On any short list of America’s favorite cars in the last half century is the Chevrolet Corvette. The Corvette holds a unique place at the center of U.S. car culture and this year General Motors Corp., Chevrolet’s parent, is unveiling its first new version of the American icon in 13 years.
In the works for nearly a decade, the new Corvette is lighter, faster and stronger than the vehicle it replaces. It’s also rounder and has been redone to appeal to more contemporary automotive tastes so it’s easier to shift, easier to get into and out of, and comes with more space for suitcases, golf clubs or groceries, GM officials say.
“It is the American performance car,” says Dick Almond, the brand manager of Corvettes. The ’97 Corvette’s zero-to-60 time is 4.72 seconds with the 6-speed manual transmission, and only a shade slower–5.05 seconds–with the automatic, making it the fastest Corvette ever. And Chevrolet engineers proudly note the 1997 ‘Vette has gone 175 miles per hour, which is 15 m.p.h. faster than its predecessor.
The new Corvette also has the lowest aerodynamic co-efficient of drag at .29 of any car built by GM and can pull one full g of gravity as it goes through circles on a skid pad without slipping sideways. It also boasts one of the most powerful engines seen in a car in nearly two decades, a 5.7-liter, overhead-cam pushrod aluminum engine that will produce 345 horsepower and 5,600 foot-pounds of torque.
“The Corvette is the one remaining American-built sports car that has never strayed from its heritage,” says John Middlebrook, general manager of GM’s Chevrolet Division.
The raw power of the new ‘Vette, however, has been mated to a sophisticated chassis that is stiffer and better able to cope with the car’s muscles than the fourth-generation Corvette, which had a well-earned reputation for being a brute.
The new chassis eliminates the noise and shimmies that tended to detract from the car’s performance. “The changes to the car predominately revolve around the structure,” says Almond.
While the new, stiffer structure will enhance the car’s handling and its reputation as one of the world’s top sports, it also figures into other fundamental changes that GM ultimately hopes will expand the car’s appeal in the automotive market, says Almond.
James Shefter, a free-lance writer from California who chronicles the development of the fifth generation Corvette in his new book “All Corvettes Are Red,” says the new ‘Vette came very close to being a casualty of GM’s cost-cutters in 1992.
“It literally was killed one weekend and resurrected five days later,” he says. Even after the program was revived, it remained endangered and the model that was supposed to appear in 1993 became a 1994 and finally a 1997, notes Shefter, who adds he was surprised when production started as scheduled in September.
“It’s General Motors’ crown jewel,” says Shefter, who credits former Chevrolet general manager Jim Perkins’ willingness to put his job on the line at a couple of critical points in the early 1990s with keeping the Corvette alive.
The near-death experience and the declining popularity of sports cars, however, forced GM’s engineers, designers and marketing experts to expand the car’s appeal beyond the spirited but limited audience for pure, old-fashioned American muscle.
“The whole segment is pretty small,” says Michael Robinet of CSM Forecasting in Farmington Hills, Mich., though its ranks include such high-profile automobiles as the Porsche 911, Dodge Viper, Toyota Supra, Acura NSX and Mitsubishi 3000 GT.
Thus the new Corvette was designed to be more refined and user-friendly, according to Almond.
“You don’t have to climb in and climb out anymore,” says Almond, who notes the car’s cockpit offers more head, leg and shoulder room.
In addition, the changes in the car’s basic structure helped open cargo space so the trunk can carry two sets of golf clubs, and the liftover has been shortened to make the trunk easier to load.
Visibility has been improved so the driver now sees 18 more feet of road just beyond the nose of the car. That area had been obscured in the fourth generation Corvette.
The changes have made the car more practical without sacrificing its essential character, Almond says.
Almond and other Chevrolet officials, however, admit they hope the new Corvette, priced aft $38,060, will appeal to more women and do well overseas.
The rounded, softer exterior is what’s expected to lure more women, Almond adds. “It doesn’t have the heavy macho feel,” says Almond. More than three-quarters of existing Corvettes are owned by males, but GM expects the mix of buyers to shift to about two-thirds male and one-third female as the marketing plan unfolds.
The car also has several other new features including a redesigned braking system and new tighter steering and suspension systems custom- adjusted on each car during production at the GM assembly plant in Bowling Green, Ky. The car’s springs also are of a new, patented design and brake rotors have been enlarged.
Dave Hill, the Corvette’s vehicle line executive, says the 1997 Corvette has more new parts in it than the original Corvette, which was assembled by GM’s engineers from the company’s parts inventory.
Other new features include an ignition switch that has been moved from the steering column to the dashboard, and parking brake lever that is integrated into the center console.
But the Corvette doesn’t shun its heritage, incorporating several touches from earlier generations, such as the headlights.
More than half of the 1.1 million Corvettes built in the last 43 years still exist, and a museum near the assembly plant in Bowling Green is dedicated to the car’s rich history.
The first Corvette was conceived in the early 1950s, when a fleet of flashy European roadsters built by Jaguar and MG began showing up on American roads.
Harley Earl, GM’s legendary design chief, teamed up with the talented Ed Cole, who later became GM president, and produced the first generation design for the two-seat Corvette.
The trademark fiberglass body was used on the first car because the engineers found it was easier to shape and easier to build the tooling fixtures needed to get the car into production quickly.
The car went through its first major exterior redesign for the 1963 model year, when the Sting Ray appeared. Five years later, GM designers came back with the third design with its round lines, a removable rear window, T-top and popup headlamps.
The third generation stayed in production for almost 15 years, undergoing only minor exterior changes.
New technology, from new engines, radiators bumpers and suspension, were offered as improvements in the car’s long run, which spanned one of the most turbulent eras in recent automotive history as GM and the other carmakers coped with new environmental and safety regulations as well as two oil shocks.
The fourth generation Corvette bowed in April 1983 as a 1984 model and, like its predecessors, was a hit right from the start.
GM built more than 500,000 of the fourth generation cars, making it the most popular of the first four models.
The car’s unique aerodynamic design and new interior with analog and digital displays were widely copied.
Again Chevrolet bolstered the car’s appeal by adding new features such as anti-lock brakes and one of the first electronic anti-theft systems as well as fine-tuning the 5.7-liter, V-8 that served as the standard powerplant.
GM set out to redesign this vehicle in 1988 even as it was prepared to introduce the first of the ZR-1 packages that helped set the fourth generation Corvette apart, but a lack of money stopped those efforts.
HOW CORVETTE HAS STOOD THE TEST OF TIME
With an all-new ’97 model, here’s a look at 44 years of Corvettes:
1953: America’s sports car, a two-seater with a fiberglass body comes in “polo white” and with two options–an AM radio and a heater.
1954: Slightly revised Corvette is available to the public, but nearly half of the 3,640 cars produced go unsold. Production moves to St. Louis.
1956: Redesigned Corvette is unveiled. It features exposed headlamps, sculptured side coves and rollup windows. The first Corvettes had lift-out windows that stored in the trunk.
1957: Fuel injection, an innovation that didn’t come to other cars for years, is available in the Corvette.
1963: Corvette adopts the “Sting Ray” name, based on a 1959 concept car. Another restyling brings concealed rollover headlamps, arched fenders and a streamlined appearance. The first coupe is offered.
1965: Four-wheel disc brakes, another innovation years away from common use, become available. A 396-cubic-inch “big block” V-8 is an option that requires a special hood.
1971: All engines are designed to run on unleaded fuel.
1975: Last convertible until 1986.
1977: Cruise control becomes available.
1978: The 25th anniversary model, featuring the fastback body, paces the Indianapolis 500.
1981: Corvette gets its own assembly plant in Bowling Green, Ky.
1984: Fourth-generation Corvette, a lower and shorter model powered by a 5.7-liter V-8, debuts.
1986: Return of the convertible earns Corvette its second turn as Indy pace car. Four-wheel anti-lock brakes become standard, along with a computerized anti-theft system.
1990: Introduction of ZR1 engine option featuring all-aluminum, 5.7-liter, 375-horsepower, 32-valve V-8.
1992: Millionth Corvette produced.
1993: Corvette’s 40th anniversary.
1994: National Corvette Museum opens in Bowling Green, Ky.
1995: Corvette paces Indy for the third time.
1997: Fifth-generation Corvette bows.
Source: Knight-Ridder Tribune.
