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StarLight Garage presents the mystic Chevrolet Corvair Testudo from 1963 a car that was can seen as the grandpa of the Porsche 928.
Hard to believe? Porsche admits it all and so what, many cars are influenced by others and why not ... better a good copied design than a bad design at the start.
Anyway I love both cars, especially their unique shape.
When we talk about Chevrolet and Porsche in one phrase it comes to my mind: the transatlantic sports car rivals of the sixties. Those makes have their own methodology and a culture, if something works for one, it probably won’t work for the other.
Nevertheless, there is one car in particular that made Detroit and Stuttgart see eye to eye, the Corvair Testudo.
It's story begins with a friendly competition between Chevrolet and Porsche.
In 1960, the Chevrolet Corvair officially launched, mounting a rear-engined fight in the American compact car market. However General Motors executives wanted to know how it might fare in the European market, so GM styling chief Bill Mitchell sent two Corvair chassis to Italy to be restyled with a European hand, one to Pininfarina, one to Bertone.
Both design houses produced impressive concepts, but it was the stunning Corvair Testudo of Bertone’s young Giorgetto Giugiaro that turned the most heads at the ’63 Geneva Motor Show. The Testudo was driven to and presented at the 1963 Geneva Motor Show by Nuccio Bertone himself.
Designed and built in just two months, it revealed a revolutionary and brave concept, with defiant innovations. The car was based on the floorpan and mechanics of the Chevrolet Corvair, the provocative sports grand tour displayed a very futuristic architecture.
The totally transparent one piece windscreen and roof cover, tilts forward to allow access into the cockpit. The large wrap around rear window hinges upward allowing easy access and maintenance to the rear mounted engine and the flush fitting headlights are retractable.
The ‘Testudo’ (reminds me of the old Roman defense formation - BC) or ‘turtle’ – featured a shortened Corvair Monza chassis, the standard air-cooled flat-six engine, but came presented with a bold waistline and arching canopy evocative of a turtle shell. Giugiaro later revealed the car opened up new design possibilities for him, no longer leading him to design in “two separate parts” or views of a car, but rather as “one part blending together.”
Ironically, the Testudo didn't lead a wholly grandiose life as its gorgeous flanks would suggest. The concept was heavily damaged in the mid ’60s and went unrepaired for close to three decades. Its iconic lines didn’t however go unnoticed. One could argue a direct semblance between the Testudo and the likes of the Ferrari Daytona and the Bertone-styled Lamborghini Miura. But what isn't up for debate is the Porsche it influenced – the 1977 Porsche 928.
Tony Lapine, Porsche’s design director, cited the Testudo as a driving force behind the design of the 928. It certainly wasn't a shape he would have forgotten. Before Lapine joined Porsche, he worked for Bill Mitchell at GM and was responsible for crafting the Corvair Monza GT and SS concept cars – the Testudo’s American contemporaries – with Larry Shinoda.
The iconic pop-up headlights mark perhaps the most immediate resemblance from 928 to Testudo, but so too does its rounded rear section, which leads into a sweeping canopy, as well as its definitive waist which wraps around to meet an angular fascia.
It’s an unforgettable design, though given the Testudo is a one-off, it would be exceedingly difficult to put in your garage. The 928 on the other hand exists quite commonly in nature.
Source Bertone and Porsche
Specifications
Power: Estimated 81 hp
Displacement: 2.372 cc
Engine: Flat-six air-cooled engine with overhead camshafts and two valves per cylinder,
Fuel feed: Two single-choke Rochester downdraught carburetors
Transmission: Four-speed manual gearbox
Suspension: Independent suspension with wishbones, coil springs, telescopic dampers and anti-roll bar at the front, semi-trailing swing-axles, coil springs
Brakes: Four-wheel drum brakes
Wheelbase: 2.400 mm (94.5")
THE OTHER CHEVROLETS ARE HERE
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