The Chevrolet prototypes were a series of vehicles that competed in Argentine motorsports presented by different preparers, who powered their machines with Chevrolet engines. The first of them was the revolutionary Chevitú, the creation of José Froilán González and which marked a turning point in Argentine motorsports. The most successful of them was the Trueno Naranja, created by Horacio Steven and champion in 1968, with Carlos Alberto Pairetti at the wheel.
History Throughout the history of Turismo Carretera, a long succession of models paraded through the routes and racetracks of Argentina. From the old little cups, through the most varied and attractive prototypes of the Sports category, to the compact ones that today have the Torino, the Chevy, the Falcon, and the Polara, as flagship cars. This is how the great history of Argentine motorsports was formed.
And going to the prototypes, we will see a bit of the history of the Chevrolet Prototypes, among which are the Chevitú, the Trueno Naranja, the Garrafa, the Chevytres and other models that have not been important in terms of a number of races won, but who also knew how to give a show.
The Chevitú was a vehicle prepared from an American Chevrolet Nova sedan two-door model, similar to the Argentine Chevrolet 400. It was designed by the famous former Formula One driver José Froilán González, who to achieve his mission imported a two-door Chevrolet Nova from the United States to which he put a Chevrolet 400 engine. The preparation of this machine was entrusted to the brothers, Aldo and Reynaldo Bellavigna, while the engines were in charge of Bernardo Pérez and the driving by Jorge Cupeiro.
The appearance of the Chevitú meant a great revolution in national motoring, since it gave rise to the modern era of compact cars. Its appearance in 1964 generated approval and controversy, to the point of having been bottled by the public who refused to accept the evolution of Road Tourism. At that time, Froilán González's intention to return Chevrolet to the forefront almost materialized when Jorge Cupeiro came runner-up in 1965 with Chevitú, facing La Galera led by Dante Emiliozzi.
The Chevitú was the first compact car to obtain a victory in Turismo Carretera, giving rise to the modern era and initiating the glorious retirement of the "cupecitas" from Argentine motorsports. Its name comes from the Spanish deformation of the English term Chevy Two, the original name of the base model of the prototype, a Chevy II Nova coupe.
The vehicle debuted in 1964, and is presented as the first compact car in the history of TC. However, he had to wait almost a year to win his first victory, on March 13, 1965, at the Buenos Aires Autodromo, with Cupeiro at the wheel. This victory would also mean the first triumph of a compact car in Turismo Carretera. Over the course of the season, the Chevitú would reach the top step of the podium 6 more times, but it would not be enough to defeat the powerful vehicle of Dante Emiliozzi, staying with the runner-up in '65.
In 1966, with the aim of being able to increase the performance of the Chevitú, Froilán González analyzed the idea of readapting the vehicle to the new Road Tourism regulations. Thus, he entrusted Alain Baudena's Baufer Styler company with a series of reforms that would end up being reflected in the Chevitú MkII. To get to this model, Baufer had to reform the body, replacing the original Chevrolet Nova trunk with a tapered section plastic trunk, also cutting about 25 centimeters from the trunk. To all this, they would add some side intakes on the engine at the height of the doors, fulfilling the function of cooling the impeller. This model would not manage to have the same repercussion as its predecessor, achieving only three victories, these being alternated between Cupeiro and Carlos Marincovich, who drove the prototype on some occasions.
The performance demonstrated in 1966 little or nothing convinced Froilán, who, determined to experiment with new development alternatives for his unit, summoned a then-new designer Heriberto Pronello, who was entrusted with the task of implementing new reforms to the prototype. The result of this work was the Chevitú MkIII, for which the most severe reforms were carried out since its first surgery, this time modifying the rear roof drop, incorporating a fastback-style design, with a huge rear window, similar to the Barracuda prototype designed by Vicente Formisano. The vehicle was presented in 1967, but without obtaining any success mainly due to his continuous withdrawals due to engine problems.
After this attempt, in this same season, a new reformulation for Chevitú was sought. Without the services of Pronello (who dedicated 100% to the construction and attention to the Liebre-Torino prototypes of the official IKA team, along with Oreste Berta), Froilán turns to the coachbuilder Raúl Cábanas, who radically reformulates the design of the Chevitú, applying a drop of the Steeper rear overhang, eliminating the rear window. In this way, the Chevitú MkIV was presented, which managed to get closer again to the close-ups of the TC, but without the brilliance of its first predecessor, losing ground heavily against new adversaries such as the Garrafa Chevrolet or the Liebre-Torino. Finally, by mid- 1968, Froilán decided to entrust Francisco "Paco" Martos with the construction of a new prototype, which ended up bearing the nickname " Chevytres ". 2 The fate of the original Chevitú was unknown, a replica of the original prototype being built, which is exhibited at the Juan Manuel Fangio Automobile Museum, in the city of Balcarce.
The Carafe
La Garrafa was one of the first prototypes to be presented in Turismo Carretera. Its creation was in charge of the brothers Aldo and Reynaldo Bellavigna, who entrusted the design of the car to the designer Jorge Parodi and based the construction of the car on the chassis of a Kaiser Bergantín (platform derived from the Alfa Romeo 1900 ), considering that this Car had an excellent wheelbase as well as good track clearance. They also wanted to provide the vehicle with more rational suspensions, little frontal area, little weight, and the possibility of profitable mass power. It came equipped with a Chevrolet engine ."230" of 3100 cm³. The preparation of the car was in charge of the Bellavigna Brothers themselves, and the driving of this car was entrusted to the Italian-Argentine driver Andrea Vianini, who was already known in the environment for being a benchmark for the Alfa Romeo brand in Argentina and was known to the Bellavignas for having driven a Maserati with a Chevrolet engine, owned by Froilán González and also prepared by said brothers.
He made his motorsport debut on June 16, 1967, winning the race held at the Buenos Aires Autodromo. There, he faced the power of the official IKAteam, which put the Torinos prepared by Oreste Berta on the track. Another of his staunch rivals that date was the Baufer-Ford, prepared by Horacio Steven for the official Ford team and driven by Atilio Viale del Carril. The race was one of the most eventful in the category, since, after the first lap, the drivers encountered a car that was stopped on the starting grid. Several cars were involved, including that of Atilio Viale del Carril. However, Andrea Vianini was able to avoid the carambola and decidedly headed for victory, breaking the power of the Torinos, which marked the end of the era of the old "cupecitas".
It owes its amusing name to the advertisements that decorated it, among which the AgipGas advertisement, a gas company of Italian origin, stood out, as well as being painted in the colors of the Agip cylinders, which combined with its deep-drawn shape, he gave the impression of being a real walking jug.
At the end of 2018, Aldo Bellavigna donated this car and a TC2000 Dodge 1500 to the Fangio de Balcarce Museum.
The Barracuda
The Barracuda, or Barracuda Chevrolet was a racing prototype that was also presented during the first generation of this class of vehicles, within Turismo Carretera. The appearance of cars such as "La Garrafa" by Vianini or "El Petiso" by Rodolfo De Álzaga, marked the beginning of a new era in the TC. This was how the new generation of vehicles began to relegate the old coupes of the '30s, within the TC fleet. Faced with this reality, coachbuilder Vicente Formisano began to outline the shape of a new car, basing his lines on the Plymouth Barracuda model launched in 1964 in the United States. To achieve its mission and respect the origins of the American model, it decided to take the platform of the Valiant IV model as the basis for its creation, which in turn was derived from the 1966 Dodge Dart model.
To outline this car, Formisano first had to cut out the entire section belonging to the roof and the rear overhang, leaving only the nose, the torpedo, and the front half of the passenger compartment. After this "surgery", the assembly of the safety grid would begin, twinning the entire structure with the body. Once this implant was finished, the reform of the roof began, to which it was molded in order to achieve in the rear, the truncated Fastback-style design that characterized the Plymouth sports model at that time.. At the end of this redesign, Formisano finished off the body with the implementation of an acrylic rear window that gave the unit its final shape. Other reforms implemented in the vehicle were the replacement of the original nose of the Valiant IV with a pointed section insert, similar to the implements adapted by Heriberto Pronello for his Liebre-Torino, the displacement of the torpedo to 15 cm from its original place and the recess in the ceiling by 3 cm, in order to achieve the desired effect.
Originally, these units were intended for the squad of the official team of the Chrysler Dealer Racing Commission (CCCC), however, whoever first became interested in the project when they saw that they no longer had the weapons to face the new vehicles, it was the driver Carlos Pairetti, who, contrary to what was planned, decided to motorize this unit with a 230-cubic-inch Chevrolet impeller. It was so that, after having started 1967 SeasonCommanding his old coupe, he would continue competing for the rest of the season with this new unit, which he named Barracuda-Chevrolet, combining the name of the prototype with its engine. The Barracuda made its debut on July 30, 1967, in the Vuelta de Salto, recording an abandonment as an initial result. However, despite that unfortunate start, Pairetti would manage to rebuild himself on the following date and would achieve victory in the Hughes Tour, one of the tests where this pilot from Reef repeated his victory the most times.
With the Barracuda, Pairetti competed until 1968, obtaining two more victories in the Vuelta de Olavarría in '67 and in Balcarce in '68. However, due to the advance led by Torino and his Liebres prototypes, the Barracuda and its 230 engine were beginning to become obsolete. It was so that in mid- 1968, Pairetti would decide to renew himself by presenting the Baufer-Chevrolet model, popularly known as the Orange Thunder, on the track, while the Barracuda would be entrusted to his friend, Néstor Jesús García Veiga. In the hands of García Veiga, the model would compete for a couple more races, finally being relegated in 1969 ., when he had his last participation on March 23, 1969, during the Vuelta de Santa Fe. The pilots Fernando Arana and Hugo Alberini also participated in the TC under the command of a unit similar to this one, who alternated in driving this machine.
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