Corvette Pace Cars – The First Indy 500 Corvette Pace Car

Dateline: 9.19.11
From the Archives of  The Illustrated Corvette Series

The Corvette’s tough-guy legend is founded on racing and performance. By the mid-to-late ‘70s, Corvette high-performance and racing efforts were in the pits. Power was down, weight was up, and Porsches were eating the Corvette’s lunch at the race track. The announcement that the 25th anniversary Corvette would also be the pace car at the ’78 Indy 500, looked like the highlight of the decade for Corvette fans. But controversy was in the mix right from the beginning.

Initially, it looked like a triple-play for Chevrolet. First, the ’78 Corvette received a sleek new fastback roof that completed the overall redesign started in ’73 with the soft bumper covers. Second, all Corvettes wore the 25th Anniversary badges. And third, three special Corvettes would serve as the pace cars at the ’78 Indy 500, and replicas would be available. Then the details set in.

The initial proposal was that there would be 300 pace car replicas, the same number as the ’53 production run. The car would have a two-tone silver paint (for the silver anniversary), red pin striping, and special Goodyear tires with “CORVETTE” sidewall lettering. Then the plan was to make 2,500 replicas, 100 for each year of production. But there were 6,200 dealers that all wanted at least one replica, so production went up to 6,502 units. Then two key elements were changed. The special “CORVETTE” tires were deemed too expensive, and paint was changed to sliver and black.

Then there was the price issue. The RPO 1YZ8778 package cost $4,302, on top of the $9,351 base price – a 46-percent premium! Here’s what came with the option. The exterior had special two-tone paint and pin striping, unique front and rear spoilers, glass roof panels, sport mirrors, and red pin stripped aluminum wheels on P225/60R15 tires. The interior came with power windows and door locks, tilt-telescopic steering column, convenience group, silver thin-shell seats, AM/FM with a CB radio or an 8-track tape player, dual rear speakers, and a power antenna. The $525 L82 engine rated at 220-hp was not part of the package.

The controversy started right on the showroom floor. For a premium collectible,” quality was not good. On many of the cars, fender seams and slight bubbles were clearly visible. The black upper body paint only made the defects look worse. Then there were the opportunistic dealers who tacked on surcharges that bumped the price up to between $15,000 to $22,000. Continue reading “Corvette Pace Cars – The First Indy 500 Corvette Pace Car”

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!!! CorvetteReport.com’s NEW “Vette Videos” Feature!!!

Dateline: 8.14.11
Corvette videos for every generation and Corvette racing lovers too!

First, I have to thank my wife and business partner, Karen, for dragging me away from my drawing board and into the world of blogging. We launched our first post on CorvetteReport.com on August 17, 2009 – nearly two years ago. For the longest time, I would add a post every now and then, sometimes going weeks or months in between posts. But the more I read and studied the subject of blogging, I could not escape the fact that for a blog to get a lot of traffic, you have to post several times a week – preferably daily.

So, last Spring I got on the stick and started posting every few days and by mid-June, just about every day. I also studied other car blogs to research what I like and what I don’t like. I found three blogs that I liked because they are constantly being updated. And because there’s always something new and fresh, I visit Keith Cornett’s CorvetteBlogger.com, Marty Schorr’s CarGuyChronicles.com, and Hemmings Blog EVERY day. Why? Because they’re FUN! To quote Forrest Gump, “It’s like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.”

Last week was “Vette Videos” week. I asked myself, “How could I make CorvetteReport.com better and more fun?” Add videos! DUGH! So over the last week, I have been hammering away at my Mac’s keyboard filling up the eight video sections with fun Vette videos. I’m sure you’ll enjoy them as much as I did researching, writing, and stitching together the 25 video posts to get our new feature loaded up.

At the top of the page in the red bar, look for the third drop down that says, “VETTE VIDEOS.” When you click the link, the drop down will give you eight choices – C1 Vette Videos, C2 Vette Videos, C3 Vette Videos, C4 Vette Videos, C5 Vette Videos, C6 Vette Videos, C7 Vette Videos, plus Corvette Racing Videos. “Vette Videos” will be a regular feature at CorvetteReport.com, along with our “This day in Corvette history” feature titled, “Corvette Timeline Tales.” Continue reading “SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!!! CorvetteReport.com’s NEW “Vette Videos” Feature!!!”