Credit and big thanks goes to Heretic for bringing us to attention this wonderful concept by GM. The hard work in gathering the info was done by the geeks over at Google. And me? Well, I'm just a lowly paper boy.

Also, Heretic, if you see any misinformation please correct me. Thanks!

Disclaimer from Heretic:

The discrepancies in information here is nothing new to people who look for concept cars. These cars often did not run, were not safety tested, and were destroyed when the company was through with them. This absolved them from any lyability to customers for selling untested vehicles. Often the plans and information was destroyed as well. Later information has to be pieced together as best as possible. Most old concept cars are something of a mystery.
So with that in mind I guess you can take everything with a little grain of salt and just sit back and enjoy the show, eh?

http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/6969/1973chevroletaerovetteckg9.jpg


http://files.conceptcarz.com/img/Chevrolet/73_Chevy_Aerovette_manu_02.jpg


http://files.conceptcarz.com/img/Chevrolet/73_Chevy_Aerovette_manu_04.jpg


http://files.conceptcarz.com/img/Chevrolet/73_Chevy_Aerovette_manu_03.jpg

These picture are of the 1973 Chevrolet Aerovette Concept. "Duntov wanted a car designed to utilize a rotary engine. That was in there first, then emission laws and the fuel crunch killed the project. The V8 was then put in to salvage the rest of the project, but it was too late." Info and specs on the V8 powered, mid-engined Corvette can be found here:http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z9203/default.aspx

Note that the above website only gives info on the V8 powered mid-engined Corvette, NOT the rotary powered, mid-engined Corvette. The technical specs on the mid-engined rotary, as you might imagine, proves to be quite difficult to ascertain.

In any event here is a brief history on the rotary Corvette concept. Enjoy!

The rotary Corvette started out as a mid-engined concept powered by a good ol' V8: Back in the 70's, it became apparent to General Motors that their Corvette Stingray would have to be replaced after almost twenty years in production on the same chassis. GM is aware that Corvette drivers are a very demanding group, and did not want any next-generation designs that would alienate their existing customers. Chevrolet built a variety of concept cars to test owner reactions, showcasing advanced technology ideas.

One of these concept cars was the Aerovette. It began life as the XP-882, a mid-engined prototype using a 400 CID V8 mated to an Oldsmobile Toronado transaxle. For the 1973 Paris motor show, an XP-882 chassis was repowered with an experimental four rotor Wankel engine, which looked very promising until it was cancelled due to concerns about the rotary engine's typically poor fuel economy with an impending oil crisis just on the horizon. The Bill Mitchell, the ardent Corvette styling department magnate, gave the car a new life by reinstalling a small-block Chevrolet V8 and christening it the Areovette. A stunningly dramatic looking car, it was promoted as the new sixth generation Corvette for 1980, but never saw series production.

Charles Jordan oversaw the Aerovette design, which included radical bifold gullwing doors, and deformable plastic body-coloured nose and tail sections which are common today, but revolutionary in the mid-1970's. The sterling silver paint, with silver leather interior and forged alloy turbine wheels later seen on the 1978 Corvette Indy Pace Car, gave the Aerovette a space craft like appearance unmatched by any other advanced sports car.
http://autospeed.drive.com.au/cms/A_1970/printArticle.html



The brainchild of powerful men:Zora Arkus-Duntov had that rare blend of a deep understanding of engineering and a passion for speed. Aesthetics did little for Duntov, unless it helped the car's performance. Concerning the Four-Rotor Corvette, Duntov was quoted, "Looking back on my 20-year association with styling, this is the best design ever produced."

From '68 to '73, Chevrolet R&D made five unique mid-engine prototypes. So, what happened? The mid-engine Corvette dream never made it into production because of the Corvette's sales success in the early '70s. Production was at an all-time high in '73, and Chevrolet returned 8,200 orders to dealers because they couldn't make enough cars! So, strictly from a business standpoint, "We're selling all we can make, don't change it!"

Another interesting situation was going on inside of Chevrolet. Four power-players were approaching the end of their careers, and they all wanted a spectacular replacement for the Corvette. Duntov from engineering, Bill Mitchell from styling, Joe Pike from sales, and GM President Ed Cole were powerful Corvette allies. But in business, the bottom line is king.

The 2-Rotor car was nice, but more power was obviously needed. So a bold plan was presented to get the job done. Using the chassis from one of the '70 XP882 cars, two 292.5-cid rotary engines joined together inside a stress member case. The 585-cid "engine" made close to 420hp. The transmission was a Turbo Hydramatic 425 from a Toranado, with a Morse Hy-Vo chain and bevel gears.

Styling was directed by Mitchell and penned out by Henry Haga. Starting with the bumper height datum line, Mitchell's instructions were to "make it sleek." The long tapers on the front and rear, and a steep windshield, made the drag coefficient only 0.325. Gull-wing doors, vents, louvers, scoops, and lots of show car trim made the 4-Rotor Corvette nearly perfect from every angle of view. Slightly longer, lower, and wider than a production '74 Corvette, it looked like "the future."

On a one-mile check track, GM president Ed Cole and Duntov clicked off 148 mph in the 4-rotor Corvette. The car started out with a throaty roar and hit top speed, belching flames and making an ear piercing scream. It was actually faster than a '73 454 Corvette! But not even powerful friends in high places could get this prototype into production.http://www.illustratedcorvetteseries.com/No52_1973_4-Rotor.html



A few more details:In 1970, Chevrolet obtained a licence for the Wankel (http://www.millville.org/workshops_f/kess_mech/tools/1tools/dr-wankel.html) RCE (http://www.millville.org/workshops_f/kess_mech/tools/1tools/rce.html) from NSU (http://www.millville.org/workshops_f/kess_mech/tools/1tools/nsu.html) and began building a two-rotor and a four-rotor Corvette. A fibreglass model is approved in June 1971 by GM Pres. Ed Cole.

On Jan. 14, 1972, a chassis was shipped to Pininfarina, Turin, Italy so that the body could be constructed by the famed design studio. In June of the same year, a 2 rotor Corvette with a steel body was viewed by GM management. The same year GM commissioned a two-rotor version of the XP-882 and built it as the XP-987GT.

In January 1973, a Corvette body was built for an experiment four-rotor car. By April, the GALCIT wind tunnel in California was used to test the aerodynamic qualities of the 4-rotor Corvette. In September 13, 1973 a 266 ci two-rotor Corvette was shown in Frankfurt, Germany. The four-rotor 390 ci Corvette was shown at Paris, France on Oct. 4, 1973, as well as the two-rotor.

On September 24, 1974, GM Pres. Ed Cole postponed the introduction of the Wankel engine, ostensibly due to emissions difficulties. He retired the same month.http://www.millville.org/workshops_f/kess_mech/tools/1tools/corvette.html



The 2-rotor, XP-987GT was recently rescued in England. Article here:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=A1&xml=/motoring/2006/09/30/mfvette30.xml
It is currently sporting a Mazda 13B engine. However the owner has been offered the original GM rotary, the GMCRE2.

If the red one is the two rotor car, the front end has been modified to match the later aerovette. The hidden headlights were vacuum actuated. Limited vacuum in the old rotaries as well as problems plumbing the vacuum lines made GM engineers switch to visable headlights.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/graphics/2006/09/30/mfvette1.jpg



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/graphics/2006/09/30/mfvette2.jpg

like I posted in the other thread, Ed Cole piloted a finished four powered XP-882 to a 148 mph pas on the 1 mile test track, so dates are a little off (My info is from an old GM press release from summer of 72, so I would be hard pressed to listen to other numbers). This is before your info says it had been built

If the red one is the two rotor car, the front end has been modified to match the later aerovette. The hidden headlights were vacuum actuated. Limited vacuum in the old rotaries as well as problems plumbing the vacuum lines made GM engineers switch to visable headlights. The origional XP882 was later refitted with the 400 cid V8, and was revamped as a show car. This became GM's aerovette show car, that was used for promotional purposes


The discrepancies in information here is nothing new to people who look for concept cars. These cars often did not run, were not safety tested, and were destroyed when the company was through with them. This absolved them from any lyability to customers for selling untested vehicles. Often the plans and information was destroyed as well. Later information has to be pieced together as best as possible. Most old concept cars are something of a mystery.

The origional XP882 was later refitted with the 400 cid V8, and was revamped as a show car. This became GM's aerovette show car, that was used for promotional purposes

So the XP-882 had the rotary first and THEN the V8 was put in it?

It gets kind of confusing.

So what I am asking is this: did GM put in the rotary first or the V8 first? I'm under the impression that the mid-engined V8 was first built and THEN they decided to put in the rotary.

Duntov wanted a car designed to utilize a rotary engine. That was in there first, then emission laws and the fuel crunch killed the project. The V8 was then put in to salvage the rest of the project, but it was too late.
I have always been impressed with this vehicle, and have a lot of information on it, including complete engine specs. I am just a little unsure where that folder is at the moment....It is funny how you think you are organise after you move, then you can't find something when you want it

ahhh, I see. Damn concepts!!! Always changing plans and changing ideas. It gets to be a huge puzzle when you're trying to understand everything.

Anyways, I hope you find that folder soon, 'cause that is a neat little piece of automotive history.

ahhh, I see. Damn concepts!!! Always changing plans and changing ideas. It gets to be a huge puzzle when you're trying to understand everything.

Anyways, I hope you find that folder soon, 'cause that is a neat little piece of automotive history.

I have always gotten a kick out of tracing down the history of these cars

I have threatened in the past to build a copy of this car. I wanted to find a wrecked 74 vette (crunched in the rear obviously) and go from there. I even have the Olds tranny like what was used in the concept. I just have not found all the parts I wanted

I have always gotten a kick out of tracing down the history of these cars

I have threatened in the past to build a copy of this car. I wanted to find a wrecked 74 vette (crunched in the rear obviously) and go from there. I even have the Olds tranny like what was used in the concept. I just have not found all the parts I wanted

heehee :D:cool:

that would an incredible project. I can see how parts availability is an issue. It's hard enough to restore older cars (relatively speaking, the restoration market is as big as the import scene now a days) let alone a one-off concept.

I think there used to be a member who does a lot of work with kit cars, his name was slipondajimmy, or something similar. haven't seen him active lately though...

That sounds like a great project Heretic. Would you be going with the V8 or quad rotor? (Mazda sells them but not road legal)
Let us know if you do go ahead with it.

That sounds like a great project Heretic. Would you be going with the V8 or quad rotor? (Mazda sells them but not road legal)
Let us know if you do go ahead with it.

I would use a chevy V8, of course, but at the moment this is just a dream, and will not happen any time soon

Now we have an idea of how the MS2 chassis for the C3 came to be. I think if you put the MS1 C3s with the Aerovette and then the MS2 C3s, then there's a smooth transition between the bodies.

those side "gills" behind the side windows remind me of the DeLorian DMc car !..overall it still has the a corvette prescence

IMHO, the XP-882 was way ahead of it's time. I have always wondered what could have happened with that rotary engine had GM funded more testing and development. Would that engine in a mid engine vette have challenged ferrari?

Thanks for showing us this cool car..
Aerovette.. sounds cool.. this car was very light indeed.. 997 kg.. should be one of the lightest concept .

I am looking through research material as I type this, so forgive me if this is not well organised. The wankel style rotary project was labled GMRCE (General Motors Rotary Combustion Engines), And by the summer of 72 there were two rotary powered vettes roaming GM's testing grounds. The later years that nist7 listed were aparently for further show cars to help promote the engines (I just found this information, in my own stuff, and have apparently been overlooking it). Zora Argus Duntov belived that the corvette would never be a mid engine car unless something special was offered. This was the reason for Duntov's desire to utilize the the rotary engine. Chevrolet's general manager at the time (the somewhat infamous John DeLorean) was opposed to the GMRCE engines. He saw them as gimmicky engines that caused more problems than they solved. He did later convert to an entheusiastic fan of the car, but I cannot tell if he actually liked the engine, or just the mid engine corvette. DeLorean made it clear that the rotary engine was NOT corvette material. The prototypes were not slated to carry the vette badge because of this. They were called the chevrolet GT, and were being portrayed as a more plausible successor to the opel GT. After testing one of the two Chevrolet GTs himself, Duntov went to Gib Hufstader, and said "Make it fast".
Here is where there is a descrepancy in records. Some sources say that Hufstader took an existing show car (the 1970 XP-882) to make his prototype. The truth is that the origional prototype was stripped, and rebuilt for the new project (both cars carried the same number, and had similar look, but were not the same...this is why the confusion. My belief is that this was done because they were at that time hiding the project from Ed Cole). Much of the body remained, but everything underneath was redone. Zora and Gib then had to coax two experimental rotary engines. What they got was two RC2-195 engines as used experimentally in the peugeot 304 test cars. These engines were placed transversly inthe engine bay, with the back of the right hand engine connected to the front of the left side engine via a splined steel shaft. A special belt drive was designed to run off this shaft. This belt ran the normal accesories, as well as a special distributor designed by Delco Remey. This bistributor ran at engine speed instead of 1/2 speed like a normal distributor. Power was fed to the 8 spark plugs through this distributor, form 4 coils. This belt also turned the oil pump, which fed both halves of the engine. The engine blocks were joined together by a simple box of welded 1/4 inch steel plate

There were arguments about how to rate displacement of the new four rotor engine, but they finally settled on the correct way and rated it at 48.75 cubic inches per chamber. This totaled 585 cid, or 9586cc making it the largest wankel engine in a car at that time. The engine was crude but still made 370hp, at 7,000 rpms. This inspired the design staff to redesign the body in January of 1973. (this is the other bodies that nist7 posted about)in order to promote the engine. The new design called fo a steeper windshield angle of 72 degrees, as opposed to the 66 degree windshield of the origional design.

This car was WAY ahead of it's time with other designs as well. The dash was lit with led lights, and the car's aoerdynamics (Cd of 0.325 was improved by the release of hot engine gasses from the side vents) were in far better than anything being prodused.

I am not sure when the rotary engine was removed from the car, but it was still in the car at Duntov's retirement party on January 13, 1975, but was no longer in the car in 1976 when Chevrolet quit showing the car. At that time a small block V8 was in the engine compartment

Thnx for pasting this together.
Looks like an interesting concept.

Connecting 2 rotary engines together might not be the most effective way of setting up a 4 rotor engine but I must say that I'm impressed with the eagerness and speed with which chevrolet went through the various development stages in this project.

So, they never built their own rotary engine but instead salvaged it from a peugeot instead?

peugeot was a GM company at the time, and peugeots rights to the engine were through GM. The specific contract required that special provisions be made for the use in sports cars even if they were all GM

I think the four rotor design was pretty ingenius for the time

those side "gills" behind the side windows remind me of the DeLorian DMc car !..overall it still has the a corvette prescence

it looks like just how a corvette should look like...

This car looks eerily familiar to me.....

The red one is freakin GORGEOUS!! The interior still looks cool though it's from the early ninettenhundred and gabbages.
The aerovette is nice too, but are all those small details really functional?