Complete Book of Corvette: Every Model Since 1953 - Hardcover

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.

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.