C5 Corvettes: World Beater

The fifth-generation Corvette was the most wholly new Corvette since the ’53. Not even the engine carried over from the C4, and the entire concept of how the car was built changed.

Unlike every previous Corvette that bolted its transmission directly behind the engine, the 1997 version split the transmission off and placed it in the back of the car between the rear wheels where its weight could be used to offset that of the engine in the front. This transaxle arrangement had been used before on cars like the Porsche 928, but it was a radical departure for the Corvette. Read More