Developmental mules are a necessary evil in the automotive engineering world. You want to get real-world data on the parts and systems, but either you take out the new car which you are trying to hide until the last minute covered in body cladding and masking, or you stuff all of the mechanical goodies into a body that looks like everything else out there and just run with it. I tend to prefer the second option, because some damn cool cars come out as a result of the combinations: the Ford GT’s motor was tested in a fleet of F-250 Super Duty trucks, the engine, transaxle and the majority of suspension components of the Ferrari Enzo were stuffed under a modified Mondial T, and the ZO6 Corvette’s engine was tested in a Camaro before production. It’s not a new thing, but it’s more difficult to trace some of the older engine mules.
This 1984 Chevrolet Caprice wagon is one of the better-known examples from the 1980’s. Known widely as the “Corvette Chaser”, this Caprice was used as a testbed for the L98 engine, and was built up by employing a mix of 9C1 Caprice and Corvette suspension components, upgraded brakes, sport seats, and some Corvette-inspired bits of trim here and there. Those “louvers” over the headlights are actually stone guards. A 36-gallon fuel tank was dropped in to make sure the heavy wagon had plenty to drink, dual exhaust let the car sing gracefully, and air shocks at all four corners assisted with ride height and load height when needed. From it’s build in 1984 though the end of the C4 program, the Caprice would be the chase car for any engineering exercise for the Corvette program. Upon retirement, the car spent some time in the National Corvette Museum before ultimately being sold off at the 2009 Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach auction as part of GM’s house-cleaning.
The wagon was used as a workhorse in the C4 Corvette testing program, and the plaque on the dash summed up GM’s take on it’s purpose: “Wagons were built to haul things. This wagon was built to haul ass.”
If anyone has any more pictures of the “Corvette Chaser”, please share them!
growing up near Dearborn I got to see several Ford (mules)
rangers fitted with aerostar front sheetmetal , mustangs with all kind od extra wires hoses and bicycle wheels attached
the most interesting one ever was a plane jane jelly bean style early 80’s thunderbird
one of my neighbors drove
it was a durability car
with wild engine installation’s…
turbo 4 (svo) intercooled
super charged V6 (super coupe)
5.0 V8 ( fuel injected ) in 1982
it had the usual test probe attachments in a plain white wrapper
but few knew it was an absolute rocket when the pedal was mashed
You gotta just love these ‘ Chase ‘ cars the manufactures used to cobble together in order to ‘ chase ‘ the performance and exotic cars they were developing … even if this one is a Chevy 😉
The best one in my opinion was the VW Micro Bus stuffed to the gills with a 911 Turbo motor in its tail and a complete AWD suspension from what was to become the 959 .. in order to ‘ chase ‘ the road legal 959’s when in development
Now that Bryan good sir would be a video and a story worth tracking down … even for the Europhobics on site . CAR’s feature on the thing back in the 80’s being the last I’ve ever seen of the beast
here is some info on those Vanagons.
http://www.carbuildindex.com/24024/porsche-vw-t3-bus-the-b32/
I saw a video of a Mustang that had the expermental engine for the Shelby Cobra that Ford built a few years ago. This Mustang was doing burnouts and the front tires had slid so far on the pavement that the front tires were smoking along with the rears. Awesome video. Wish I could find it again.
Steve magnate wrote an article back in the early 2000’s in Hotrod magazine
Who could forget Bob Lutz’s Tahoes with the V16s for the Cadillac Sixteen concept? Or the Ford F-250 Super Duties with the Ford GT engines for durability testing?
I remember seeing this in Car and Driver around 1986 or so. Even as a kid I thought it was badass. Maybe that’s where my love for hot rodded wagons came from.
Buick had a similar wagon back in 1988. It was an Electra Estate fitted with a GNX engine/200-4R combo. Pretty quick.