Now that a long teased mid engined Corvette has been announced for 2019, I recalled the first concept from the 60s that wowed me as a teen. I remembered the name Aero Vette, and I looked it up again. Apparently Aero Vette was the final name around 1973, but the the first incarnation of the design exercise was the XP-882 from 1969.

What I didn't remember is that Aero Vette had articulating gull wing doors and the project had a connection to JZD.



The gull wings look familiar and the hinged feature is now used on Tesla's Model X's "falcon" doors. ( further discussed HERE )

I read that John DeLorean first cancelled the development because of cost concerns and impracticality but later revived the development during his tenure as Chevrolet General Manager.


Is that JZD with Zora Arkus Duntov looking at XP-882?

The later XP-895 version, unveiled in 1973, had one version that featured an all aluminum body, and was dubbed the "Reynolds Aluminum Car“. It had 2 of the 2-rotor Chevrolet Vega engines were joined together in order to make a 4-rotor 420 HP engine.

The interior of the AeroVette reminds me of the treatment that Proto-1 received.


I find concept cars fascinating in that the engineers try different things that are sometimes way ahead of the curve. Here are 3 links for more information:
http://cardesignnews.com/articles/co...olet-aerovette
https://www.carligious.com/articles/...xp-882-concept
http://www.superchevy.com/features/1...tte-prototype/