Five legendary Corvette concepts

Monday, 22 July 2019

The Chevrolet Corvette is so hot right now, what with the moon landing anniversary (GM has a history of giving astronauts Corvettes) and the reveal of the long-promised, much-teased mid-engined Corvette.

So to celebrate the iconic American sports car, here are five of the coolest Corvettes you could never actually buy - the concept cars.

XP-87 Stingray Racer

The XP-87 from 1959 was based on the underpinnings of the short-lived Corvette SS racing car from 1957 with styling based on the still-born Q-Corvette design study.

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The Stingray Racer's 4.6-litre V8 produced 235kW of power and it was ferociously fast, largely because it was a staggering 450kg lighter than the production Corvette of the time.

Legendary engineer (who is also routinely called the 'Father of the Corvette') Zora Arkus-Duntov's was convinced that a mid- or rear-engine layout was the way to go for the next Corvette, but it wasn't to be, although he did channel that desire into the CERV I (Chevrolet Experimental Racing Vehicle) that would become intertwined in the Corvette's possible mid-engined future.

XP-755 Mako Shark

While the Stingray Racer influenced the C2's styling (and inspired the Sting Ray name), the concept that directly led to the second-gen Corvette was the XP-755, or Mako Shark, in 1961.

Inspired by both the Stingray Racer and a real shark, the final 1963 production version of the C2 used a remarkable amount of styling cues and features from the concept.

The Mako Shark concept's colour scheme was inspired by an actual mako shark Bill Mitchell had on the wall in his office. According to legend, he demanded that his designers match the shark exactly, but when they couldn't, they stole the shark from his office and repainted it to match the car instead.

Mako Shark II

While the original Mako Shark concept went on to have a brief film and TV career (as was the thing to do with concept cars at the time), Mitchell would remove its body and use it to create the Mako Shark II in 1965, which would directly shape the styling of the third-generation C3 Corvette that would debut in 1968.

GM actually created two Mako Shark II concepts, the non-running car (pictured here) featured unusual square exhausts and a square steering wheel, while the functional car based on the original Mako Shark wasn't quite so radical.

Mako Shark II would later be on again repurposed into the Manta Ray concept from 1969.

XP-882/XP-895/Aerovette

​While the idea of a mid-engined Corvette had its roots in Zora Arkus-Duntov's plans for the C2, it wasn't until the XP-882 concept from 1969 that the world would see the more exotic layout with a Corvette name on it.

Initially cancelled by Chevrolet's GM John DeLorean (yep, that John DeLorean), the mid-engined concept was quickly revived when Ford revealed it was selling the DeTomaso Pantera through its Lincoln dealerships.

In an interesting wrinkle, XP-882 was powered by a 2-rotor Wankel rotary engine, while a development of XP-882 (named XP-895) was fitted with a four-rotor engine in 1972. The rotary was replaced by a 6.6-litre V8 in 1976, when XP-895 was also renamed Aerovette.

Corvette Indy Concept

The idea of a mid-engined Corvette persisted even if the will to actually do it never materialised, and the Indy Concept from 1986 is proof of that.

GM had acquired Lotus by that stage, so the rumour was that the American giant wanted to use the British manufacturer's mid-engined expertise for the next Corvette.

The Indy Concept packed a 465kW twin-turbo 5.7-litre V8 and featured four-wheel-drive, four-wheel steering and computer-controlled active suspension, all of which added up to a car that would cost around US$400,000 if it was put nto production. Which it clearly wasn't.

It was, however, repurposed into yet another mid-engined concept, the CERV III from 1990.