Automotive enthusiasts can thank Bill Mitchell for a lot of things. The charismatic, often tyrannic Mitchell served as GM's vice president of design from 1958 through 1977. Many of the best-ever Corvettes (not to mention many, many other important GM products) were created on his watch. Some were personal pet projects, like the original Mako Shark, which later became the new-for-'68 Corvette. One less than successful venture was this XP-700 concept car that bowed at the New York Auto Show in April 1960.
The XP-700 clearly stemmed from the '60 Vette, then went on a bit of a rampage from there. While its ducktail rear end foreshadowed the look worn by the '61-'62 models, the front resembled botched plastic surgery. Aircraft canopy-style "bubble tops" were the rage of the day, so the XP-700 got one. Mitchell and company then fished up an incoherent variety of air intakes and glued them to the nose and flanks. The sidepipe exhausts and wire wheels were decidedly Euro-racer touches-inspired by the Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, perhaps? The coolest detail was the XP's "periscope rearview mirror, which provides a completely unobstructed view of the road behind."
GM brass wisely elected to obstruct any further view of the overly festooned XP-700. And what we got instead was magic: the '63 "split-window" Sting Ray.-Matt Stone