I took a short business trip to L.A. last week and since the thing I was attending ended at noon on Friday I took advantage of the opportunity and visited the Petersen Automotive Museum.  No traditional 'Vettes on display right now, but there is a pretty good Italian collection and they had a Scaglietti Corvette: 1959 Corvette Chassis and running gear, body by Italian coachbuilder Scaglietti.  I think there were only three built -- GM got cold feet and pulled the plug on the project.  There's a small amount of info on the web about these three cars, but here's an interesting story featuring the actual car I saw.  

|UPDATED|12/12/2012 7:22:10 AM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

Very cool!

afaik, GM never had any plans to build these. These were the brainstorm of Jim Hall and Carroll Shelby(and one other guy, who's name escapes me at the moment). There were only 3 made. They were great looking, but miserable performers.



(brain fart)

|UPDATED|12/13/2012 5:31:52 AM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

Joel, you're right, GM brass never bought into the project, but it sounds like there were GM insiders involved, such as Ed Cole.  (Until senior management caught on).  Two more folks that were involved: Gary Laughlin (Texas oilman) and Jim Hall.  Are either of those the name you were trying to remember?  

Gary Laughlin was indeed the other feller involved. The original idea came from Shelby, who wanted an American drivetrain in a sporty car chassis....and did wind up with just that with the Cobra several years later.
The Scagliettis wound up being real turds on the track...but they sure looked good!
They did get the chassis for them kinda out the back door from GM, with the help of Cole and Duntov, but they were never intended, or discussed as GM products....more of a "let's see how these guys do first" deal as far as GM was concerned. Iirc, Gm stipulated that the cars the chassis were used for could NOT be called/marketed as Corvette, nor could they be associated with GM/Corvette....officially.

The cost to do them, and the fact that they weren't very good cars is what killed the project. That, and Gm dint like the idea of independents rebody-ing THEIR cars, and not getting any $$$ out of it(it would have been competition for the Corvette both on the street, and track, along with having to stop production of complete cars just to build the chassis on the assy line). Which is why GM turned Shelby down on supplying him with engine/trans/chassis for what eventually came from Ford, for the Cobra.





|UPDATED|12/13/2012 5:34:54 AM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

 So, was it a pot of looong stringy pasta that didn't get mixed up right?, or did someone put to much sauce on it and smother it?

That's it...the Stringy Pasta Theory! 
The cars were not very good handlers on the road/track....just not very balanced, compared to the Corvette. The metal bodies, and other weight issues just dint work out the way they thought it would. One of the three original owners eventually GAVE his car away to someone...he was that dis-interested in it. Don't remember off hand which one of them it was. I guess I oughta dig out some info...
Basically tho, it was a "What If?" situation that just dint pan out.