Question of wheel backspacing
 

Why did the OEs get away from the large offset wheels? I remember the Pontiacs making a big deal about their "Widetrac" Grand Prix and such. I've seen the Deadcat Camaro that had Z06 wheels and changed the rear end to match the offset of the wheels. Neat trick but limits you to newer offset wheels. Is there any drawback to this?

I'd guess that they went the way of higher offset wheels because its easier to package things that way. You can't use the space on the outside of the wheel if there is a big dish there, but you can push the brakes and uprights out, and therefore the suspension by using higher offset.

because front wheel drive practically requires that type of offset.

I'm pretty sure the Corvette is still rear wheel drive

I'm pretty sure front wheel drive cars were doing it long before the corvette did.


elaboration: as prevously stated- packaging. The manufacturers learned they could fit more stuff in a smaller space from the front wheel drive cars and it bled over to the RWD cars.