Duntov elected to use [4WD] because his calculations showed it could provide a higher cornering speed, as well as much-improved acceleration with a very powerful engine
This amazing, four-wheel drive automobile was conceived in the autumn of 1963 as a contender for victory in the great international long-distance races. Styling staff marked the official beginning of project XP-817, as it was known, as 27 September 1963.
A year earlier Ford had unveiled its mid-engined Mustang at Watkins Glen. It was an early stage of Ford’s Total Performance initiative, openly promoted as the forerunner of a future Ford sports racer designed to compete on the world’s great racetracks.
Ford’s negotiations to buy Ferrari for this purpose hit the buffers in February 1963. And so, on 1 July that year, the company hired the exclusive services of British racecar manufacturer, Lola, to help build a car that could wave the Ford flag higher than Ferrari’s at Le Mans in its world famous 24-hour race.
For Chevrolet, this was a step too far. Chevy boss, Semon ‘Bunkie’ Knudsen immediately approved the plans of his Corvette head honcho, Zora Arkus-Duntov, to show the Bow Tie could fly the flag higher still.
CERV II, as this car became known, wasn’t the first Chevrolet Engineering Research Vehicle II. The same name was given to a rear-wheel drive spaceframe roadster conceived in 1962 to compete in long-distance racing as a 4.0-litre prototype. It never progressed to the metal, though, the lightweight Sting Ray Grand Sport being built instead.
At arm’s length
Chevy’s plan for the XP-817 called for the building of one prototype, plus five racecars. These were to be ‘purchased’ by well-established teams to take to the races, where they would enter them at arm’s length from Chevrolet to evade GM’s management policy of non-racing, in a similar way to how such teams were also entering
