XP-64
SPLIT
THE 1964 CORVETTE
THAT COULD HAVE BEEN.
A well thought out alternative history styling study, built from an original 1964 Corvette as a tribute to Bill Mitchell, Peter Brock, Zora Duntov and the enduring power of the split window coupe.
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01 · THE QUESTION
What if the split-window Corvette
had continued
into 1964?
The midyear Corvette Sting Ray represents a masterclass in the balance between automotive styling and functional engineering.
In the early 1960s, a legendary quiet war was waged inside GM’s styling studios. On one side stood Bill Mitchell, the charismatic design chief who demanded the beautiful, uninterrupted center spine of the split-window coupe. On the other side stood Zora Arkus-Duntov, the brilliant, fierce chief engineer who insisted that a sports car must prioritize rear visibility and racetrack safety over aesthetics.
For 1964, Duntov won the boardroom battle, and the split-window disappeared forever. But what if Mitchell’s artistic purism had triumphed for just one more year?
The XP-64 Split 001 is an educational design study brought to life to answer that exact question. By seamlessly integrating and hand-crafting a contoured fiberglass split component into the original 1964 body lines, this vehicle physically reconstructs a lost moment in time—inviting you to explore the true depths of the struggle between Mitchell's form and Duntov's function.
1963
THE SPLIT WINDOW DEBUTS
A singular piece of American automotive sculpture.
1964
PRODUCTION MOVES ON
The obstruction is removed. The
question remains.
XP-64 SPLIT
THE ALTERNATE PATH
One original ’64, reimagined as
a continuation concept.
02 · THE VISION BEHIND THE 1963 CORVETTE
The 1963 Corvette Sting Ray was the result of an extraordinary intersection of design vision, youthful creativity, and engineering performance.
Three men played especially important roles in shaping the ideas that would define the second-generation Corvette: Bill Mitchell, Peter Brock, and Zora Arkus-Duntov.
Each approached the Corvette from a different perspective. Mitchell championed dramatic styling and visual identity. Brock contributed an early design foundation that helped influence the Sting Ray form. Duntov relentlessly pursued performance, engineering, and functionality.
Those different priorities helped create one of the most recognizable American automobiles ever produced — and they also set the stage for one of Corvette history's most fascinating design decisions: the disappearance of the split rear window after only one model year.
BILL MITCHELL
— DESIGN VISION
As GM's influential design leader, Bill Mitchell championed the dramatic styling direction that produced the Sting Ray and its unforgettable split-window identity.
The center spine created a continuous visual line through the Corvette's body — an artistic statement Mitchell considered integral to the design.
The Sting Ray Racer developed under Mitchell's direction became an important step toward the second-generation Corvette, and the split rear window was a natural extension of that design philosophy.
Mitchell saw the Corvette not simply as transportation, but as automotive sculpture.
" A car has to have enough interest so that it looks different each time you look at it - you see a little more. That's what a Corvette should always be." - Bill Mitchell
PETER BROCK
— AN EARLY DESIGN FOUNDATION.
As a young GM designer, Peter Brock produced an early sketch selected by Bill Mitchell and further developed with other GM designers into the XP-87 Corvette Sting Ray Racer.
That racing concept became an important influence on the lines, proportions, and appearance of the second-generation Corvette.
Brock's early vision helped establish design ideas that would ultimately become part of one of the most celebrated shapes in Corvette history.
At the beginning of his career, his ideas helped influence what the Corvette was about to become.
ZORA ARKUS-DUNTOV
— ENGINEERING & PERFORMANCE
Zora Arkus-Duntov continually pushed Corvette toward greater performance, engineering sophistication, and functionality. The split rear window created a conflict with that philosophy because its center divider restricted rearward visibility. Duntov favored function and driver visibility, while Mitchell strongly valued the visual continuity of the center spine. That tension between styling and engineering became one of the most famous design debates in Corvette history. It also illustrates the compromise required to transform an automobile from a designer's vision into a production car.
"My pet rule of the split window for the 1964 model year, but there was blood spilled over it. My blood. "
- Zora Arkus Duntov
GREAT DESIGN IS A COMPROMISE
Designers pursue beauty, proportion, and identity.
Engineers pursue performance, visibility, and function.
Manufacturers must also consider production, cost, practicality, and customers.
The automobile that ultimately reaches the showroom is where all of those priorities finally meet.
03 · YOU BE THE DESIGNER
Questions to consider:
There is no single correct answer. The point is to look closely, weigh beauty against function and consider what you might have decided as a Chief Design Engineer and the impact it might have on the 2nd generation Corvette today.
04 · TWO INTERPRETATIONS
Step Into the Design Studio: You Are Bill Mitchell
The year is 1963. You are Bill Mitchell, the legendary head of GM Styling. The groundbreaking Split-Window Corvette is a massive hit, but it is time to design the 1964 model.
You face a major choices about the car's identity. Do you double down on the drama, or do you clean up the lines? Consider these two competing paths:
Option A: Keep the 1963 Heritage Hood
-
The Look: Bright chrome grids, a bold black center spine cut deeply into a satin-silver back drop.
-
The Pitch: This hood is pure drama. It matches the wild energy of the split rear window. Keeping it for a second year cements this look as the ultimate signature of the C2 generation. Why fix what isn't broken?
05 THE BIRTH OF XP-64 SPLIT
This journey began in early 2023 with something completely unexpected: a 1:36-scale model of a 1963 Corvette that my wife bought for me. She put it in my hands, and I couldn't put it down.
I had always appreciated Corvettes, but something about the shape of the 1963 Sting Ray Coupe—the split rear window, the center spine, the proportions—captured me. Within a month, I knew I wanted one.
Then reality intervened. I set a budget and began searching for the '63 I had imagined owning. I quickly discovered how naïve I had been about what a good 1963 split-window Corvette would cost. The car I wanted simply wasn't practical for my budget.
So I moved forward one model year. I found a 1964 Corvette Coupe a few towns away. While waiting in the bank parking lot, I watched a red Corvette with brilliant chrome wheels come around the corner. My jaw dropped.
A few questions, a look underneath the car, and—without even taking a test drive—I signed over the funds.
The Corvette was mine.
THEN THE RESEARCH BEGAN
I wanted to understand everything I could about both the 1963 and 1964 Corvettes: who designed them, why certain decisions were made, what changed between the two years—and especially the question that always seemed to follow the 1963 Corvette:
Why did the split rear window disappear after only one year?
During that research, I discovered that my 1964 had originally left the factory Satin Silver with a white interior.
And that little 1:36-scale '63 my wife had given me?
Silver with a white interior. An interesting coincidence, but another one was still coming.
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THE CONVERSATION THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
About six months later, the Corvette was undergoing a complete frame-off restoration.
One evening over dinner, I was—as usual—talking about the Corvette and everything I had learned. My wife stopped me and said:
“You're not going to be happy unless you have a '63. Make it a '63.”
That stopped me cold.
Her suggestion became the turning point of the entire project.
At first, the obvious thought was simply to add the split rear window and center spine. But the more I considered it, the more I realized something important:
I didn't want to build a 1963 Corvette.
I already owned a 1964.
So what would happen if, instead of converting the car backward into a '63, I imagined the split-window idea moving forward into 1964? Suddenly, the project had a purpose.
WHAT IF THE SPLIT WINDOW HAD CONTINUED?
One of Corvette history's most intriguing questions became the foundation of the project:
What if the split-window design philosophy had continued for one more model year?
What might the 1964 Corvette have looked like?
That question became XP-64 SPLIT.
Rather than creating a replica of a 1963 or simply modernizing a 1964, I began developing the car as an alternative-history Corvette design study—a physical interpretation of a 1964 Corvette that never existed.
The concept honors the very different contributions of Bill Mitchell, Peter Brock, and Zora Arkus-Duntov to the development of the C2 Corvette while exploring how its design might have evolved under a different decision in 1964.
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DESIGNING A CORVETTE THAT NEVER EXISTED
From that point forward, every major visual decision had to answer the same question:
If I were continuing the design rather than copying the past, what would make sense?
The center spine and split rear window established the connection to the original Sting Ray design language, but I deliberately avoided turning the car into a 1963 replica.
One of the clearest departures was the exterior chrome. Instead of reproducing the extensive chrome treatment of the period, I chose to black out much of the heavy exterior chrome, allowing the body shape, center spine, vents, and other design elements to become the focus.
For the remaining design decisions, I repeatedly tried to put myself in the position of Bill Mitchell and the GM Styling Studio of the early 1960s:
If the split-window philosophy had survived into 1964, where might they have taken it next?
There is no historical answer to that question.
XP-64 SPLIT is my attempt to explore the possibility.
06 — BUILDING XP-64 SPLIT
From Concept to Reality
1. The Starting Point — The 1964 Corvette
This was the genuine 1964 Corvette that became the foundation of the project.
2. The Frame-Off Restoration
3. Creating the XP-64 Identity
4. The Details That Make It Different
5. The Results
ENGINE
327 L75 · 300 hp · 0.060 over
WHEELS
17-inch black 5-spoke
with spinners · 245/45R17
TRANSMISSION
2-speed Powerglide Automatic
FINISH
PPG Satin Silver blacked
out chrome white interior
REAR DIFFERENTIAL
3:36 POSI TRACTION
IDENTITY
Body No. 007 · Concept No. 001
007
07 — THE 1964 COINCIDENCE
Body No. 007
Some details are planned.
Others make you wonder.
XP-64 Split’s original body number is 007.
The car was also originally finished in Satin Silver with a white interior—an unusual combination that bears a striking resemblance to the silver appearance associated with James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5.
And then there is the year.
1964 was the year Goldfinger introduced the world to James Bond’s now-iconic Aston Martin DB5.
Is it simply coincidence?
Most likely, perhaps.
There is no known documentation connecting this Corvette, its body number, or its original colors to Goldfinger or the Bond car. But somewhere in the production process, this particular 1964 Corvette became Body No. 007, finished in Satin Silver with a white interior, during the same year that another silver sports car carrying the number 007 was about to become one of the most famous automobiles in the world.
HOW RARE WAS THE COMBINATION?
The exact number may never be known.
Of the 22,229 Corvettes produced for 1964, only 8,304 were coupes, and 2,785 Corvettes were finished in Satin Silver. White-and-black two-tone interiors were also available from the factory.
What General Motors did not preserve in published production records is the cross-reference telling us exactly how many Satin Silver cars were also coupes and received the white-and-black interior.
So we know the individual pieces of XP-64 Split's original configuration—but not how many other 1964 Corvettes left the factory with exactly the same combination.
And that leaves one more unanswered question surrounding this car:
How unusual was Satin Silver, white-and-black interior, Body No. 007... in 1964?
Could someone along the way have known?
Could the number or color combination have been a quiet inside prank?
Or did all of these details simply come together by chance?
More than six decades later, there may be no way to know.
And perhaps that is what makes the coincidence so interesting.
1964.
Satin Silver.
White interior.
Body No. 007.
Coincidence?
You decide.
Original Chevrolet body/trim tag and serial plate documenting Body No. A-007 and factory paint code 940A Satin Silver.
08 — THE QUESTION REMAINS
The split-window Corvette existed for just one extraordinary model year.
History tells us what happened.
XP-64 Split asks a different question:
What if the split-window design philosophy had continued into 1964?
There can never be a historically correct answer.
XP-64 Split is one interpretation—a physical exploration of what the next chapter might have looked like.
THE 1964 CORVETTE THAT COULD HAVE BEEN
Concept Design and Build by Nick Basilotto
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YOU BE THE DESIGNER
“Now that you've seen the history, the people, the design decisions and the car—what would YOU have done in 1964?”
HISTORY RECORDS WHAT WAS BUILT . DESIGN STUDIES EXPLORE WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN.