GM's Rotary corvette !

[clive]

A little birdie told me of this cars existence here in Britain 3 or 4 years ago and l thought it was going to have to remain a secret especially as it is now 13B powered !

It's the GM Prototype Corvette XP987.

It came out from under cover and appeared at Goodwood this year and as the article says the GM staff there were amazed as they thought this car had been crushed 30 years ago !!!! now l know why the owner wished it to remain a secret.

All the best Clive
clive@mazdarotaryclub.com
www.mazdarotaryclub.com

[Norton]

From 'Corvette - An American Classic'

[Norton]

'Corvette - An American Classic'

[Norton]

Rotary 'Corvette - An American Classic'

[clive]

Good find, thanks for posting this up :D

[Brett]

Wonder why it never went any further? Must have been the fuel crisis I suppose.

[MikeLMR]

oil crisis wasn't it ?

Ace ... are we going to see this one at rotorstock ? surely must one of the rarest rotary cars anywhere in world !

[Norton]

Ace ... are we going to see this one at rotorstock ? surely must one of the rarest rotary cars anywhere in world !
Now that would be a bit special !! even if it has got a Mazda engine in it now.

Its interesting to note some of the companies who applied to Wankel GmbH in 1960? for development (not manufacturing) licences for the Wankel engine, they included...
General Motors
Ford (Germany)
Daimler Benz (Mercedes)
Rolls Royce
MAN
Porsche
Alfa Romeo !! ;)
Nissan
Toyota
Suzuki

[DaveCollins]

Another car that would be good to recreate would be the Curtiss-Wright rotary test mules.

A 1965 Mustang with an RC2-60 engine (185bhp at 5000rpm).

Apparently when tested by automotive journalists they were not allowed to say what car it was in because of concerns about rumours that Ford would be producing a rotary powered pony car!!

Dave

[DMRH]

Wow, what a find.

More pieces to this long standing puzzle coming together.

Thanks & REgards

[Norton]

Thats interesting!... according to the article in this months 'Classic & Sports Car' magazine, the claim in the 'Corvette, an American Classic' book (see above) that the 2 rotor was last seen in 1977 in a GM junkyard with extensive fire damage was wrong. I assumed that it had been extensively restored but apparently not... There was only ever one example of this car built (in steel!) for GM by Pininfarina and it showed up in a crate at GM's Bedford Trucks Luton factory in 1983ish in immaculate condition but missing the GM rotary engine. It was due to be crushed but was saved at the eleventh hour.
The car suffered the indignity of being fitted with a 1600 Vauxhall Cavalier engine for a while before having a N/A Mazda twin rotor fitted.
A GM twin rotor engine has now been found in America so its possible that car and engine will one day be reunited.
**AND** Would you believe it!! The car has been on public display for the last six years at 'Claremont Corvette' in Snodland, Kent !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edit: Just found this...
http://www.corvette.co.uk/pages.php?section=news&itemID=1

Me thinks i will have to head off down to Snodland on the Rotorbike sometime this summer :yes

[banned advertiser]

used to buy my vette parts from them, may just have to shoot in for a butchers. |Wow what a find, he must have thought it was his birthday and christmas all come at once.

[clive]

Hi Norton,

Been meaning to post this up for the last few days but had to confirm something first for the Mazdarotary connection in this story.

I first heard of this car around 1997/8 from the late Simon Kremer who was the owner of Rotechnicks in Reading who at the time swore me to secrecy about the existence of this car, turned out they were commissioned to build a 13b EGI engine as this was the nearest power plant they could find to the 2 Rotor GM Rotary that originally powered it.

I last heard of this car around when it appeared at Goodwood around 3 years ago and it was printed that apparently the GM guys over from America exclaimed "that car should not exist!"

Anyone with the remotest of interest for unusual cars and story's should rush out and buy the currant issue of Classic and Sports Car. :D

[Norton]

Clive, i bet that was a hard secret to keep :cool
Have you been down to see it?

[OLSKOOLROTAR]

Talk about a last minute reprieve, I like these sorta stories. I know this is off topic but it reminds me of a similar incident back home in Oz, After the 2nd world war the Army had surplus bikes ie Harley's 1942-1945 WLA's brand new never been used, so they stripped them down and packed them in oil and grease proof paper crated them up and buried them on the base, under the footy pitch to be precise. the only reason I know this is because my Grandad was part of the troop that buried them :eek: wouldnt mind getting my hands on them.

Sorry for the thread hijack

Jase

[DMRH]

Keep the info coming guys.

Any news on the GMRE going into the car yet....??

[oldone]

There is an article in the latest Classic & Sports car magazine April edition..page 108-113,nobody took any notice of my thread, 8 March...typical.nobody believes the oldone.. :spank

[Martiny]

I did take notice, bud, and I beleive it, because I have a book with those cars in.

[Norton]

Any news on the GMRE going into the car yet....??

Its not imminent... i quote (from C&SC) -

'The original GM rotary gave 180bhp, right in Ferrari Dino territory. Tantalisingly, that engine has been found in America. Its owner has first refusal on the car, so the two could one day be reunited at last. It will be fascinating to see if it could have been a contender'.

I imagine that they would do well to send the engine over to Mazda for them to strip it, find out were GM were going wrong and modify it to make it reliable before putting it back in the car.