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1970 Chevrolet XP882 news, pictures, and information

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XP-880, Chevrolet's first experimental mid-engine sports car to be publicly shown, was unveiled at the 1966 New York Auto Show as Astro II.

But Corvette Chief Engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov at the same time was developing the much more advanced XP-882. Inspired by his earlier CERV I (1960) and CERV II (1964) prototype mid-engine race cars, it was powered by a 400 cid small-block V8 mounted transversely behind the cockpit coupled to a front-drive Oldsmobile Toronado Turbo-Hydramatic transmission with its driveshaft running through the engine's oil pan to be differential. Two were completed in spring, 1969 then shelved partly due to a protracted UAW strike.
The following year, reacting to rumors of two rival mid-engine sports cars - a Ford DeTomaso Pantera and an AMC AMX/3 - coming to the 1970 New York show, new Chevrolet General Manager John DeLorean and GM Design Vice President, Bill Mitchell spiffed up this XP-882, painted it metallic silver and shipped it to the show. Wearing a sleekly tapered, flare-fendered body with an exotically louvered rear roof, it stunned the press and stole the show.

In 1973, this car was beautifully reskinned and fitted with a four-rotor Wankel engine to become the Four Rotor Corvette concept. Three years later, the Wankel was replaced by a small-block V8 and it was renamed Aerovette.

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