Category: Corvette History

C2 Corvettes / C4 Corvettes / Corvette Founding Fathers / Corvette History / Corvette News & Opinions / Corvette Racing / Zora Arkus-Duntov

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The Duntov Files E-Book, Pt. 4: Time Machines, 1963 Grand Sport vs 1989 Trans-Am Corvette

Late in 1989 Corvette Quarterly (formerly “Corvette News”) arranged a special event. Grand Sport #002 was brought together at Sebring International Raceway for a side-by-side comparison test with the then “state-of-the-art” tube chassis Trans-Am C4 Corvette. Twenty-six-years separate the two cars, they are both tube-frame cars with replica bodies, and powered by Chevrolet engines. But that’s where the similarity ends, and the difference is startling.

Corvette History / Corvette People / Zora Arkus-Duntov

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The Duntov Files E-Book, Pt. 3: Corvette News June/July 1975 “The Marque of Zora”

June/July 1975 issue had what might have been one of Duntov’s last interviews before retiring as Corvette Chief Engineer. The article starts out, “As we entered his office at Chevrolet Engineering, Zora greeting us warmly…” What followed is an insightful, warm, eight-page interview with the Godfather of Corvettes.

C6 Corvettes / C6 ZR1 Corvettes / C7 Corvettes / C7 Z06 / C7 ZR1 / C8 Articles / Corvette History

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Corvette Chiefs, Pt. 5 or 5: Tadge Juechter

All five Corvette chief engineers contributed mightily and in their own unique ways. But only Tadge Juechter has the distinction of having done hard engineering on five generations of Corvettes. When Juechter went to work in 1993 as chief engineer Dave Hill’s right-hand-man, there were two objectives; keep the then-current C4 fresh and interesting; and design and develop the most revolutionary Corvette to that date, the C5. After Hill’s retirement, Tom Wallace was Vehicle Line Engineer (VLE) and chief engineer for the Corvette. Wallace accessed that because of Juechter’s 15 years of experience, he was the right man for the chief engineer position.

Corvette History / Corvette Racing

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Bill Tower’s Sebring 2019 Corvette Racing Seminar, Pt 1

An extraordinary thing happened last year for the Corvette Racing Team. Road Atlanta was the final race of the 2018 IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship season and it was a real nail-biter. Antonio Garcia is an outstanding team driver, very methodical, technical, and rarely makes mistakes. But mistakes happen. The team and spectators were shocked when Garcia’s No. 3 C7.R smacked the wall. It wasn’t a bad crash and Garcia was able to drive into the pits.

The Corvette Racing pit team is arguably the best. In five-minutes and 36-seconds the pit crew replaced the front fender, nose, and engine floor; and sent Garcia back out on the track in the hunt for another championship. When the checkered flag came down, the Corvette Racing Team won its 13th IMSA Team Championship and 12th Driver Championship in 20 years of racing! And here’s the kicker; for the 2018 racing season, the Corvette Racing Team did not come in 1st place in a single race.

How could that happen? Modern factory-backed racing is a team sport; it’s all about teamwork; as tight, efficient, and professional as any other team professional sports team. In October 2018 in the days after the Road Atlanta success, Bill Tower and I were talking about a theme for his 2019 Corvette Racing History Seminar on the Friday of the 2019 12 Hours of Sebring event. I said, “Bill, the Corvette Racing Team just won its 13 Championship in 20 years without winning a single race. Do you know anyone at Pratt & Miller that would be willing to talk about the team’s amazing 20 years of racing?” Bill responded, “Sure, I know Gary Pratt, I’ll call him to see if he’d like to be our guest.” And that’s how the event got started. But it got even better. Not only was Gary Pratt willing to be a guest speaker, Bill got Gary’s wife Robin Pratt (the Mama Bear of the team) and Ron Fellows. What’a score!

C5 Corvettes / C6 Corvettes / Corvette History / Corvette People

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Corvette Chiefs, Pt 3 Dave Hill

Dave Hill once said, “My favorite Corvette is the next one.” Mr. Cadillac insisted on three key things; state of the art performance and technology; passionate design; and tremendous value. In an interview with c6registry.com, Hill said, “Being involved with Corvette brings out the best in all of us who have the privilege of working on it. It represents the best that GM has to offer; along with the best America has to offer. The Corvette is very personal. We’re not talking about transportation here; we’re talking about a product that changes someone’s lifestyle, and that causes us to be enthusiastic about our duty.”

C3 Corvettes / C4 Corvettes / C4 ZR-1 Corvettes / C5 Corvettes / Corvette History / Corvette News & Opinions / Corvette People

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Corvette Chiefs, Pt. 2 of 5 – Dave McLellan

When Dave McLellan took over as Corvette’s new chief
engineer on January 1, 1975, it was whole new world. The prevailing trends went from performance cars to safer cars with reduced emission. Not even Duntov could have made a difference in the ‘70s. But as performance went down, Corvette sales went way up! The sales department was happy, but the Corvette was really getting old. Dave McLellan was an unknown to the Corvette community and many wondered what he would bring to the brand. It turned out; he brought a lot!

C5 Corvettes / Corvette History / Corvette People

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Jim Perkins Tribute: R.I.P. Corvette Corporate Angel

After graduating from high school, Perkins took courses at Baylor then served three years in the Navy. After his discharge from the Navy, he took a low-level job, sorting parts at a Chevrolet warehouse, while completing his college courses. With his Navy experience and eventual degree, Perkins quickly rose through the ranks at Chevrolet in Sales & Service. In the mid-‘70s, he landed a peach-of-a-job working for then GM president, Pete Estes. That’s where Perkins learned the ropes of GM corporate life.

Baldwin-Motion Corvettes / Corvette Book Reviews / Corvette History / Corvette News & Opinions / Corvette Timeline Tales / Magazine Biz

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R.I.P. Vette Magazine 1976-2019

In the spring of 1997 I pitched then editor, Richard Lentinello a concept I called, “The Illustrated Corvette Series” as a monthly column. Lentinello liked the idea, but didn’t have an open page for another columnist, so it was, “Thanks, but no thanks”. A week later Lentinello called me to ask if I still wanted to do a column, as one of his other columnist informed him that he could no longer do his column. Of course I said, “Yes!” My plan was to cover every year Corvette in chronological order; so maybe I’d have 50 installments. When Vette magazine was shuttered last December I had completed 275 installments and got a book deal from Car-Tech Books in 2010.

C8 Articles / Corvette History

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The 2020 Mid-Engine C8 Chevrolet Corvette is HERE!!! – VIDEO

The waiting is finally over! The “pie-in-the-sky” dream of Zora Arkus-Duntov of a mid-engine high-performance sports car wearing a Corvette badge has arrived. The journey to the mid-engine C8 was long, very long.

The C7 Corvette debuted on January 13, 2013 and by the end of April 2013, Chevrolet announced pricing and hard details. By the third quarter of 2013 C7 deliveries began. Then on August 14, 2014, less than a year after C7 production began, Motor Trend announced online, “SCOOP! Mid-Engine Chevrolet Corvette is a Go”.

I said, “HUH?!?!? The C7 just came out. Come on, quit it with the mid-engine tease!

C1 Corvettes / Corvete Factory Show Cars / Corvette History

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Corvette Factory Show Cars, Part 1 -1958 XP-700 Corvette

The XP-700 was built on a 1958 283 Fuelie Corvette. In 1950s excess style, everything is “bigger and better”. The front was pure “custom car design” with an elongated, elliptical nose and a scoop under it. Mitchell wanted to break away from the Earl driven, big toothy grille, towards something slim and lightweight. The now-classic Dayton Knock-Off Wire Wheels were part of the effort to make the car look lighter. The Lucas spotlight headlights are moved forward and also had scoops under them. The recessed hood vents showed up on the 1963 Corvette, but with fake grille inserts, and the 1964 Corvette, sans the grilles. The front fender scoops were shorter versions of the production 1956-1957 fender scoops.

C2 Corvettes / C3 Corvettes / Corvette Founding Fathers / Corvette History

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Corvette’s Founding Fathers, Larry Shinoda, Pt 5 of 6: Sting Ray & Mako Shark Designer

Larry Shinoda was the perfect designer/stylist for GM VP of Styling Bill Mitchell. In the same way that Mitchell fit with Harley Earl, Shinoda clearly understood what Mitchell wanted. As VP of Design, Mitchell’s job was to hold the vision for what he knew would be new and fresh, then lead his designers and stylists to bring his vision into reality. Corvettes were always Mitchell’s pet projects and he was famous for saying, “Don’t get cocky, kid! I design Corvettes around here!” Mitchell’s Corvettes were about design, speed, power, and performance. And for that, he needed a designer/stylist equal to Duntov’s engineering/racing prowess. Larry Shinoda was his man.

C2 Corvettes / Corvette Engines / Corvette History

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1964-’65 NY World’s Fair Animated Cut-Away 396 Big-Block Engine

The Mark IV big-block engine was intended to be a replacement engine for the W-Series 348/407/427 truck engine. But very quickly in the development phase it was discovered that the engine was a torque monster.

When released in spring of 1965 in the Corvette as the 396/425 L78 for only $292, it was obvious that it was easier to make big horsepower and torque with the new big-block to the more exotic and expensive ($538) L84 Fuelie. The rest is history.

C2 Corvettes / Corvette History / Grand Sport Corvette / Videos - C2 Corvettes

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Bill Tower’s 40th Anniversary of Grand Sport #005 Ownership Celebration – VIDEOS

Milestone dates only happen once. In September 2018 I was talking with former Corvette development engineers Bill Tower and said to him, “Bill, do you realize that this December it will be 40 years since you bought your Grand Sport?” Bill sputtered a little and said, “Oh man, now you’re really making me feel old!” I said, “Ain’t we all, Bill!” and we both had a good laugh. Then I said, “You should have a party, or something, Bill.”

Bill thought about it and contacted his friend, Steve Hurley, owner of Stingray Chevrolet (a GREAT name for a Chevy dealership!), and Steve said, “Let’s do it here at the dealership. The 25-foot Christmas tree will be up and we’ll make it great!”

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