1968 QUASAR UNIPOWER


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Interesting I'm gonna look it up.

more like a golf course buggy than a proper car

wow they made a sports car??

I think they only produce 1 sport car model. They mainly produce trucks.

1973 Chevrolet Corvette XP-897 GT



General Motors (GM) has been dabbling with the idea of mid-engined corvette for the longest time, but non of which were made into production. GM also tried their hands on rotary engine, in which they did put into production, but only as an option for 1974 Chevrolet Vega for not more than a year. Poor fuel economy & energy crisis at the time pretty much put GM's rotary engine on to the guillotine.



So, what's the deal with thing?

A car dealer whom only sell & service Corvettes exclusively in UK, Tom Falconer, received a phone call from a friend of his, Geoff Lawson, a Jaguar Design Chief, talking about the steel-bodied, rotary engined Corvette in Vauxhall office that was going in the crusher. Steel bodied Corvette were almost unheard off other than prototypes as production models bodies were made of resin, fibreglass, carbon fibre & some metals. Never a full steel body.

There were rumour that this particular car were lost in the fire in 1977 somewhere in California. I cannot confirm whether was the same spare or completely different prototype that was lost in the fire but the car was stored in the GM warehouse in UK after British Motorshow with all the drivetrain stripped.

Tom begged him not to destroy it. Geoff asked Chuck Jordan, GM Styling chief if he could give the car to Tom. Sure enough, Tom got the car. He put Vauxhall Cavalier drivetrain just to keep it running. Later in 1997 he replace the engine with a 13B Mazda engine & automatic gearbox of a Cadillac.



Originally, this mid-engined, steel bodied Corvette is designed by Pininfarina & powered by a 2-rotor Chevrolet Vega engine that was built on a modified Porsche 914 chassis. Bill Mitchell, GM Vice President Styling Department, who oversees all vehicle designs in GM stable hated the car very much. He hated the fact that he wasn't involved with the development of a 2 rotor Corvette & wasn't the Corvette he visioned. He requested that the car to be crushed. Lucky for Tom, the car was spared.




So, what was the car doing in Vauxhall office & why was it brought out from the warehouse?



Opel (basically the same Vauxhall, badge engineering & shit I'm not going to discuss) were working on a protoype called Opel GT-W that supposedly succeed the existing Opel GT used the XP-897 GT as a base. The car has little to none documentation, so I can't really explain anything about the car.



https://history.gmheritagecenter.com/wiki/i...orvette_2-Rotor
http://www.lotusespritturbo.com/Chevrolet_...te_XP-897GT.htm
http://www.corvettes.nl/gm_prototypes/xp897/
http://www.deansgarage.com/2009/2-rotor-corvette-artwork650/
http://gmauthority.com/blog/2014/10/mid-en...-rotor-concept/
http://www.corvettes.nl/News/files/840cefd...3499d28-32.html

This post has been edited by alpha0201: May 7 2016, 09:25 AM

Any car that's lowered and ridiculously expensive. Sure it's a wonderful sight to be seen but if I am the driver I'd be cursing more than enjoying the eye fap fest. "Damn those indescribable monkey supporters who couldn't even comprehend what is 700hp"

wat?

What is 700hp?

i think he replied to the wrong thread or something...

Wow!

Cannot be fully utilized in normal road condition. If you watched Veneno or any hypercar or hypecar unloading video that is, I can't imagine how sad the driver is being stuck in traffic or had a nightmare trying to get over a speedbump. They're just for show which received little to no consideration by town, road and transport planner. Spent millions but seems like wasted. Badly designed car posted in this thread sure fits the TS taste but Im on the other side even seeing an F430 on the road is wierd enough, especially if it's stuck behind following a myvi.

Just having another side of the perspective. Off topic maybe.

If I were to think about being wierd enough, it's Proton Tiara. Ultimate zusbag diplomatic gymnastics.

Or take three wheels Reliant Robin

It's just weird cars I found on the internet, man. Why go so deep?

This is not Condescending Cars I found On The Internet

The whole point of this thread is to share unusual car that we come across & the story behind it, whether it's brilliantly or badly designed.

pls don't critics ....
i would love to tell you, driving a f430 is same like driving 3 serious coupe, ground clearance, viewing angle all is normal, is modern car, it build to drive, other than those exotics ......

Yep an f430 can be a dd and I take that you're talking with experience while I just sit and watch by the road and had a nice grin on my face seeing one or two negotiating a bump or had a funny feeling what they'll be up against when a group of supercars decided to use ungazetted road from Felda Aring, Gua Musang towards Kenyir Lake maybe. It's not specific really to 430 what I had in mind. Not every car is all rounder. Well needless to further this discussion becuase I think I've derailed from OP's intention.

Actually moderm car ground clearance is not that bad already ...