1973 XP-898



It looks a bit like post-1982 Corvettes, but the one-off XP-898 of 1973 was actually built with components from Chevy's small four-cylinder Vega. It's mission was to test feasibility of a new "sandwich" fiberglass body construction using a foam filler that could be varied in thickness to provide desired strength in specific areas. Though it looks a bit dated now, XP-898 would have been a great replacement for the '68-vintage "Shark" Corvette in, say, 1975.



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The chassis and the body were one complete unit, there was no separate steel or metal chassis. There were metal attachment plates that were enclosed in the body material (as a sandwich). The XP-898 body supported all the functions of the chassis that you might find under a Corvette or any body-on-frame vehicle. In a sense the XP-898 was a monocoque sandwich.

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Thanks Paul Villforth for the additional information about the monocoque body!