The 1974 Chevy Corvette...rotary. Say what?
 

Hey all...thought a few of you out there might remember back when everyone was toying around with the rotary. Found this on eBay, and even better yet, they scanned every page of the ad in almost full size, so it's worth a read for any rotorheads out there! Kinda curious as to how they plan on selling it when everyone can just...read it anyway. Anywho, check it out!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1974-...QQcmdZViewItem

In the early 70's most car manufacturers were working on rotaries. GM had a Corvette concept car in 1972 that had a 2 rotor engine and then a 4 rotor Vette in 1974. The oil crisis hit (see even then they had unfounded shortages) and the rotary was dropped from most automakers plans due to their emissions and fuel consumption.

Mercedes had a 4 rotor car called the C111 that never made it into production.

John Deere was working on rotaries as well. Rolls-Royce worked on diesel rotaries that used wankel rotaries as superchargers for the main rotary engine.

There are lots of other rotary projects from back then.

yea i wasn't meaning to pronouce a challenging tone...i just thought it was worth a read for anyone that wasn't aware of the widespread rotary crazy that existed in the early 70's. I always heard about it, and how almost every manufacturer had one in their project lineup, but this was the first one i'd actaully read into.

Unfounded? Try embargo-caused. Painful and expensive, but hardly "unfounded."

To me a awsome find! :rock:
I'll admit though that bodystyling would of been awsome on a corvette but the ultra pointy rear would of had to go. Odd I've never heard of this possibility in any 'vette documentry, to me would be a nice lil tidbit of odd information for those hardcore 'vette fans.

The prototype is still around. Over in the UK if I recall.

The Corvette 4-rotor concept from 1972 made TCC's 10 Concepts Detroit Should Have Built... check it out.

http://www.thecarconnection.com/Car_...2202.html?pg=4

Wow, this is a bit off topic, but it's amazing how those cars that looked super futuristic and way out of reach way back when now look so outdated and clunky.

It would've been nice to have someone else actually produce a rotary for a while.

^
no joke.

futher makes me wonder if mazdas brilliant for doing so, or simply retarded.

:dunno:

at any rate, i'll still take my renesis :)

lets not forget the rotary motorcycle...

http://www.suzukicycles.org/RE5/RE5-Rotary.shtml

I think it's probably more of a historical anomaly. When Mazda first hit the public eye in this country, it was because it was the only company selling rotary-engine cars, and all the cars it sold had rotary engines. The oil embargo hit, and the relatively poor mileage of the rotary caused others to scrap their plans to have rotary cars (as others have said). But that was Mazda's identity, so they kept at it. They added piston engines to their lineup, and even stopped selling any rotary-engine cars for a while, but they may deem it historically useful for them to keep selling one rotary car. So they do.

Here is a bit more information for you all. And yes there was TWO Rotary Powered Corvette's.

1973 XP-882
Arguably more stunning than the Two- Rotor XP-897GT was the so-called "Four-Rotor Car" that appeared a bit later in 1973. Built on the first XP-882 chassis under the aegis of company design chief Bill Mitchell, it carried a pair of GM's experimental two-rotor engines bolted together into a 420 horsepower "super Wankel." A Corvette-like face and obvious high performance potential were taken as strong suggestions that GM was brewing a radical new Corvette for the late Seventies or early Eighties.

http://www.idavette.net/cars/73882t.jpg

1973 XP-897 GT
Built by Pininfarina to a GM design, the XP-897GT "Two-Rotor Car" appeared in1973 as a showcase for GM's then-imminent Wankel-type rotary engine. Like the original XP-882, it was widely believed to be a precursor of the next generation Corvette.

http://www.idavette.net/cars/xp897.jpg

1976 XP-882
The Four-Rotor Car got a transplanted V-8 in 1976 to become the Aerovette, which came close to production four years later. GM design chief Bill Mitchell kept its original lines intact, however -- not that there was reason to fiddle. A good- looker even now, it's a dynamic design even when viewed from overhead. In profile, it displays a strongly triangulated "mound" shape, deftly balanced proportions, and artful surface detailing. "Gullwing" doors barked back to the original Mercedes 300SL coupe, but were articulated for easier operation in tight parking spots. Interior was more fully engineered than the show-car norm, another indication that the Aerovette was indeed a serious production prospect.

http://www.idavette.net/cars/76aero.jpg

This is also some interesting reading on the Rotary history.
Rotary History 102

lol...the last picture of the vette makes it look like you could drive either direction...and still look like your going forward. :rollingla