C2 Corvette GT concept

[Ssscooter66]

Created in 1962 …

[John]

Interesting story that is often told why this car never made it into production. The designers who loved the C2 as a two seater HATED its four seater looks. While They were all excellent at design, and for sure they kept their jobs and did what they were told, but when the GM VP who was pushing them to do this, knowing he was the one who was going to try the back seat, they deliberately messed with the front seats locking mechanism so once it went back into its locked position, it would not move again, trapping the VP back there for over 20 minutes while they “frantically” looked for the right tools to completely remove the front seat to get him out.

Is this an urban legend? Many swear it happened exactly as above and the VP killed the four seat Corvette right away afterwards (and attempts to revive it later failed).

1) What happened thanks to CorvetteBlogger:

Thanks to an old interview with designer Larry Shinoda, we have the answer:

Ed Cole had a brilliant idea to do a four-passenger [Corvette], so they stretched the car out and it kind of looked like a two-hump camel. They’re really pushing at me so because the Ford had the Thunderbird which had gone into a kind of a luxury four passenger car. They had the model all finished and Jack Gordon, who was the President of General Motors, came in one day in his double-breasted suit and everything. He’s looking at it and he says Ed…tell me…can a human really sit in that back seat? Ed says, of course, Mr. Gordon and he yanked open the door and tilted the seat forward and Mr. Gordon climbed in sat down and was kind of hunched over in the back. Finally, he says let me out of this thing…for some reason the **** seat jammed up they couldn’t get the seat [to fold down], they had to unbolt the seat and he’s fuming, because you know, it’s all union and the union mechanics had to come and unbolt the seat. When he finally got out of the car, he was totally frustrated…he was madder than hell…and that killed the car, which is kind of good for Corvette fans…

https://www.corvetteblogger.com/2021...1963-corvette/

2) Here’s a take that it really happened thanks to esteemed Hagerty.com.

Shinoda, however, had a different take on why the four-seat Corvette was never put into production. He explained in a later interview that a faulty seat was to blame. According to Shinoda, GM chairman Jack Gordon came down to check out the prototype and climbed into the back. When Gordon tried to get out, the front-seat mechanism locked, and workers had to remove the seat so he could exit the vehicle. See ya, four-passenger Corvette.

Undeterred, Cole held out hope that the car might eventually be produced. Later, after being promoted to president of GM, he threatened to give the concept to Oldsmobile. That didn’t happen, of course.

The four-seat Sting Ray prototype was ultimately destroyed, which is a shame, but it seems we never get tired of seeing images of the alternate-universe Corvette.

https://www.hagerty.com/media/automo...1963-corvette/

And per TheDrive…

3) According to Design Director Chuck Jordan, the design staff at GM were no fans of the four-seater anyway, reported CorvetteBlogger. The concept was the work of Larry Shinoda, who revealed another enlightening reason why the concept may have been cancelled for good. The story goes that a high-placed figure at GM decided to check out the prototype. When sitting in the back, the front seat locked in place, and workers had to uninstall the front seat to free the poor chap. The debacle supposedly brought the project to an ignominious end.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/41720/...rd-thunderbird

You think this is an urban legend or clever sabotage of the 4 seater Corvette, with beer and pizza party at the local hangout down the street that evening?

[Brad]

Since the C2 didn't have anything to lock the seatback in place, I'm a little skeptical. I guess they could have rigged something.

It gets pretty warm in the driver's seat when the sun is shining in through the rear window. I can't imagine what it would be like sitting directly under that window.

[Milliwatt Rob]

OK for pre-teens in the back seat......otherwise, perhaps jockeys and contortionists.