The Complete Book of Corvette - Hardcover

Mueller, Mike

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0760326738 ISBN 13: 9780760326732

Publisher: Motorbooks, 2006

Synopsis

Chevrolet's Corvette is the most iconic, and some would say only, sports car built in America. This lavishly illustrated work conducts readers through the Corvettes fifty-plus years of continuous production, a rich and varied history unmatched in the automotive world. An exhaustive review of six generations of American high performance, from the first 6-cylinder Vette of 1953 through today's fire-breathing, world-beating C6, The Complete Book of Corvette offers an in-depth look at the prototypes and experimental models, the anniversary and pace cars, and the specialty packages for street and competition driving that have made the Corvette a living automotive legend for more than half a century. With extensive details, specs, and photographic coverage, this book is the ultimate resource on Americas sports car. Officially licensed with Chevrolet and including many never-before-published photographs from the car maker's archives.

About this title

About the Author

Mike Mueller has worked as a freelance automotive photojournalist since 1991. A lifetime car enthusiast, Mueller has written and photographed more than 25 automotive and truck history books and contributed photography to at least that many more. Among his long list of titles are Motorbooks' Chevy Chevelle 50 Years, The Complete Book of Corvette, The Complete Book of Classic Dodge and Plymouth Muscle, and The Complete Book of Ford Mustang.

From the Back Cover

This is a Corvette book like no other Corvette book. Many celebrate the most powerful and most attractive Corvette models; few list the less famous, the prototypes, and the racers. Licensed with General Motors and illustrated from GM s design archives, The Complete Book of Corvette showcases in photos, text, and technical specifications all the models since 1953: if it happened, it is here.

The Chevrolet Corvette is the most iconic?some would say only?sports car built in America. This lavishly illustrated work details the Corvette s 50-plus years of continuous production?a rich and varied history unmatched in the automotive world. An exhaustive review of six generations of American high performance, from the first six-cylinder Vette of 1953 through today s fire-breathing, world-beating C6, The Complete Book of Corvette offers an in-depth look at the prototypes and experimental models, the anniversary and pace cars, and the specialty packages for street and competition driving that have made the Corvette a living automotive legend for more than half a century. With extensive details, specifications, and photographic coverage, this book is the ultimate resource on America s favorite sports car.

From the Inside Flap

In 2003, Chevrolet s Corvette celebrated its 50th birthday by barely slowing down to blow out the candles. Why dilly-dally when even better times lay ahead? Two years later, Chief Engineer David Hill s team took what was already America s supreme performance machine and transformed it into one of the planet s greatest. Standard performance now qualified as downright surreal: 0?60 in 4.2 seconds and a top end of 186 miles per hour.

What a long, strange trip it s been. Nearly cancelled a few years after its birth, rumored near death or dilution more than one time since, Chevy s fantastic, plastic two-seater is rolling on more confidently than ever, this after six distinct generations of development. Code names for those generations came into vogue during the radically redesigned 1997 Corvette s long haul to market after Chevrolet people let it be known that this all-new platform was identified in-house by the simple ?C5 designation. It was only logical to retroactively label previous generations accordingly: Original solid-axle models built from 1953 to 1962 made up the C1 group; the C2 family consisted of the classic Sting Rays of 1963 to 1967; the C3 era spanned from 1968 to 1982; and the C4 ran from 1984 to 1996. (Chevrolet skipped the 1983 model year, as fourth-generation development work ran past its deadline.)

The fifth-generation Corvette was initially targeted for introduction in August 1992, just in time to help commemorate the Corvette s 40th anniversary. But various pitfalls pushed that debut back repeatedly, first for the 1994 model year, then 1995. When all was said and done, the long-awaited C5 officially appeared in January 1997. The latest rendition, the expectedly tabbed C6, followed eight years later to take the Corvette legacy to all-new heights.

Edition details

• Publisher: Motorbooks
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0760326738
• ISBN 13: 9780760326732
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352