Corvette Executive Ed Cole Once Considered a 2+2 Body for the C2

Of the many attempts to add more seats to the Corvette, this 2+2 coupe concept may be the most handsome of all.

Some cars make you wonder “what if?” That’s the case with this quite good looking 2+2 Corvette. We discovered this car on Vintage Roadcar and immediately fell in love with it. Why? Because it’s actually quite good looking. Corvette chief Ed Cole requested Larry Shinoda create this 1961 concept, designated “XP-796 2+2,” utilizing a stretched C2 chassis. However, Chevrolet division chief Bunkie Knudsen foresaw the high demand for the 2-seater C2 and ultimately pulled the plug from this effort before it even began.

In the Mid ’70s, a stretched Corvette C3 not only added more seats, but added two more doors as well. Production of 4-door C3s totaled just six. Corvette limos based on the C4 have also been created by people with large imaginations. Even more recently, the C7 corvette saw a slew of 4-door renderings not unlike the Porsche Panamera. Those renderings actually showed promise if Corvette wanted to pounce on a “Gran Coupe” Corvette. But in the end, there was no lengthened C7. Four-door renderings will halt with the new C8 Corvette.

New reports suggest that Corvette should break away from GM as its own brand. Discussion about a future Corvette SUV is more popular than we care to admit. But you never know. Certain other high profile Italian, German and British brands are cashing on on the fast-SUV craze. Corvette as a brand could go in and do to the SUV segment what they have already done to sports cars. Offer a great performing, good looking, well engineered product at a price that the others can’t even touch. It would be a left hook the industry would never see coming, but purists sure would be upset in the process. But for now, the corvette remains purely a two seat sports car. And thankfully to our knowledge, Ed Cole’s 2+2 is the only official Corvette made with seating for more than two.

Photo: Vintage Roadcar