The title of this thread should be changed to: 1961 Hickey Enterprises Trail Blazer
This was not a Chevrolet prototype. This vehicle's front-mounted engine was sourced from the rear-engined Chevrolet Corvair, but the vehicle itself was designed and constructed in Downey, California by private builder Vic Hickey on a custom built frame. Hickey attempted to sell the manufacturing rights to GM/Chevrolet, but after testing the vehicle, GM decided to purchase only the military manufacturing rights and the right to use the 'Trail Blazer' name.
GM never used the military manufacturing rights; instead, they offered Hickey a job designing other military vehicles. Hickey accepted and put the tooling, materials and civilian manufacturing rights of the Trail Blazer up for sale with an asking price of $18,000. I don't know if he ever found a buyer, but it seems the vehicle failed to go into production.
Versions of the 'Trail Blazer' name were later applied to otherwise-unrelated Chevrolet vehicles--the 'Blazer' in 1969 and the 'Trailblazer' (one word) in 1991.
