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Chevrolet Blazer XT-1 Concept

This is an installment in a series of posts looking back on show cars that we feel deserved a little more attention than they got. If you have a suggestion for a Forgotten Concept topic, please shoot us a line or leave a comment below.

Chevrolet Blazer XT-1 Concept

First Seen: 1987 Chicago Auto Show

Description: Van-bodied SUV

Sales Pitch: “Technological tour de force”

More Forgotten Concepts

Chevrolet Blazer XT-1 Concept

Details:

First seen at the 1987 Chicago Auto Show, the Chevrolet Blazer XT-1 Concept combined innovative packaging with high-tech, off-road-oriented drivetrain technology. The XT-1 was powered by a fuel-injected 4.3-liter V6 that made 202 horsepower and was mated to an electronically controlled 4-speed automatic transmission. The 4WD systems included three electronically controlled differentials capable of transferring as much as 80 percent of the available torque to the axle with the most traction. The XT-1 also featuring 4-wheel steering, which gave it a claimed turning radius of just 14 feet.

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The concept featured a glass roof and rear hatch, and digital “Future Vision” instrument panel with an airplane-style steering yoke. The rear cargo area featured removable integrated storage modules, the contents of which could also be accessed while secured in the cargo hold. A product of General Motors’ Advanced Vehicle Engineering Team, the XT-1 was never seriously considered for production.

Forgotten Concept: Plymouth XP-VIP

Chevrolet Blazer XT-1 Concept

CG Says:

It’s easy to see how the XT-1 concept came by its functional shape. By the late Eighties, American car buyers were beginning to embrace SUVs as personal-use vehicles—the Chevrolet S10 Blazer and Jeep Cherokee were both quite popular—and the minivan segment was red hot. Designers could certainly do worse than attempting to combine the best attributes of both vehicle segments—in this case, space utilization and off-road capability.

The XT-1 is arguably predictive of the new-for-1995 Chevrolet Blazer, but it also reminds me of another vehicle, although a fictional one. If you’ve suffered through the Sylvester Stallone/Kurt Russell action-adventure buddy romp Tango and Cash, you may be reminded of that film’s single saving grace, a vehicle called the RV From Hell.

Cool Trucks From Bad Movies

Chevrolet Blazer XT-1 Concept

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Chevrolet Blazer XT-1 Gallery

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Forgotten Concept: Ford SYNus

Written by: Tom Appel on January 28, 2021.

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May 31, 2020Bryan McTaggartCHEVY, Monday Shopper

Copart Cadaver: 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle That Learned How To Roll Over

My first introduction to what a muscle car was came in 1992. Do you remember the big-ass JCPenny Christmas catalog that had everything from clothes to furniture, board games to appliances in it? Yeah…at that time I was in a foster home and the parents had asked me to go through the book and make a wish list. They were clear that they weren’t buying the exact thing from the catalog (damn!) but that it would give them an idea for when they went shopping. I understood, and went straight to pawing through the book. I quickly zeroed in on the three 1:12 scale model cars: a 1970 LS6 Chevelle SS, a 1969 GTO “The Judge”, and a third car which eludes my memory. I just thought that it’d be cool to have a giant-ass Hot Wheels that looked super-realistic to play with. I was told that they weren’t toys and weren’t meant to be played with roughly, that they would break. I was then told about that magical time period full of wicked Buicks, radical Mopars, thunderous Fords and even about the mental AMC products. And was given a couple issues of a musclecar-oriented magazine to check out, which I wouldn’t let go of.

If there was one truth to what I was told, it was that you can’t play with one of these cars roughly and not expect it to break. Spun bearings, blown-out rear axles, transmissions composed of five neutrals and a reverse that’s barely hanging on, I’ve seen it all. But mechanical carnage can be fixed. For this 1970 Chevelle things went beyond mechanical. This poor beast went for a roll that left no panel straight. It’s not horrible…it looks like it would lot-drive perfectly fine…but the amount of work that this A-body would need to bring it back to any kind of straight borders on the clinical. It’s a Malibu, not a legitimate Super Sport and certainly not the top-tier big-block cars. You’d love to just start pushing out the dents and sourcing new front sheetmetal. But looking at the forward roof, the windshield area…it breaks your heart.