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

C4: Scientific Corvettes

Hey, what happened to 1983? What happened was that the change from the previous-generation Corvette to the new one was so radical that it took a while to get the Bowling Green plant up and running. So while 43 preproduction “1983″ C4 Corvettes were built, none of these was ever sold to the general public and only one of them survives today. Instead, in March of ’83, Chevrolet began selling the 1984 Corvette and it was the most dramatically different Corvette since the ’63 Sting Ray. Read More

C3 Corvettes: The Mako Shark

Based on the Mako Shark II show car designed by Larry Shinoda and displayed during 1965, the third-generation Corvette’s styling was flamboyant in its overall shape but restrained in its details. The fenders seemed almost to burst over the tires, but there were no phony scoops or extraneous chrome anywhere on the car. The nose seemed to almost be plowing into the ground and used pop-up headlights to keep things sleek. Read More