corvette Stingray lies in its 5.5-liter naturally-aspirated flat-plane crank V8 LT6 engine, which serves up no less than 670 horsepower and 460 lb-ft of torque. Properly equipped, it'll help the 'Vette Z06 reach 60 mph in only 2.6 seconds. But GM's expertise in building V8s with cross-plane cranks means that developing the Z06's engine required more research. It turns out that part of that research involved buying a Ferrari 458 Italia V8 engine off eBay.

After all, if you're going to benchmark a flat-plane crank V8, what better company is there to turn to than Ferrari? In a presentation of the LT6's development process, chief engineer Jordan Lee admitted to looking at engines from several other high-end brands, but Ferrari topped the list.

"We did benchmark a tremendous number of competitors out there," said Lee. "We looked at McLaren, Porsche, and intently [at] Ferrari. We wanted a Ferrari 458 engine, to take a look at their components and see what they did."

As far back as 2014 when development began, the team tried to get its hands on a 458 engine, which was known as the F136. Eventually, they found a wrecked car engine from Poland on eBay for $25,000. To their surprise, the engine actually showed up.

This Ferrari engine was delivered on a palette to Chevy's Michigan engineering facility. The engineering team then disassembled Ferrari's work of art and were blown away by details like how small the bearings were and how the Italian engineers protected electronic components from the inevitable vibrations of the flat-plane crank.

"One thing Jordan and the team took a closer look at was Ferrari's techniques for ignition coil isolation and securing electrical connectors to avoid fretting problems," said Chevy spokesperson Trevor Thompkins. "We came to our own solutions but examining engines like the [F136] was beneficial."

Chevy later used an actual 458 for benchmarking during the C8's development process, and then a 488. Closely studying these Ferrari engines allowed Chevy to come up with the Z06's truly special power plant. And, unlike those Ferraris, the Z06 will be far more attainable when it arrives later in 2022. The Z06 will be as customizable as any other C8 but its V8 will make it a genuine alternative to Italian exotics.