Cerv IV b The CERV IV was the official name of the test vehicle that the General Motors Corvette group secretly contracted in 1993 to build as a test car for the 1997 Corvette. The Corvette group directed the project, with Chevrolet paying for it. General Motor’s management was not told about it; for fear that they would cancel it. The Corvette team developed the CERV IV in 90 days in early 1993, got approval to build the car around April of that year and eventually turned the model into the C5, which arrived in 1997. CERV IV was the only CERV designed with a front-mounted engine.