A piece of Domestic Rotary History
12-26-02, 08:50 AM
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A piece of Domestic Rotary History
Check out this peice of domestic rotary history...
Info can be found at this post:
See OTHER ROTARY post
Enjoy!
Info can be found at this post:
See OTHER ROTARY post
Enjoy!
12-26-02, 11:07 AM
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The Rotary Engined Chevrolet Corvettes
In 1970, Chevrolet obtained a licence for the Wankel RCE from NSU, for a cost of $50 million, at the direction of GM President Ed Cole, whose background was engineering. They began building a two-rotor and a four-rotor Corvette [1, 2], in the highly desirable mid-engine format. Zora Arkus-Duntov met with Bill Mitchell to discuss a four rotor Corvette in 1970. Zora gave him the chassis from the XP-895 mid-engine experimental car shown at the April 1970 New York Auto show. A fibreglass model was approved in June 1971 by Cole [4].
On Jan. 14, 1972, a chassis was shipped to Pininfarina, Turin, Italy so that the body could be constructed by the famed design studio [4]. In June of the same year, a 2 rotor Corvette with a steel body was viewed by GM management [4, 5]. The same year DeLorean at GM commissioned a two-rotor version of the XP-882 and built it as the XP-987GT [2].
In January 1973, a Corvette body, also based on the XP-882 chassis, was built for an experimental four-rotor car [4]. This was designed by Charles M. Jordan and William L. Mitchell's staff. It got the project name XP-895. A second version of this body was made in aluminum alloy and got a 454 V-8 [7]. Two of the two rotor Wankels were glommed together into a four rotor 420 bhp engine and this was installed in the first XP-895 by Gib Hufstader [8]. Mitchell's staff under Henry Haga [8], at Duntov's urging, designed an all-new body for the "Four-Rotor Car" [7,8].
By April, the GALCIT wind tunnel in California was used to test the aerodynamic qualities of the 4-rotor Corvette [4]. The coefficient of drag came out very low for its time: 0.325. The car was only 44 inches high and had gull-wing doors [7]. The interior had digital instruments.
In September 13, 1973 a 266 ci two-rotor Corvette (XP-897GT) was shown in Frankfurt, Germany [1, 3] with a steel body. The four-rotor 390 ci mid-engined Corvette was shown at Paris, France on Oct. 4, 1973, as well as the two-rotor [1]. Oct. 17 they are both shown at the London Auto Show.
On September 24, 1974, GM Pres. Ed Cole postponed the introduction of the Wankel engine, ostensibly due to emissions difficulties [6]. He retired the same month. In 1976 the body was resuscitated with a V-8 400 engine and redubbed the "Aerovette" [7]. On April 12, 1977, GM announced it is stopping all R & D on rotary engines [9].
In 1970, Chevrolet obtained a licence for the Wankel RCE from NSU, for a cost of $50 million, at the direction of GM President Ed Cole, whose background was engineering. They began building a two-rotor and a four-rotor Corvette [1, 2], in the highly desirable mid-engine format. Zora Arkus-Duntov met with Bill Mitchell to discuss a four rotor Corvette in 1970. Zora gave him the chassis from the XP-895 mid-engine experimental car shown at the April 1970 New York Auto show. A fibreglass model was approved in June 1971 by Cole [4].
On Jan. 14, 1972, a chassis was shipped to Pininfarina, Turin, Italy so that the body could be constructed by the famed design studio [4]. In June of the same year, a 2 rotor Corvette with a steel body was viewed by GM management [4, 5]. The same year DeLorean at GM commissioned a two-rotor version of the XP-882 and built it as the XP-987GT [2].
In January 1973, a Corvette body, also based on the XP-882 chassis, was built for an experimental four-rotor car [4]. This was designed by Charles M. Jordan and William L. Mitchell's staff. It got the project name XP-895. A second version of this body was made in aluminum alloy and got a 454 V-8 [7]. Two of the two rotor Wankels were glommed together into a four rotor 420 bhp engine and this was installed in the first XP-895 by Gib Hufstader [8]. Mitchell's staff under Henry Haga [8], at Duntov's urging, designed an all-new body for the "Four-Rotor Car" [7,8].
By April, the GALCIT wind tunnel in California was used to test the aerodynamic qualities of the 4-rotor Corvette [4]. The coefficient of drag came out very low for its time: 0.325. The car was only 44 inches high and had gull-wing doors [7]. The interior had digital instruments.
In September 13, 1973 a 266 ci two-rotor Corvette (XP-897GT) was shown in Frankfurt, Germany [1, 3] with a steel body. The four-rotor 390 ci mid-engined Corvette was shown at Paris, France on Oct. 4, 1973, as well as the two-rotor [1]. Oct. 17 they are both shown at the London Auto Show.
On September 24, 1974, GM Pres. Ed Cole postponed the introduction of the Wankel engine, ostensibly due to emissions difficulties [6]. He retired the same month. In 1976 the body was resuscitated with a V-8 400 engine and redubbed the "Aerovette" [7]. On April 12, 1977, GM announced it is stopping all R & D on rotary engines [9].
12-26-02, 11:19 AM
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Very Warm
You guys are getting VERY close to the truth.
I will post the answer with a couple more photos of this acquisition this evening.
I really am enjoying the interesting research and facts you guys are sharing with all of us, though!
I will post the answer with a couple more photos of this acquisition this evening.
I really am enjoying the interesting research and facts you guys are sharing with all of us, though!
12-26-02, 04:45 PM
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THE ANSWER
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