“Road & Track” Remembers the Turbo Corvette Trials

By Tony Markovich - May 31, 2016

turbo-corvette

The ebbs and flows of the auto industry in the ’60s and ’70s are well documented. Cars had all the power, then an oil crisis came, then restrictions began hailing down on the party and ruined all the fun. Still, companies had to find ways to move on and progress. So during this time, GM/Chevrolet/Corvette engineers were taking leftover parts from all the company’s other cars and experimenting with different engine setups, like turbocharging.

Chevrolet reportedly had three tester turbocharged Corvettes. The first one wasn’t seen. The second is the one you see here, the “Phase II” Turbo Vette. It still used the 350-cubic-inch L82 V8, but also had an L48 camshaft. The injection system was two-point fuel injection, and it had an AiResearch T3 turbo with an integral wastegate mounted on the right side of the engine on the exhaust manifold. Boost topped out at seven PSI. Ignition timing was determined by a Delco controller, and the knock sensor came from Buick.

Road & Track wrote about the car extensively when this was all happening, and they recently brought the article back to light. Read the rest here, then let us know what you think.