1976 Aerovette was ALMOST the Mid-Engine Production Corvette
To download the December 1976 Motor Trend article announcing the Aero Vette as the upcoming C4, CLICK HERE.
I had been reading about the “mid-engine Corvette” since the 1960s. A the decades rolled on and Chevrolet kept teasing the public with mid-engine Corvette prototypes and show cars. So much so that every time I’d see a new story about another possible mid-engine Corvette, I’d think, “Oh, sure…”.
When the C7 was on the horizon, the Corvette rumor mill would crank up with speculations about the next Vette becoming a mid-engine configuration. Alas, the C7 was a refined continuation of the existing front-mid-engine layout. All the way back to the first mid-engine engineering car, the 1960 CERV-1, the crux of the problems was always GM’s lack of a stout transaxle.
All that went away with the C5, which was proven as world-class in the C5-R IMSA GT2 Class Corvettes that won Le Mans. The extreme success of the C5-R, C6.R, and C7.R Pratt & Miller Corvettes set the stage for the mid-engine C8.
But back in the early ’70s, there was a wild-looking Corvette engineering study prototype Corvette powered by a 4-Rotor Wankel engine. GM president Ed Cole was hot on the then-new technology of the rotary Wankel engine. He was thinking that a 2-Rotor Vega would be popular for the masses. But the sell the concept, he needed something sexy-looking. Two rotor-motor concepts were developed. The Two-Rotor car was built by Pininfarina on a 914 Porsche chassis platform. It was cute, but not as impressive as a “Corvette”.
The second engineering study was the Four Rotor Corvette, powered by two, two-rotor engines bolted together. The late Gib Hufstader (Zora’s right-hand man) hand-assembled the experimental engine. The car was a screamer; literally. The car delivered big-block grunt with an ear-piercing banshee-like howl that was not pleasant.
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As reality set in over the emissions and fuel economy realities of the Wankel engine became obvious, and enthusiasm for the project plummeted, especially after Ed Cole retired. However, Sr. VP of Design Bill Mitchell liked the 4-Rotor Corvette and insisted that Chevy “do something” with the concept car.
The AeroVette was not nearly as big as it looked. Designers under the direction of Bill Mitchell were masters at proportions. Cars, such as the AeroVette, the Mako Shark II, and the Buick Riviera only looked their small size when positioned next to a regular car.
The car’s bi-fold gull-wing doors made it fairly easy to step into the car.
So, the Wankel engine was replaced with a transverse 400 cubic-inch small block Chevy. Now they had a car that the existing Corvette market would embrace. According to the website, “Chronology of Chevrolet Corvette”, sometime in 1977 (the month was not given), General Motors chairman Thomas Murphy gave his tentative approval to put the Aerovette with a 400-cid V8 engine into production!
Apparently, this decision lasted less than a week. Sometime in 1978, Chevrolet announced that all work on a mid-engine Corvette had been stopped and that Corvette engineering would instead focus on the traditional front-engine layout for the C4 Corvette.
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The Aerovette was arguably the closest Chevrolet got up to that time to producing a mid-engine Corvette. Zora’s dream of a mid-engine Corvette would have to wait another 43 years for the C8. Honestly, for a long time, I thought that the mid-engine Corvette would forever be a “pie-in-the-sky” fantasy. Show you what I know! – Scott
To download the December 1976 Motor Trend article announcing the Aero Vette as the upcoming C4, CLICK HERE.
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