Chevrolet XT-2, 1989
Shades of El Camino — an IROC Camaro pickup. But the El C. never performed like the XT-2 — even with a 454-cu.-in. V8. What we have here is serious V6 power in race trim producing 360 horses for quarter-mile acceleration in about 13 seconds flat and a 0-to-60 mph time of 6 seconds.
Not surprisingly, the function of the XT-2 goes beyond most concept trucks as it will see active service as a pace vehicle for the CART PPG Indy Car World Series. To handle the task, the pace truck was built from the ground up and is based on a tube frame with integral rollbars — necessary rollover protection at racing speeds.
The huge sloping windshield, which also serves as the hood, is the largest piece of windshield glass ever made by PPG and lifts on gas struts like a hatch. With the windshield raised, the top of the instrument panel also lifts up for access to the engine. The rear drivetrain is accessible through a removable bed floor.
The 4.5-liter 90° V6 traces its lineage to a Trans-Am racing-type powerplant, and uses Chevy high-performance Bow Tie components, including the block and cylinder heads.
A special clear-coated PPG 3-step paint job with blue mica chips over a red base gives the smooth flanks an electric blue color in the sun that changes to purple in low light.
For 1989, GM had two futuristic concept trucks that we assume they hoped would stir enough interest to guide them in their product-making decisions. One was the youth-oriented Pontiac Stinger compact SUV. Though it wasn't particularly powerful — its engine was only good for 170 HP — it had a high level of utility, including features such as a removable picnic table and portable radio. These types of features weren't put to use, as Pontiac wasn't going to build an SUV in the near future. Ironically, many of these ideas found a home — the ill-fated and poorly designed Pontiac Aztec.
The other concept truck was the Chevy XT-2 concept, which stood for the Chevy Experimental Truck #2. This futuristic-looking, performance-oriented vehicle featured a Corvette suspension, a front-engine/RWD layout built on a platform similar to the F-body Camaro, and a 4.5-liter V6 that was good for 360 horsepower and 315 lb-ft of torque.
The XT-2 was designed as a pace car to be used in what was then the CART PPG Indy Car World Series, which is now a weird mix of words to see together. The truck itself went through two designs before engineers landed on the final one. The first version was fairly wild and had the engine mounted under the bed. The second version was a based on a passenger-car platform with a FWD/AWD layout and a smaller V6 engine, a concept not unlike the crossovers that would follow in the mid-2000s. So how did they end up with the final version? According to a press release provided by GM, "Given the consumer preference to small, sporty trucks, the evolution of the Chevrolet PPG XT-2 Pace Truck was natural."
So, in 1989, you had the Pontiac Stinger and the Chevy XT-2 from GM as the radically futuristic vehicles. The designers and planners clearly understood that, after the previous gas crisis, crossovers and sportier car-based trucks were the way forward. But that wasn't what happened.
