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One-Off Rear-Engine Corvette
black mamba
Registered Users Posts: 8,321 Major grins
That's right. A true one-off. It's the only rear-engine Corvette ever made. Officially, it's known as the Corvette XP-819. It was made in 1964. It's been assumed in some quarters that Zora Arkus-Duntov ( the infamous godfather of the Corvette ) was behind the development of this car. In fact, this project was headed up by Frank Winchell...the engineer in charge of research and development for Chevrolet. Truth is, Duntov never liked this rear-engine concept. He was constantly campaigning for the Corvette to be mid-engine in design.
The car you see, as it's shown here, is presented sans the body. As such, the details of the construction are plainly visible. The absent body is quite striking. Google the Corvette XP-819 up and you can see it for yourself. Designer Larry Shinoda is responsible for this design....which carries a lot of what you see in his later efforts with the famous Mako Shark exercise. His Mako Shark design, of course, had a great influence on the third-generation Corvette styling.
Performance of the XP-819 was encouraging. It would pull over 1 G in cornering on the test track. The small-block V-8 was promising in this application. Interestingly, the engine was a marine version with a reverse rotation so that the transaxle would rotate in the proper direction. Unfortunately, the car was crashed in testing.
Keep in mind, this was the same time period that GM and Chevrolet were beset with all kinds of legal issues associated with the rear-engine Corvair they launched in 1960. When the XP-819 crashed, the powers that be decided to kill the program for a rear-engined Corvette. Apparently, Shinoda thought the reason for the crash was the installation of incorrectly sized wheels and tires.
In any event, the car was shipped to Smokey Yunik's shop in Florida....in pieces, I believe....for final disposal. It stayed there for quite a few years. I don't know how it escaped the grim reaper. Old Smokey was quite a resourceful dude. It was eventually sold to a Corvette collector who had it re-assembled. It has now been fully restored.
The car you see, as it's shown here, is presented sans the body. As such, the details of the construction are plainly visible. The absent body is quite striking. Google the Corvette XP-819 up and you can see it for yourself. Designer Larry Shinoda is responsible for this design....which carries a lot of what you see in his later efforts with the famous Mako Shark exercise. His Mako Shark design, of course, had a great influence on the third-generation Corvette styling.
Performance of the XP-819 was encouraging. It would pull over 1 G in cornering on the test track. The small-block V-8 was promising in this application. Interestingly, the engine was a marine version with a reverse rotation so that the transaxle would rotate in the proper direction. Unfortunately, the car was crashed in testing.
Keep in mind, this was the same time period that GM and Chevrolet were beset with all kinds of legal issues associated with the rear-engine Corvair they launched in 1960. When the XP-819 crashed, the powers that be decided to kill the program for a rear-engined Corvette. Apparently, Shinoda thought the reason for the crash was the installation of incorrectly sized wheels and tires.
In any event, the car was shipped to Smokey Yunik's shop in Florida....in pieces, I believe....for final disposal. It stayed there for quite a few years. I don't know how it escaped the grim reaper. Old Smokey was quite a resourceful dude. It was eventually sold to a Corvette collector who had it re-assembled. It has now been fully restored.
I always wanted to lie naked on a bearskin rug in front of a fireplace. Cracker Barrel didn't take kindly to it.
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You mentioned Corvair; a local in Norcal has a 4 door Corvair with a Ferrari engine.
Loves to smoke the young dudes in his sleeper...
I'm not surprised this model crashed.
The small Chevy V8 engine was cast iron & heavy for this design which altered the balance
Porsche had lots of issues with their aluminum blocks with light fronts requiring skilled oversteer, until they collaborated with Subaru to get a lightweight AWD.
Hi Rags,
My dad bought a 1963 Corvair Monza Spyder....said he wanted to have a " fun car " in the garage. I borrowed it one night...a rainy night. I hadn't been in it 15 minutes and I found myself pirouetting down the road. Scared the hell out of myself. He chided me unmercifully about that....until the same thing happened to him, on the same stretch of road. I didn't leave the road, but he did. He didn't damage the car but he damn well sold it a week later. I think he had owned it all of 45 days.
Good to hear from you,
Tom
One of these days I'll have to figure out what my "style" is..
Hi Steve,
I've seen the bodywork. The low front end look is quite pronounced....due, of course, to the " missing " engine. The " coke bottle " look to the third generation ( C-3 ) Corvette is clearly derivative of Shinoda's designs with this XP-819.
Tom
I do wonder what would have been if it had been a mid-engine car.
Ian,
I'm curious as to just how much serious effort went into trying to make this design work. I personally doubt that it got more than a cursory go....too many inherent negative issues with the basic concept, certainly for that period of time.
Interestingly, I had Smokey Yunik's garage work on a couple of my cars during the time the XP-819 was hidden away in his shop. I had no idea, of course, that it was there...didn't even know it existed.
Tom
http://www.moose135photography.com
the perfect problem having it out so far. Seems to scream needs to be mid body. Understandable it
crashed in testing. My auto education continues
Thanks for looking in, John. I'm glad they left the body off so you could get get a good look at the inner workings.
Tom
Better watch out, Michael. We'll turn you into a car guy before you know it.
My personal experiences of dealing with rear-engined cars took a quantum leap forward in the early '80s when I had a couple of Porsche 911 models. Back then...before they designed out some of the real venom these cars had in their handling...driving a Porsche in an aggressive manner required a deft touch and a huge pair of....well, you know what.
Take care,
Tom
www.Dogdotsphotography.com