Before Prius And Smart Car, GM Experimented With XP-511 Commuter Car

We’ve been a fan of the Detroit concept cars and have admired the bold styling attempts in most of the high profile concepts that we’ve seen over the years. There was a period in the late 1960s however, when styling took a backseat to new energy and economy.

One of the strangest experimental vehicles from the 1960s. Photo from www.gm.com.

In 1969, General Motors experimented with “urban cars” in an effort to increase gas mileage. This is proof that GM actually planned to get in front of the potential OPEC oil control problems and the predicted energy shortages. The world was told that the world’s oil reserves were running on empty and we would be out of the resource by 2020.

Photo from www.gm.com.

We now know that the oilfields in North America, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Middle East are massive. Plus the barely tapped reserves in South America, Africa and the Arctic are not billions of barrels’ worth, but several trillions. Now we can stop holding our breath about running out of oil, but it was an entertaining time and spawned some interesting vehicle solutions to combat the perceived shortages.

One of the jewels in GM’s urban vehicle program was the two-seat XP-511 commuter car. Looking to shrink down the size of personal vehicle for travel around the city or to and from the suburbs and office, engineers came up with a side-by-side two-seater with three-wheels. The XP-511’s low center of gravity made it a fun and stable car to drive, especially on curvy roads.

Photo from www.carstyling.ru.

According to GM engineers at the time, two-different steering designs were tried in the vehicle. The first was a handlebar setup with a 2:1 ratio, the other was a traditional steering wheel system with a 9:1 ratio.

The three wheel setup was a conventional tricycle design with one small wheel up front and two rear wheels. Despite the effort, saving fuel was not in fashion at the time, so GM never took the design to production.

Larry Shinoda, famous for his design work on GM’s Corvettes, was tasked with the design of this strange vehicle. Shinoda’s work is clearly identifiable here. Photo from www.carstyling.ru.

XP-511 Specs: