What Car Is This?

[HarleyEarl]

Do you know what car this is?

[wildcat]

I see the GM on the license plate, and it reminds me of a Fiero or some sort of Pontiac... but with Saturn-style headlights.

[HarleyEarl]

Here's another view:

[capriceman]

banshee??

[balthazar]

"Ah-ha, hoo-hoo!" --the Phfor.

[ocnblu]

Isn't that one of those Corvette concepts? It looks like a mid-engine Aerovette concept, maybe even Wankel-powered. Not certain of that though.

[HarleyEarl]

Isn't that one of those Corvette concepts? It looks like a mid-engine Aerovette concept, maybe even Wankel-powered. Not certain of that though.

Blu you are very close on two counts.

I'm a little confused as to what it was called officially.

I've seen it called the following:

1973 GM 2-Rotor

1973 Chevrolet XP-897GT (code name)

1973 Corvette 2-Rotor

GMnext refers to it as the Corvette 2-Rotor

It has a facinating story:

http://wiki.gmnext.com/wiki/index.php/Corvette_2-Rotor

[HarleyEarl]

It's still a great looking car. Those scoop headlights were sure the rage in that era.

[Robert Hall]

Here's another article, with an interior pic...neat looking car, interesting story..

Corvette 2 rotor concept

[HarleyEarl]

Here's another article, with an interior pic...neat looking car, interesting story..

Corvette 2 rotor concept

Thanks for that link!!

What a great story.

The lower view of the car in that photo gives it a whole different flavor.

Is it just me but that dash has just a 'dash' of Pontiac Solstice?

[PurdueGuy]

I see the GM on the license plate, and it reminds me of a Fiero or some sort of Pontiac... but with Saturn-style headlights.

Saturn never used headlights like that.

[Sixty8panther]

And BTW... along with the super-cool split-windshield, it also

reminds a bit of a certain famous Porsche, esp. from the

REAR, the designer of the 928 credited the Pacer's crazy

rear as inspiration but this not only (also) predates the 928

but looks a lot more like inspiration for the 928.

One thing I have never liked about this car, even years ago

when I first saw it in a book at barnes & noble, is the quad

rectangular headlights that were such the new, GM-pushed

rage in the early 1970s.

[Blake Noble]

Our friends over at GME also had a role in development of this car, if I'm not mistaken. Not only was it supposed to be a design proposal for the Corvette, but it was also meant to be a design proposal for a next-generation Opel GT.

You'll find proof of this in this timeline here, under the 1971 section, when GM initiated development.

And Sixty-8, I find it interesting that you're making Porsche connections here, as this concept car was based on a Porsche 914 chassis after all. It's also interesting that you are mentioning the Pacer/928 design connection here, as the rotary engine GM was developing for XP-897 was supposed to also be used in the Pacer.

Edited August 25, 2008 by YellowJacket894

[Sixty8panther]

Our friends over at GME also had a role in development of this car,

NO wonder it has some ugly design cues.

And Sixty-8, I find it interesting that you're making Porsche connections here, as this concept car was based on a Porsche 914 chassis after all.

That I do vaguely remember... this car appears in

a few of the the books in my automotive library.

the rotary engine GM was developing for XP-897 was supposed to also be used in the Pacer.

That is news to me... wow...

[ocnblu]

That's why later Pacers had the domed hood, to fit a larger piston engine. The Wankel would have fit under the lower profile, early Pacer hood.

[wildcat]

Saturn never used headlights like that.

To my eyes, the headlight area reminds me of the 1994-5 Saturn.

[XP715]

Imagine that, GM left this thing inside a container on top of a building for ten years. A priceless GM concept car just hanging out on a rooftop, waiting to be discovered.

Anybody want to chip in and rent a helicopter with me?

[Camino LS6]

GM can leave prototypes like this in my barn anytime they want to.

[HarleyEarl]

To my eyes, the headlight area reminds me of the 1994-5 Saturn.

I totally agree. They had that scooped look.

[HarleyEarl]

Imagine that, GM left this thing inside a container on top of a building for ten years. A priceless GM concept car just hanging out on a rooftop, waiting to be discovered.

Anybody want to chip in and rent a helicopter with me?

Really like that vintage sig of yours.