The aluminum Corvette
03/01/2023
The first Chevrolet Corvette was presented 70 years ago, a sports car with a steel chassis and plastic body, the engine installed at the front and driving the rear axle. This was how the Corvette was actually known until the C7, after which the C8 with a mid-engine was created.
However, GM was already building a mid-engined Corvette at the beginning of the 1970s; the prototype was called the XP 882. And the successor even produced a Corvette with a sheet steel body. At the same time, a version with an aluminum body was built. Both had a mid-engine. XP 895 was the name of the elegant sports car that was created in collaboration with Reynolds Metals in 1972. An aluminum alloy called X2026 was used.
It was interesting to compare it with the steel version, which weighed 181 kg more than the aluminum version.
The design of the drivable XP 895 was created by the GM design team under Bill Mitchell. Compared to its predecessor, it appears more rounded and elegant. The round folding headlights are unusual.
Nothing came of the mid-engined Corvette at the time, as it was not possible to produce an aluminum sports car at an acceptable cost. Accordingly, the XP 895 was eventually consigned to the museum.
It was to take until the C7 (2014) before aluminum was at least used as the basis for the chassis, while the mid-engine was only used in 2020 with the C8, as already mentioned.
The photos of the unique aluminum Corvette XP 895 can of course also be found in the Zwischengas photo archive.
