The Monza GT content starts around :30. No sound. This is supposed to be the XP777 Monza GT chassis #3 (rear mounted modular flat 8/6 motor), with a front fiberglass clip from the Monza GT and a fabricated aluminum rear clip made into a roadster resembling the XP782 production version Monza SS. Bill Krause drove it to within one second of the lap record at Riverside International Raceway. Later chassis #3 became the chassis for the Astro I. But it raises more questions than answers. Maybe your viewers will be able to provide information.—Roy Lonberger. Video provided by James Musser.
Amazing historical footage! Too bad Bill Mitchell’s aspirations for a smaller, entry-level sportscar were thwarted, with the termination of the Corvair development program in 1965. Porsche took up the challenge of developing a rear-engined six-cylinder sporting chassis from this point and the rest became history. Thanks to Jim Musser for releasing the footage, to prove how committed his fellow GM engineers were, to achieving the goal for Chevrolet.
I like seeing footage like this – cases of what might have been.
Shame the programme never went further.
Was the second car a version of the first? Shades of Corvette/Mako Shark there. Both very interesting cars.
Thanks for this film.
Wish I had been in these scenes but…no. The guy in the black suit could be Claude McCammon however.
I do appear in the Chevy brochure about the 777!
All the best,
Karl L.
WOW! Thanx for sharing this ; I had never seen the ‘fixed headlight’ nose before. Love love LOVE these cars ; as has been said, as much as I like Corvettes – and thats a bunch – its a crying shame that this program never really reached maturity and no production variants were generated. Woulda been great. Oh well… I have a few models and my Chevy Jr go kart and can dream… 🙂
Mauri rose was the driver in the 3rd clip and Joe Marasco, the project draftsman, was the smoker in the last scene. That information is according to Jim Musser.
Looking back at that time it would be great to have a discussion about the design influence of the Monza GT on the Lamborghini Miura and the De Tomaso Mangusta.
Also on the influence of the Corvette SS on the Jaguar XKE.
Because of the size of those cars they could relate to the small sporty European cars.
DICK RUZZIN / DEANS GARAGE
The styling greatly influenced the 2nd generation Corvairs. It is a shame that, though Nader had some good points, he had to choose the Corvair as his example. Had the Corvair platform continued to be developed, it could have provided quite an interesting American sports car alternative. However, where would you place an evolving econo to sports car platform along side the Corvette and the Camaro market segments?
I remember the AC Delco ads highlighting and making the Monza GT one of my favorites. I don’t ever recall seeing any scale models of the GT, so thanks for the video showing scale to vehicles of the day. I learned to drive in a ’69 Corsa, I was 10.
FYI: The Riverside car is the third chassis of the xp777 program. It is this chassis that later became the chassis for the xp842 Astro-1 concept. It was tested with both an eight and six cylinder modular motor.
Any pictures of the eight-cylinder motor? Same configuration as the six?
Still one of the most timeless designs ever to emerge from GM Design. There are a lot of them I like personally that look dated to some: this one could come out tomorrow and still look new a half century plus after its birth. But there’s something I learned from “bubble” custom cars back in the 60’s; did this thing have air conditioning?
My first car in 1971 was a 1965 Monza coupe with the 140 hp, four-carb, dual-exhaust, four-speed setup. After engine and carb rebuilds I did in a friend’s parents’ garage, installation of dual low-back-pressure Stebro exhausts (each exiting the rear with dual outlet tips, nicely complementing the four round tail lights) and four individual free-flow air cleaners, I had a low-budget sports car that scared the beejesus out of passengers with its amazing, throaty boxer engine sound unlike anything else when the secondaries kicked in and wonderful, throttle-controlled oversteer cornering, even with bias-belted tires of the day. The 2nd gen Corvair was the best-handling American car of the period, period. (I saw one just like it, a Corsa model with full instrumentation, sans the Stebros, sold restored at the recent Barrett-Jackson in Scottsdale for $25K, a bargain in my mind – but I’m biased).
I can only imagine what could have been if GM had gone on to incorporate the experimental overhead cam Corvair engine it had developed, along with rack and pinion steering, radial tires and disc brakes…