Corvette (pronounced kawr-vet)
(1) In
historic admiralty use, a flush-decked warship of the seventeenth &
eighteenth centuries having a single tier of guns and one size down from a frigate;
in the US Navy called a sloop of war (usually truncated to sloop).
(2) In
current Admiralty use, a lightly armed and armored blue-water (ocean-going as opposed to white-water (coastal) or brown-water (internal waterways) warship, one size
down from a frigate and capable of trans-oceanic duty.
(3) A
GRP-bodied (glass reinforced plastic, soon better known in the US as "fiberglass") sports car produced in the US since 1953 by GM's (General Motors) Chevrolet division.
1630–1640:
From the French, from the Middle French corvette (a small, fast frigate), from the Middle Dutch corfer, korver, corver (pursuit boat), the construct on the model of corf (fishing boat (literally “basket”)) + -ette (the diminutive suffix) or the Middle Low German korf (small
boat; literally “basket”). The source of
both was the Latin corbis (basket) and, despite there existing also in Latin
the corbita (navis) (slow-sailing ship of burden, grain ship), again from
corbis, the relationship between this word and the later European forms is disputed. The suffix –ette was from the Middle English -ette, a borrowing from the Old French -ette, from the Latin -itta, the feminine form of -ittus.
It was used to form nouns meaning a smaller form of something. The Italian corvette & the Spanish
corbeta are French loan-words, the German equivalent being korvette. The obsolete alternative spelling was corvet. Corvette
is a noun; the noun plural is corvettes.
The nouns & verbs corvetted & corvetting are archaic related
forms of corvet (an archaic form of curvet (used in zoology to describe various
movements)).
Naval
Battle between the French corvette La Bayonnaise and the British frigate HMS
L'Embuscade, 14 December 1798, by Jean Francois Hue (1751-1823).
Historically,
the term corvette, as applied to warships by various navies, can be misleading,
the vessels varying greatly in size, displacement, armament and suitability, making some mor suitable than others for use on the high seas (ie the so-called "blue water"). As a general
principle, a corvette was understood to be a warship larger than a sloop, smaller
than a frigate and with fewer and sometimes smaller-bore guns than the latter,
always arrayed on a single deck. Although envisaged originally as a blue-water ship, they were allocated mostly to
costal duties (ie "white water") or the range of activities smaller vessels fulfilled in a fleet
support role. In the manner of military
mission creep, overlap emerged and in some navies there were occasions when
newer corvettes were at least as large and well-gunned as some frigates although
the Royal Navy tended to maintain the distinctions, finding the smaller ships a
useful addition in the seventeenth century, their fast build rate affording the
Admiralty the means quickly to augment the reach and firepower of a fleet. To the British Admiralty, they anyway were still called sloops
and it wasn’t until the 1830s the first vessels designated corvettes left UK
shipyards. It seems to have been the
French Navy which first described the “big sloops” as corvettes but, whether by
strategic design or in an attempt to confound the espionage activities of
opponents, by the late eighteenth century, French naval architects designing corvettes the British would have defined as frigates.
HMCS
Bowmanville (K 493), Royal Canadian Navy Corvette of WWII.
Because of the nature
of sea battles prior to World War II (1939-1945), ships the size of the corvette
tended to be neglected, the interest in smaller warships centred on the ever
smaller torpedo boats and the two work-horses of the fleets, the frigate and destroyer, both of which were better suited to support cruisers patrolling
the trade routes of the empire and the battleships of the high-seas fleets. What saw a revival of interest was the
war-time need to protect the trans-Atlantic and Arctic Sea convoys. While the small corvettes, marginal in
blue-water conditions, weren’t ideal for the role, they could be produced
quickly and cheaply and, as a war-time necessity, were pressed into service as
a stop-gap until more destroyers became available. An additional factor was their small size which
meant they could be built in many of the small, civilian shipyards which would
have lacked the capacity to construct a frigate, let alone a destroyer. Since the war, corvette has as a designation essentially become extinct but in many navies there have long been in service frigates and fast
patrol boats which correspond in size with the
traditional WWII corvette.
The early Chevrolet Corvettes, C1, C2 & C3
By 1952, the success in the US of MG and Jaguar had made it clear to
Chevrolet that demand existed for sports cars and the market spread across a
wide price band so with the then novel GRP offering the possibility of producing
relatively low volumes of cars with complex curves without the need for expensive
tooling or a workforce of craftsmen to shape them, a prototype was prepared for
display at GM's 1953 Motorama show.
Despite the perception among some it was the positive response of the Motorama
audience which convinced GM’s management to approve production, the project had
already be signed-off but the enthusiastic reaction certainly encouraged
Chevrolet to bring the Corvette to market as soon as possible. The name Corvette was chosen in the hope of establishing a connection with the light, nimble naval vessels and indisputably the modern lines made the essentially pre-war MGs look as archaic as they were and even the Jaguar XK120 was now obviously an evolution of the way sports cars might have looked by 1945 had the war not postponed progress.
That haste however brought its own, unique challenges. In 1953, Chevrolet had no experience of
large-scale production of GRP-bodied cars but neither did anybody else,
GM really was being innovative. The
decision was therefore taken to build a batch of three-hundred identical copies, the
rationale being the workers would be able to perfect the assembly techniques
involved in bolting and gluing together the forty-six GRP pieces molded by an outside contractor. Thus, by a process of trial and error, were assembled three hundred white
Corvettes with red interiors, a modest beginning but the sales performance was
less impressive still, fewer than two-hundred finding buyers, mainly because the
rate of production was erratic and with so few cars available for the whole
country, dealers weren’t encouraged to take orders; uncertainty surrounded the programme
for the whole year. Seldom has GM made
so little attempt actually to sell a car, preferring to use the available stock
for travelling display purposes, tantalizing those who wanted one so they would
be ready to spend when mass-production started.
The first Corvettes had been produced on a small assembly line in
Flint, Michigan to allow processes closely to be observed & optimized but by late
1953, Chevrolet was ready for high-volume runs, moving production to a plant in
Saint Louis, Missouri with the capacity to make ten-thousand a year. In anticipation of the Corvette being a
regular-production model, three additional colors (black, red, and blue) were
offered and the black soft-top was replaced by one finished in tan. However, despite the enhancements, demand
proved sluggish and fewer than four-thousand were sold in 1954 and there were
reasons. In 1961, Jaguar would stun the
world with its new sports car, powered by a triple-carburetor 3.8 litre straight-six
but in 1953, although Chevrolet’s Corvette boasted the same specification and a
much admired body, it wasn’t anything like the sensation the E-type would be at
Geneva. The 1954 Corvette had gained a revised
camshaft which increased power by 5 horsepower (HP), an output respectable by
the standards of the time but the only transmission available was the
Powerglide, a two speed automatic which for robustness and reliability matched
the Blue Flame six-cylinder engine (an updated version of the pre-war "Stovebolt") to which it was attached but neither
exhibited the dynamic qualities which had come to be expected from a sports car
although owners would have to get used to it: the Powerglide would be the only
automatic transmission offered in a Corvette until 1968. In truth, the Corvette was betwixt &
between; not quite a sports car yet lacking the creature comforts to appeal to
those wanting a relaxed GT (grand-tourer).
1954 Corvette.
One intriguing
element on the C1 Corvette was the use of protrusions to house the taillights. When in 1953 the Corvette was released, the
fins with which US cars of the era were to become so associated had been around
for a few year but hadn’t yet grown (variously upwards & outwards) to the
absurd proportions they would later assume and there was nothing unusual in
taillights being housed in some construction integrated with the bodywork; once
just “bolted-on” lens, taillights had become a design element. What appeared on the early Corvettes are not
really fins and are most analogous with the streamlined nacelles which appeared
on contemporary aircraft as enclosures for jet engines; that aspect of aviation
architecture would for years be a popular motif for the taillight stylists (by
then a highly valued member of the team).
Despite that, the accepted term describing the sculptural extensions is “taillight
pod”. Interestingly, in some of the
internal corporate memos the term “nacelle” was used but “pod” became the
accepted standard.
1954 Corvette taillight (left) in pod with finlets.
The pair of
small blades adorning the upper surface (although sometimes referred to as “finettes”)
were in the documents of the GM Design Studio called “taillight bezels” or “ornamental
finlets” and, modest as they were, the C1 Corvette probably was the first production car
with “four fins”. Later that would
change as GM and Chrysler in particular embarked on a process of “finflation”
and those on the Corvette were at least in a similar aspect ratio to those
which appeared on actual jet engine nacelles where they were used to direct
airflow in the desired direction. On the
Corvette, there would have been a slight aerodynamic effect (for better or
worse) but the finlets were essentially decorative as GM’s memos indicated and similar
additions even appeared on some dagmars (such as the 1954 Buicks). The Corvette’s designers clearly though the
moment had passed for when the restyled 1956 range was released, the pods had
been banished, never to return.
1959 Pontiac Bonneville Convertible (left) and 1959 Pontiac Catalina Convertible
(right). Pontiac used the elongation of the elliptical taillights as a marker of a model's place in the divisional hierarchy.
On the Corvette, the “taillight
pod” and “ornamental finlets” combo didn’t make it into the 1956 range but the
idea clearly became lodged somewhere in the GM collective memory because, on a
grander scale, both were reprised on the 1959 Pontiacs; longer, higher and
wider than the 1953 original, the look might have attracted more publicity had
GM’s take on fins that year not been dominated by the Cadillac with the “twin
bullet taillights” and the Chevrolet’s “bat wings”. Compared with those extravagances, what
Pontiac did was almost subtle and anyway overshadowed by two of the division’s
more enduring debuts, the “split grill” and “year of the wide-track” campaign,
the former coming and going, the latter lasting for more than a decade. In a harbinger of what was to come (and
ultimately doom Pontiac), all five GM divisions built their cars using the
single platform of the GM B-Body and it was remarkable the stylists were able
to achieve noticeably different appearances despite sharing the same structural
core.
Chevrolet in 1955 solved the problem of the Corvette’s performance deficit by slotting in the new 265 cubic inch (4.3-litre) V-8 which would later
come to be called the small-block and become a corporate stable, appearing over the decades by the million in
various forms in just about every Chevrolet and some models from other divisions (though this corporate sharing would not be without controversy). Rated
now at 195 HP which felt more convincing than the previous year’s 155,
it was offered also with a three-speed manual transmission so it could run
with the Jaguars, Mercedes-Benz and Ferraris on both road and track; the Corvette had become a sports car and while not cheap, compared with the competition, it was conspicuously good value. Most 1955 Corvette V8s were fitted with the two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission but some "special" orders were fulfilled by using the three-speed manual although the estimates of the numbers vary between 19 and 80; the manual option seems never to have appeared in the sales literature. Rarely has an option been as well-received and instantly successful as the V8 for the 1955 Corvette and at US$135 it was so compelling that upon it appearing on the list, of the 700 built for the 1955 season, only seven customers opted for the Blue Flame six.
1984 Pontiac Fiero 2M4.
In the mid-1970s it was feared something like this may be the future of the Corvette. At the time, some in the press and Congress were claiming a report by the US CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) said the world would "run out of oil" by 1983; the CIA said nothing like that but some politicians and journalists like an eye-grabbing headline. What the CIA had done was an analysis using conventional economic models and that found that significant "supply & demand imbalances" were likely to exist by the mid-1990s unless the industry undertook the required changes in exploration and production. This the industry did rather too well because by 1984 there was a global "oil glut" which didn't please everyone but Corvette owners certainly welcomed the lower gas (petrol) price.
It was in
July 2019 the eighth generation (C8) was launched in a ceremony at Cape Canaveral’s
Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Unlike
most of the launches staged there, the machines stayed on the ground but they
were anyway notable because for the first time since its introduction in 1953,
the Corvette was mid-engined and although such things were no longer the novel escapees
from the race tracks they’d appeared in the 1960s, the C8 was GM’s first such
machine since the Pontiac Fiero (1984-1988).
An intriguing concept (a small, economical, two-seat commuter car with
styling cues from Fiat & Lancia sports cars), it proved ill-fated because
it was unusually prone to spontaneous combustion, an unfortunate quality which
led to many transposing the “e” & “r” to dub it the “Fireo”. In its afterlife the Fiero found a niche as a
platform for “body kits” which transformed it into something intended to resemble
a Lamborghini Countach (1974-1990) or a Ferrari (usually the 208/308 GTB (1975-1985) or 328 GTB (1985-1989)) and
while some were quite well executed many were not, a similar disclaimer
extending to the many which inevitably were repowered by a variety of (usually
Chevrolet) V8 engines. Unlike the Fiero,
the C8 can be ordered as sports car or supercar; it’s a matter just of ticking
the option boxes.
1955 Corvette V8 badge.
So with the
engine moved amidships, the C8 was a major event in the Corvette lineage but
arguably the most significant change came in 1955 with the introduction of
the V8 engine, the presence of which has since defined the breed, out-lasting
pre-oil crisis flirtations with the Wankel rotary and heretical thoughts of
four cylinders during the troubled 1970s.
One stylistic curiosity of 1955 Corvettes with the optional V8 was that
visually, they were almost indistinguishable from the version with the Blue
Flame six which, uniquely that year, ran in parallel. The restraint was untypical in the
industry at a time when the accepted practice was to adorn exteriors and
interiors with (often chrome-plated) markers of difference, assuring those
watching a more expensive version had been bought. With the 1955 Corvette, literally the only obvious
visual difference was an exaggerated “V” (in anodized bronze), overlaid atop the “Corvette”
script which sat on the flanks behind the front wheel. The subtlety was very much in the European
tradition; witness the later Mercedes-Benz W109 (1965-1972) where despite costing
more than three times as much, the 300 SEL 6.3 was distinguishable from the 280
SEL only by a small “6.3” badge on the trunk (boot) lid. Bling would come later for the Germans.
The response of (literally) 99% of buyers had convinced Chevrolet where the future lay; for 1956 the Corvette became exclusively V8-powered,
a specification by 2026 still not deviated from (although auxiliary electric motors would in the next century appear). To emphasize the dual role the car now plausibly could fulfil, the
Powerglide became optional and revisions to the engine meant power was up to 210
HP although for those who wanted more, a dual four-barrel carburetor
setup could be specified which raised that to 225. Still made from GRP, the revised styling hinted
at some influence from the Mercedes-Benz 300SL (W198, 1954-1963) but had practical
improvements as well, external door handles appearing and conventional side windows replaced the fiddly removable curtains, a civilizing addition some British
roadsters wouldn’t acquire until well into the next decade. There was also the indication Chevrolet did take seriously the dual role for in addition to the Powerglide remaining
available, buyers could now specify a power-operated soft top and internal company documents noted the appeal of this feature "to women", a target market even then. Whether it was sports car or GT was now up to the customer.
Jaguar E-Type advertising copy, 1971.
Chevrolet's experience in finding the six-cylinder Corvette had limited appeal once their V8 became available was in 1971 reprised across the Atlantic when Jaguar released the Series 3 E-Type (sometimes known in the US as XKE). Jaguar's V12 project had a long gestation and by the time eventually it entered production, the 420G (1961-1970 and known originally as the Mark X) which had been intended as its first recipient, had been retired. The task of engineering the much smaller XJ (introduced in 1968) to house the V12 was absorbing much energy so it was the E-Type in which the new engine was first used. Jaguar made the effort to prepare the new S3 E-Type to use both the long-running, 4.2 litre (258 cubic inch) XK straight-six and the 5.3 litre (326 cubic inch) V12, including printing promotional material, even glossy, full-color, multi-lingual brochures.
Jaguar E-Type advertising copy, 1971.
However, before series production began, the decision was taken to offer the S3 only with the V12 and although there are tales of six XK-engined prototypes having been built, the Jaguar-Daimler Historic Trust insists the true number was four (2 roadsters & 2 coupés with one right hand drive (RHD) and one left hand drive (LHD) version of each); the LHD coupé with a manual transmission survived although when offered at auction in England, its rarity (genuinely it is unique) didn't attract a premium as it sold for a price little different from what might be expected for a V12 in the same condition. By 1974, when the effects of the spike in the price of oil began to affect demand for engines as thirsty as the V12, the E-Type was in its last days so the company made no attempt to resurrect one with the smaller engine, unlike Mercedes-Benz which quickly made available in the R107 roadster and C107 coupé the 2.7 litre (168 cubic inch) six as an alternative to the 3.5 (214 cubic inch) & 4.5 (276 cubic inch) V8s. Although it couldn't at the time have been predicted, the R107 in both six & eight cylinder form remained available until 1989 so the efforts taken during the first oil shock proved worthwhile. It wouldn't be until 1983 Jaguar offered the XJS (1975-1996 and (sort of) the E-Type's replacement) with a six-cylinder engine and, remarkably, the XJS would enjoy a longer life even than the R107, the last not leaving the factory until 1996.
In 1957, things started to get really serious, a four-speed manual
transmission was added, the V8 was bored out to 283 cubic inches (4.6 liters) which
increased power and, in an exotic touch which matched the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, Rochester mechanical fuel-injection was an (expensive) option, allowing the Corvette
to boast an engine with one HP per cubic inch, something in the past
achieved only by the big dual-quad Chrysler Hemis, offered only in heavyweight machines which, although fast, were no sports cars, heavy cruisers rather than corvettes. Unlike the electronic fuel-injection systems others flirted with in the era, Rochester's mechanical system proved reliable although it did demand well-trained mechanics to ensure it remained in tune.
1958
Corvette.A noted change for 1958 was the tachometer moving from the centre of
the dashboard to a place directly in from to the driver, probably a wise move
given the propensity of the fuel-injected engine to high-speed and output
continued to rise, by 1960 315 HP would be generated by the top
option. One big styling trend in 1957
had been the quad headlamps allowed states relaxed their lighting regulations and these were added, unhappily according to some, to the Corvette for
1958. However, even many of those of those who admired the four-eyed look thought the lashings of chrome a bit much. Chrome was quite a thing in Detroit by 1958
and De Sotos, Lincolns, Buicks and such were displaying their shiny splendour but
it probably didn’t suit the Corvette quite so well which was unfortunate given it was adorned with much, even the headlight bezels getting a coating. A change of management at the top of GM's styling studio ensured 1958 was peak-chrome for the roadster; cars from other divisions would for some time continue to drip the stuff but the Corvette would be notably more restrained.
Although the changes since 1963 had been many, the Corvette was still
in its first generation but the 1962 model would be the end of the line. The front end had earlier been revised from
its chromed origin and in 1961 a redesigned rear arrived which saw the debut of
the quad-taillight design which would for decades remain a distinctive feature. 1962 saw the introduction of a
327 cubic-inch (5.3 litre) V8, the fuel-injected version now up to 360
HP. The C2 would be the last to include a trunk (boot) lid until the release for the C5 for the 1998 season, access to the storage area in the "lidless" era being a reach behind the seats. Rear-deck mounted luggage racks became a popular option and one which to this day remains polarizing.
1963
Corvette Coupe. This was one of GM's official publicity stills and one can see why the decision was taken not to include a trunk lid but the absence enhanced structural integrity and it was this Chevrolet chose to emphasize.
For
1963, unusually, the big news wasn’t what was under the hood (bonnet). The 327 V8 was carried over from 1962 but,
other than the drive-train, it was a new car (later referred to as the C2, the
1953-1962 models retrospectively dubbed C1), offered for the first time as
a coupe as well as the traditional convertible and there was a revised frame
which included independent rear suspension, at the time a rarity on US-built
vehicles. Officially, Chevrolet had no
involvement in racing but understood the Corvette’s appeal to those who did and
in 1963 offered Regular Production Option (RPO) Z06 (Special Performance
Equipment) which included the 360 HP (L84) fuel-injected 327 V8, a close-ratio
four-speed manual transmission, Positraction LSD (limited-slip differential), stiffer spring & shock absorbers, a thicker front anti-sway (anti-roll) bar
and a brake package consisting of HD (heavy-duty), finned aluminum drum brakes
with sintered metallic linings, a dual-circuit master cylinder, vacuum booster
and cooling ducts. Just 199 Z06 split-window coupes were built, a number which reflected not a planned production schedule but
the limited demand for a package which offered much to race drivers but made
the car less suitable for street use, added to which it added a hefty US$1,818.45
to the base-price of a coupe over the base coupe price of $4,252.00 (ie it
increased the price by 42%). The 1963
Z06s most sought by collectors are the 63 ordered with RPO N03, a fibreglass, 36.5-gallon
(30 Imperial gallon; 138 litre) fuel tank intended for endurance racers which
cost US$202.30; such machines can at auction now sell for over US$500,000 so
for an original owner the US$2,020.75 would have been a reasonable investment
although nothing like what would have been realized had in 1963 been invested in
a stock-index fund but who knew?
One quirk of the 1963 coupes was
the "split-window" design of the rear glass. After the release, it became a source of debate within Chevrolet and eventually, the "anti-split" faction prevailed, a single piece of glass in 1964 substituted which, of course, rendered
the 1963 cars instantly dated. As a
result, a small-scale industry sprung up offering owners the chance to update
their look, lest they be seen driving "last year's model" and that wasn't exclusively a '63 Corvette thing, the idea even having enjoyed corporate support. When the 1936 Ford V8 was introduced, so effective was the restyling that despite behind the cowl it being essentially identical to the 1935 model, the effect was something was which looked "all new". That was thought to create a marketing opportunity and in a novel exercise, the factory offered dealers a a kit containing all the front-clip sheet metal needed to make a '35 look like a '36. The marketing textbooks probably would suggest that was a bad idea because presumably it would reduce sales of new Fords but economic realities anyway made it a one-off venture: at US$213.28 plus a US$69.00 labor charge, the kit seemed compelling to few when a brand new 1936 Ford V8 could be bought for as little as US$510.00. Years after the "fake" 1964 Corvettes were created, the uniqueness of the split-window cars made them a a much prized collectable and another small-scale industry briefly flourished converting modified ones back and, whether true or urban myth, it’s said as many as 2% of the split-window coupes which now exist may be later models with a bit of judicious back-dating.
1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sports, Nassau Speed Week, December 1963. The additional apertures on the rear facia were not for taillights but air-extraction ports to prevent the panel acting like a "parachute" which not only reduced speed but also induced lift, creating instability. Note the single-piece rear window fitted to all three coupes.
One aborted C2 project was the Grand Sport (GS) Corvette, a competition oriented model (which raced sometimes with an all-aluminum 377 cubic inch (6.2 litre) version of the small-block V-8 (making a reputed 550 HP)) built with a structure which had been subject to an extensive weight-reduction programme. It had been intended to build a run of 125 (some sources say 100 in competition trim with a further 25 as "road" versions with creature comforts) in order to homologate it in certain racing categories but GM, still (unlike its competitors) taking seriously the need to make it appear it was maintaining the industry's agreed ban on participation in motorsport, cancelled the programme after five (three coupes and two roadsters) had been built; all survived and are now multi-million dollar collectibles, something which has inspired the creation of a number of clones. One quirk of the GS was the coupes were fitted with a one-piece rear window and so the three are the only 1963 Corvettes to leave the factory without the famous split-screen (which really was two separate pieces of glass). The very presence of the split screen was the subject of a well-documented squabble within Chevrolet and ultimately, the design team prevailed with a single piece of glass appearing for the 1964 coupes.
1965
Corvette 396 Convertible with
hard-top, side exhaust pipes and
Kelsey-Hayes cast aluminum wheels (still with knock-off hubs that year).
Although
the Corvette had gained powerful, fuel-injected engines and an effective
independent rear suspension, the drum brakes remained the package’s weak
link. In 1964 option J65 (US$53.80)
bundled the power assistance (as stand-alone option J50 retailing at US$43.05)
with sintered metallic linings for the brakes but while this improved the
retardation and especially the propensity for effectiveness fade under sustained
use, the combo couldn’t match what could be achieved with disk brakes. Still, the motoring press commended the option
and it persuaded 4,780 buyers to tick the box.
At a hefty US$629.50 however there was option J56, described as “Special
Sintered Metallic Brake Package” and that it was available only with a
fuel-injected engine, a four-speed transmission and a Positraction rear end was
an indication it was intended only for those who operated in “extreme conditions”
(ie on race tracks). Effective they
certainly were but, noisy and with high pedal pressures, they were not suitable
for street use and a scant 29 customers were tempted. In what was an overdue upgrade, Chevrolet made four-wheel disc
brakes standard for the 1965 model year although the drums remained available (as delete-option code J61) for
anyone who wished to save a few dollars. Those who opted to eschew the dramatic improvement in braking offered were probably specialists; because of internal friction the discs did
impose a (very slight) performance and economy reduction which was why drums
were long preferred on the NASCAR ovals where brakes are rarely applied and fractions of a second per lap can be the difference between winning and losing. Only 316 Corvette buyers chose to save the US$64.50 and the disks definitely were a good idea if the
newest engine was chosen. Although developed by Kelsey-Hayes, the brakes were manufactured for Chevrolet by Delco Moraine and included a pair of small drum brakes in the rear hubs to provide a parking brake, something difficult to engineer with disks. Kelsey-Hayes also produced the optional aluminium wheels but at US$322.80 the take-up rate was low and many C2 Corvettes now are fitted with modern reproductions of the originals; the same applies to the side exhaust-pipes (a new option for 1965 at US$134.50), many more Corvettes now so equipped than the 759 which in 1965 left the factory.
The distinctive "bent needles" were last used on the Corvette's instruments in 1964.
As a mid-year release in 1965, the big-block
396 cubic-inch (6.5 litre) V-8 became available and it was rated at 425 HP,
a figure few doubted after seeing the performance figures. Predictably, given the fuel-injected 327 was rated at 375 HP but cost US$538.00 against US$292.70 for the more muscular big-block, only 771 chose the former while 2157 opted for the 396 which must have seemed a bargain compared to the US$202.30 Chevrolet charged for the 36 (US) gallon (136 litre) fuel tank (available only for the coupe). This cost-breakdown must be considered in the context of the Corvette's base price (US$4106.00 for the convertible and US$4321.00 for the coupe) and the air-conditioning ordered by only 2423 buyers (9.7%); at US$421.00 it increased the invoice by some 10%). There were charms only the fuel-injected unit deliver but the customer is always right and before the year was out, the Rochester option was retired and it wouldn’t
be until 1982, in the age of the micro-chip, that Chevrolet would
again offer a fuel-injected Corvette.
Buyers clearly were convinced by the big-block idea but the sections of
the motoring press were ambivalent, Car & Driver's (C&D) review suggesting that while "...there
are many sports cars which really need more power, the Corvette isn’t
one of them." Unlike the chauvinistic English
motoring press which tended to be a bit one-eyed about things like Jaguars and Aston-Martins, there were many in the US motoring media who really didn’t approve of
American cars and wished they were more like Lancias. People should be careful what they wish for.
1967
Corvette L88 convertible with side exhaust pipes and Kelsey-Hayes cast aluminum wheels (with five-stud hubs that year).
Maybe even Chevrolet had moments of doubt after reading their copy of C&D and thought the 396
Corvette might have been a bit much because after providing cars for the press to
test, they issued a statement saying the 396 wouldn’t be available in the
Corvette after all but would be offered in the intermediate Chevelle as well as
the full-sized cars. The moment however quickly
passed, the 396 Corvette remaining on the books and by 1966 Chevrolet certainly agreed there was no substitute for cubic inches, the 396 replaced by a 427
cubic-inch (7.0 litre) iteration of the big-block. For 1966 it was still rated at 425 HP but in 1967, a triple carburetor option sat atop the top engine, bumping the number to 435. There was however another,
barely advertised and rarely discussed because of its unsuitability for street
use and this was the L88, conservatively rated at 430 HP but actually
developing between 540-560. Essentially
a road-going version of the 427 used in the (unlimited displacement FIA Group 7 sports-car) Can-Am race series, just 20 were sold in 1967, the survivors among the most sought-after Corvettes,
one selling at auction in 2014 for US$3.85 million.
By the 1960s it was common for hard-tops to be on the option list of a roadster (in the era there was even one company which briefly (and unsuccessfully) offered GRP versions for Detroit's full-size convertibles) but Chevrolet gave C2 Corvette buyers the choice to have both a hard-top & soft-top or just one of the two. Remarkably (and presumably in places where rain events were predictable), a number of buyers did take the hard-top only course and the configuration wasn't unique to Chevrolet, Mercedes-Benz between 1967-1971 offering its "Pagoda" roadster (W113; 1963-1971) with only a hard-top although it was listed a separate model: the "SL Coupé" (nicknamed the "Californian Coupe") which, despite the name, was still a convertible and one which offered the additional practicality of a folding bench seat in the rear compartment, permitting (cramped) seating for two. In the UK, Sunbeam in 1963 introduced a "hard-top only" version of the little Alpine (1959-1968) roadster which included some luxury features and it enjoyed some success although a similar version of the Tiger (1964-1967 and a V8 version of the Alpine) was aborted after only 15 were built. Given 5,794 (just over 8%) buyers of the 72,418 C2 Corvette buyers eschewed the folding roof, it was in the era the most successful of the "hard-top only" breed.
Even if Joe Biden (b 1942; US president 2021-2025) had ever seen Mean Girls (2004), by 2022 he'd have forgotten and if anyone mentioned the title, he'd probably have assumed they were talking about crooked Hillary Clinton (b 1947; US secretary of state 2009-2013) and Kamala Harris (b 1964; US vice president 2021-2025).
Given Mr Biden was already 62 when Mean Girls was released in 2004, most assumed it must have been an intern who provided the intelligence: (1) that October 3 is "Mean Girls Day" and (2) "Get in loser, we're going shopping" is a line waiting to be a meme. Thus the tweet in 2022 although there was some subterfuge involved, the photograph actually from a session at his Wilmington, Delaware estate on July 16 2020. The excuse for not taking a new snap probably was legitimate, the Secret Service most reluctant to let him behind the wheel (and they probably had many reasons to be worried). The presidency is often called the most powerful office in the world but he's still not allowed to drive his own Corvette (all ex-presidents actually forbidden again to take the wheel on public roads) and George HW Bush (George XLI, 1924-2018; US president 1989-1993) encountered push-back when he refused to eat broccoli, apparently still scarred by the experience when young of having the green stuff forced on him by his mother. He was far from the only head of state or government to have had unresolved issues with his mother.
Joe Biden in his 1967 Corvette Convertible.
President Biden's Corvette Sting Ray (it was two words in the C2 era) was ordered with the base version of the 327 rated at 300 HP, coupled to a four-speed manual gearbox. For what most people did most of the time the combination of the base engine and the four-speed was ideal for street use although there were some who claimed the standard three-speed transmission was even more suited to the urban environment, the torque-spread of even the mildest of the V8s such that the driving experience didn't suffer and fewer gearchanges were required. Those wanting the automatic option were restricted still to the old two-speed Powerguide, the newer Turbo-Hydramatic with an extra ratio simply too bulky to fit (some subsequently have modified their early cars with a Turbo-Hydramatic but they didn't have to organize the production line upon which thousands would be built). The 1967 cars were actually an accident of history, the C3 (slated for release as a 1967 model) delayed (the issues said to be with with aerodynamics which in the those days meant spending time in the wind tunnel and on the test track, computer modelling of such things decades away) by one season. Sales were thus down from 1966 as the new, swoopy body was much anticipated but the 1967 cars are now among the most coveted.
1967 Corvette 427-400 Tri-Power Convertible with Powerglide.
The
original 1953 Corvette had used the two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission
because Chevrolet at the time didn’t have available a suitable manual
gearbox. The company was however
innovative in the implementation, the floor-shift mechanism being the first
known instance of the location for an automatic’s lever and it protruded from
the side of the housing, something which doubtless seemed exotic but was really
a short-cut by the engineers because it meant they could use the existing
take-up for the linkage (Chrysler as late as 1963 used the same arrangement 300J). The configuration really didn’t detract much
from the driving experience because the Powerglide was, by the standards of the
era, quick-shifting (though with only two ratios such events were anyway rare)
and efficient which, combined with the light weight of the GRP body, made the
thing a match in performance for many, heavier, V8-powered cars. Even after manual gearboxes were added to the
option list (a three-speed in 1955 and a four-speed two year later), the
Powerglide remained available although in a typical year it was chosen by some 10% of buyers and as more powerful engines appeared (some with dual
four-barrel carburetors, some with fuel-injection), these were offered only
with the manual gearbox and the preference of the buyers who preferred the
automatic was always slanted to the least powerful.
1967 Corvette 427-390 Coupe with Powerglide and air-conditioning.
When the big-block
396 debuted in the Corvette in mid 1965, it was available only with the
four-speed manual, a limitation continued when it was replaced for the next
season by the 427. Unexpectedly however,
the Powerglide in 1967 appeared on the option list for both the 390 (four
barrel) and 400 (3 x 2 barrel) HP iterations although the more powerful
(which used solid valve lifters and had higher redlines), retained the
manual-only restriction. Demand for the
big-block / Powerglide combination was subdued: of the 2324 1967 Corvettes ordered
with the automatic gearbox, 1725 used the 300 HP 327 and only 599 the 427, 392
with the 390 HP version, 207 with the 400.
In an indication of Chevrolet’s expectations of the Corvette buyer
profile attracted to the Powerglide, air-conditioning was available with both
the 390 & 400 HP engines. It was the
last year the Powerglide would appear in the Corvette, the platform of the
succeeding C3 designed to accommodate the physically larger
Turbo-Hydramatic. A more modern and much
superior design, the availability of the new three-speed transmission was
welcomed but the old two-speed did have the charm of being able to hit 90 mph
(145 km/h) in first gear, something of genuine benefit to the drag racing crowd
who to this day continue to prize the Powerglide for (1) its robustness and (2)
the ability to complete a quarter-mile (402 m) run with only one gear change, slicing
priceless fractions of a second from the ET (elapsed time). One trend which began with the debut of the new transmission in the Corvette was the take-up rate in the sports car essentially doubled; in 1969 the Turbo-Hydramatic was chosen by some 20% of buyers and the not only would tat continue to rise by 1982 (its last year of production), the Corvette was automatic only and by then the lower power and torque ratings meant the Turbo-Hydramatic had been replaced by a unit which was more efficient (although, as some would discover, it was also less robust). When the mid-engined C8 Corvette was released in 2020, there was no conventional manual gearbox available, that decision taken for the same reason Ferrari had discontinued use almost a decade earlier: the automatic out-performed the manual in every aspect. Curiously, among the Ferrari crowd, the famous open-gate shifters never lost the appeal and the factory must have noted both the emergence of a small industry converting modern Ferraris to use a fully manual transmission and buyer feedback because in 2025 it was reported there may soon again be a Ferrari with a clutch pedal and gated shifter.
Same L72 engine, different stickers: An very early one (left) with a "450 HP" sticker and a later build (right) with a "425 HP".
Most fetishized by the Corvette collector community are (1) rare models, (2) rare options singularly or in combinations and (3) production line quirks, especially if accompanied by documents confirming it was done by the factory. There were a few of all of these during the Corvette’s first two decades and some of them attract a premium which is why the things can sell for over US$3 million at auction. Other quirks bring less but are still prized, including the handful of 1966 cars rated (sort of) at 450 HP. The L72 version of the 427 cubic inch engine was initially listed as developing 450 HP @ 5800 rpm, something GM presumably felt compelled to do because the 396 had been sold with a 425 HP rating and the first few cars built included an air-cleaner sticker reflecting the higher number. However, the L72 was quickly (apparently for all built after October 1965) re-stickered at 425 HP @ 5600 rpm although the only physical change was to the sticker, the engines otherwise identical. Chrysler used the same trick when advertising the 426 Street Hemi at 425 HP despite much more power being developed at higher engine speeds and that reflected a trend which began in the mid-1960s to under-rate the advertised output of the most powerful engines, a response to the concerns already being expressed by safety campaigners, insurance companies and some politicians. Later Corvettes would be rated at 435 HP and it wasn’t until the 1970 model year that Chevrolet would list a 450 HP option (the 454 cubic inch (7.4 litre) LS6) but that was exclusive to the intermediate Chevelle and it remains the highest advertised rating of the muscle car era. GM did plan that year to release a LS7 Corvette rated at 465 HP, building at least one prototype and even printing the brochures but the universe had shifted and the project was stillborn.
So,
all else being equal, an early-build 1966 Corvette with a 450 HP sticker on the
air-cleaner should attract a premium but Chevrolet kept no records of which
cars got them and with reproduction stickers available for under US$25, it's
obvious some have been "backdated", thus the negligible after-market
effect. Nor is there any guarantee some
later-build vehicles didn't receive the stickers at the factory so even the
nominal October 1965 “cut-off” isn't regarded as iron-clad, many assembly lines
at the time known to use up superseded parts just to clear the inventory and
something like a “425” or “450” sticker (of no mechanical significance) is unlikely
much to have much occupied the minds of plant managers. Not easily replicated however was another
rarity from 1966. That year, only 66
buyers chose RPO N03 (the 36.5 gallon fuel tank, by then reduced in price to US$198.05). Depending on the engine/transmission
combination and final-drive ratio chosen, a Corvette's fuel economy was rated
usually between “bad” and “worse” so the big tank did usefully increase the
range but it was really aimed at those using their cars in endurance racing.
Kelsey-Hayes
cast aluminum wheels for C2 Corvette, the knock off version (option code P48,
1963-1966, top) and the later five-stud (option code N89, 1967, bottom). They were manufactured by Western Wheel Corporation (a division of Kelsey-Hayes). The images of the centre-cap components (right) are in the right hand column.
Available
as a factory option on C2 Corvettes between 1963-1967, the Kelsey-Hayes cast aluminum
wheels remained visually similar throughout the run but there were several
detail differences in finish and, in the final year, a major structural
change. No series production 1963
Corvettes appear to have been factory-fitted with the wheels though they were
at the time used on some race-cars (with two rather than three-eared hubs) and
some of Chevrolet’s pre-production (the so called “pilot cars”) had them; these
were the vehicles used in for the photo-sessions for the original brochures
where the wheels appear. The 1963-1964
run used a natural aluminum finish between the fins with a chrome centre cone;
in 1965 the color was changed to a charcoal grey metallic while in 1966 the cone
received a brushed finish. The wheels
were attached with “knock off” hubs which gained their name from the use of a
hammer to “knock them off” (and back on) when a wheel needed to be
removed. Chevrolet in the tool kit of
Corvettes fitted with the wheels included a 2 lb mallet with a lead face &
core because damage can result if a steel hammer or mallet is used. Lead being soft, with repeated use the stuff
can wear away and expose the steel cylinder within so periodically the device
should be inspected. The major change
came for 1967 when thinner fins appeared and, as a consequence of newly imposed
federal regulations, the knock off hubs were replaced with the more familiar
five-stud securing arrangement. In 1967,
the option code for the wheels changed from P48 to N89 and, reflecting the
lower cost of production entailed in the simpler construction, the price was
reduced from US$316.00 to US$263.30 but that added some 6% to the base cost and they were fitted to only 720 of the 22940 (3.14%) 1967 Corvettes produced although many more now exist with reproductions. The
new centre caps came to be known as “Starbursts”.
As a noun & verb, “starburst” widely has been used in slang and
commerce but its origin is owed to astronomers of the 1830s and in the field it’s
been used variously to describe (1) a violent explosion, or the pattern
(likened to the shape of a star) supposed to be made by such an explosion and (2)
a region of space or period of time (distinct concepts for this purpose) with
an untypically or unexpectedly high rate of star formation. In SF (science fiction), starbursts can be
more exotic still and have described machines from light-speed propulsion
engines to truly horrid doomsday weapons.
In typography, a starburst is a symbol similar in shape to an asterisk,
but with either or both additional or extended rays and it’s used for a brand
of fruit-flavored confectionery, the name implying the taste “explodes” in the
mouth as one chews or sucks. In
corporate use, starburst is slang for the breaking up of a company (or unit of
a company) into a number of distinct operations and in software it was in the
early 1980s used as the brand name of an application suite (based around the
Wordstar word-processor) which was (along with Electric Office) one of the
first “office suites”, the model Microsoft would later adopt for its “Office”
product which bundled, Word, Excel, the dreaded PowerPoint and such. It was the name of a British made-portable
surface-to-air missile (MANPADS) produced in the late twentieth century, in botany
it’s a tropical flowering plant (Clerodendrum quadriloculare), the term applied
also to a species of sea anemone in the family Actiniidae and, in human
anatomy, certain cell types (based on their appearance). In photography, the “starburst effect” refers
to the diffraction spikes which radiate from sources of bright light.
The C2 Corvette had a short life of only five years and it would
have been shorter still had not there been delays in the development of the
C3 which went on sale in late 1967. Dramatically styled, the C3
eventually debuted for the 1968 model year, the lines reminiscent of the Mako
Shark II (1965) concept car and the coupe included the novelty of removable roof
panels. Underneath the swoopy body, the C3 was
essentially the same as the C2 except the old two-speed Powerglide was retired,
the automatic option now whichever of the three-speed Turbo-Hydramatics suited
the chosen engine. The C3 also saw one
of the early appearances of fibre-optic cables, used to provide an internal display
so drivers could check the functionally of external lights and for 1969, the 327 was stroked to 350 cubic
inches (5.7 litres), one of the surprisingly large number of changes which can
make the 1968 Corvette something of a challenge for restorers, there being so
many parts unique to that model-year. Still
available was the L88 and in the two seasons it was offered in the
C3, 196 were sold (80 in 1968 and 116 in 1969) but even in its most successful year, the option represented only around .003% of annual production.
C3 Corvette production Count, 1968-1982.
A classic roadster, the C3 Chevrolet Corvette L88: Convertible with soft-top lowered (top left), convertible with hard-top in place (top right), convertible with soft-top erected (bottom left) and coupe (roof with two removable panels (T-top)) (bottom right). The four vehicles in these images account for 2.040816% of the 196 C3 L88 Corvettes produced (80 in 1968; 116 in 1969) and the L88 count constitutes .000361% of total C3 production. 196 C3 L88 Corvettes were produced (80 in 1968; 116 in 1969) and the L88 count constitutes .000361% of total C3 production.
1969 Chevrolet Corvette brochure (page 9).
Chevrolet
never devoted any of its generous advertising budget to the promotion of the
L88 engine, the attitude being those likely to buy one knew about it and these
who didn't know about it would never buy one.
It did however (as a hyphenated L-88) rate a mention on page 9 of the 1969 Corvette brochure
where it was called the “Special High
Performance Engine (Off Road Application Only)”. In the context of the Corvette, the phrase “off road”
did not suggest “suitable for dirt roads
and four-wheel-drive”; it meant “intended
for race tracks & drag strips” and the “special”
nature was hinted at by being rated a notional 5 HP less than the output of the
L71, the most powerful of the “street”
engines. Almost as an aside, the
advertising copy mentions: “We even have a special engine (L-88) that we don't recommend
for street use.”
Joan Didion (1934-2021) and cigarette with her Daytona Yellow (OEM code 984) 1969 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray (on the C2 Corvette (1963-1967) and in 1968 the spelling had been "Sting Ray”). The monochrome image was from a photo-session commissioned in 1970 by Life magazine and shot by staff photographer Julian Wasser (1933-2023), outside the house she was renting on Franklin Avenue in the Hollywood Hills. To great acclaim, her first work of non-fiction, Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1968), had just been published.
Writing mostly, in one way or another, about “feelings”, Joan Didion’s work appealed mostly to a female readership but when photographs were published of her posing with her bright yellow Corvette, among men presumably she gained some “street cred” although that might have evaporated had they learned it was later traded for a Volvo; adding insult to injury, it was a Volvo station wagon with all that implies. She was later interviewed about the apparent incongruity between owner and machine and acknowledged the strangeness, commenting: “I very definitely remember buying the Stingray because it was a crazy thing to do. I bought it in Hollywood.” Craziness and Hollywood were then of course synonymous and a C3 Corvette (1968-1982) really was the ideal symbol of the America about which Ms Didion wrote, being loud, flashy, rendered in plastic and flawed yet underpinned by a solid, well-engineered foundation; the notion of the former detracting from the latter was theme in in her essays on the American experience.
A 1969 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray in Daytona Yellow.
Disillusioned, melancholic and clinical, Ms Didion’s literary oeuvre suited the moment because while obviously political it was also spiritual, a critique of what she called “accidie” of the late 1960s, the moral torpor of those disappointed by what had followed the hope and optimism captured by “Camelot”, the White House of John Kennedy (JFK, 1917–1963; US president 1961-1963). In retrospect Camelot was illusory but that of course made real the disillusionment of Lyndon Johnson (LBJ, 1908–1973; US president 1963-1969) leading the people not to a “great society” but to Vietnam. Her essays were in the style of the “new journalism” and sometimes compared with those of her contemporary Susan Sontag (1933-2004) but the two differed in method, tone, ideological orientation and, debatably, expectation if not purpose.
Joan Didion with Corvette, another image from Julian Wasser’s 1970 photo-shoot. The staging in this one is for feminists to ponder.
While a stretch to say that in trading-in the Corvette for a Volvo station wagon, Ms Didion was tracking the nation which had moved from Kennedy to Richard Nixon (1913-1994; US president 1969-1974), it’s too tempting not to make. Of the Corvette, she used the phrase: “I gave up on it”, later recounting: “the dealer was baffled” but denied the change was related to moving after eight years from Malibu to leafy, up-market suburban Brentwood. While she “…needed a new car because with the Corvette something was always wrong…” she “…didn’t need a Volvo station wagon” although did concede: “Maybe it was the idea of moving into Brentwood.” She should have persevered because as many an owner of a C3 Corvette understands, the faults and flaws are just part of the brutish charm. Whether the car still exists isn't known; while Corvette's have a higher than average survival rate, their use on drag strips & race tracks as well as their attractiveness to males aged 17-25 has meant not a few suffered misadventure.
Joan Didion with Corvette, rendered as oil on canvas with yellow filter.
The configuration of her car seems not anywhere documented but a reasonable guess is it likely was ordered with the (base) 300 HP version (ZQ3) of the 350 cubic inch (5.7 litre) small-block V8, coupled with the Turbo-Hydramatic 400 (TH400) (M40) three-speed automatic transmission (the lighter TH350 wouldn't be used until 1976 by which time power outputs had fallen so much the robustness of the TH400 was no longer required). When scanning the option list, although things like the side-mounted exhaust system (N14) or the 430 HP versions (the iron-block L88 & all aluminium ZL1, the power ratings of what were barely-disguised race car engines deliberately understated, the true output between 540-560 HP) of the 427 cubic inch (7.0 litre) big-block V8 would not have tempted Ms Didion, she may have ticked the box for the leather trim (available in six colors and the photos do suggest black (402 (but if vinyl the code was ZQ4)), air conditioning (C60), power steering (N40), power brakes (J50), power windows (A31) or an AM-FM radio (U69 and available also (at extra cost) with stereo (U79)). Given she later traded-in the Corvette on a Volvo station wagon, presumably the speed warning indicator (U15) would have been thought superfluous but, living in Malibu, the alarm system (UA6) might have caught her eye. Coincidently, one of the two rarest and most valuable Corvettes (the ZL1) was also Daytona Yellow.
1969 Corvette ZL1 Roadster in Monaco Orange (code 990).
Uniquely in 1969, there was one option more expensive than the L88, the RPO ZL1, sometimes described as “an all aluminium L88” but actually with
a number of differences, some necessitated by the different metal while others
were examples of normal product development.
Again the fruit of Chevrolet’s support for the Can-Am teams, the ZL1 was
no more suited to street use than the L88 and at US$4,718.35 was three times as
expensive. In 1969, a basic Corvette
listed at US$4,781.00 so if the ZL1 option box was ticked the price essentially
doubled although beyond that temptations were few, like the L88, air
conditioning, power steering, power brakes and even a radio not available. It was thus unsurprising demand was muted and
it's now accepted that of the those built (most sources cite between four to six), only one was sold (two depending on one's status with the originality police), the others used for engineering and promotional purposes, these “factory mules” scrapped
or re-purposed after their usefulness was over.
The yellow coupe last changed hands in October 1991 when it was sold in
a government auction for US$300,000 (then a lot of money) after being seized by
the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) and in January 2023, at auction, the Monaco Orange roadster
realized US$3.14 million. The yellow ZL1 for years sat in the museum attached to Roger Judski's Corvette Centre in Florida (a hive
of DEA activity) but it was on 15 April 2025 announced that after sixty years of service to the Corvette community, Mr Judski was retiring and the centre was closed.
1969 Corvette ZL1 Coupe in Daytona Yellow.
So the orthodox wisdom is
there are one or two “real” ZL1s and an unknown number of faux versions (described
variously as clones, replicas, tributes etc, none of these terms having an
agreed definition and thus not useful as indications of the degree to which
they emulate a factory original). The “ultra” faction in the Corvette community maintains the
yellow coupe is a genuine one-off and claim the orange roadster left the
factory with an L88 engine and in that form it was raced, as well as when it was fitted with a ZL1. The faction further notes
the orange machine is an early-build vehicle reported to have closed chamber
heads whereas the RPO ZL1s used open chambers.
The “moderate” faction continues to regard the count as two although nobody
seems now to support the rumors which circulated for a few years indicating a
third (a white coupe) and even a fourth (the supposed “black roadster”, later confirmed to be
faux) might exist. Some clearly are accommodating of the murkiness in the orange car's history given in January 2023 it sold at auction for over US$3 million so were the yellow ZL1 to appear on the block, a new record price would be likely. Roger Judski (b 1947), owner of the yellow ZL1, was in the Corvette business for sixty years (1965-2025) and is
as authoritative an expert on the breed as anyone: he belongs to
the moderate faction which supports the count of two factory ZL1s. Evidence is where it's found and while no supporting documentation seems to have been published, there are reports of those who were involved in building the ZL1 Corvettes being quoted as saying as well as the yellow car, the other "real" ZL1 was a white coupe.
Although
the L88 (as L-88) did rate one mention in Chevrolet’s brochures, the mid-year
release of the all-aluminum ZL1 engine never made it onto glossy paper, evidence
of its existence restricted to factory bulletins, specialist dealer specification
sheets (where it was listed as "Special L88 (aluminum block)", engineering documents and such. Had
a potential buyer scanned the specification sheet although likely impressed by
the mechanical details (the solid lifter camshafts in the L88 & ZL1 providing the most valve-lift of the whole muscle car era), they might have wondered why Chevrolet bothered to itemize
the “extra-cost mandatory options” rather than just include their cost in a bundled "ZL1 engine package" (which would have been US$5,236.65).
The high price and unsuitability
of the ZL1 for street use made demand minimal and only a handful were built, some retained for a while by the engineering department to be used as test-beds
for suspension, brake and drive-train equipment on the reasonable basis that
the engine with the highest output would impose on the components of interest
the greatest stress. However, the engine
plant’s records indicate 94 ZL1 engines with Corvette prefixes passed final quality
control tests in 1969 (80 coded for use with a manual transmission and 14 with an
automatic) and it’s almost certain most were
sold to racing teams although some may have been used for other purposes. Before it was (probably) broken up or scrapped, one of the ZL1 test
mules was tested by Road & Track magazine which reported the car (weighing
in at 2,945 lb (1,336 kg)) achieved a 0-60 mph (97 km/h) run of 4.0 seconds
while the ET (elapsed time) over the standing ¼ mile was 12.1 seconds @ 116 mph
(187 km/h); impressive numbers even today. It was though close to the
end of the era and the even more powerful ZL2 planned for 1970 was cancelled
after one prototype had been built.
1971 Corvette with RPO ZR2 LS6 454. This is one of two convertibles, the other 10 1971 ZR2s being coupes.
The 1969 ZL1 and L88 however would prove to be peak C3 Corvette. Times were changing and in 1970 it was the
Chevelle which was offered with Chevrolet’s top big-block street engine, the now
454 cubic-inch (7.4 litre) LS6 rated at 450 HP, the industry’s highest
(official) rating of the era; plans for
a 460 or 465 HP (both numbers quoted in internal documents) LS7 Corvette were cancelled as insurance premiums soared and the regulatory
environment began to tighten around the high-powered monsters although serious power remained available: while the LS5 454 was rated at 390 HP, the
performance it delivered suggested it was perhaps a little healthier. The Corvette
highlight of the 1970s however came in 1971 with the availability of the RPO
ZR2 for the LS6 engine, described in dealer sheets as the “RPO ZR2 Special Purpose LS6
Engine Package” and it can be regarded as a successor the L88, supplied with the
Muncie M22 close-ratio (Rock-Crusher) four-speed manual transmission, transistorized
ignition, a heavy-duty aluminum radiator (with shroud delete, a hint it really
didn’t belong on the street), heavy-duty power disc brakes, F41 Special
Suspension with specific springs, shocks and special front and rear sway bars. Like the L88s, air-conditioning and a radio
were not on the option list, neither much used on race-tracks. For 1971, the LS6 454 was rated at 425 HP and it added US$1,221 to the base car’s sticker price of US$5,496 sticker price; with insurance rates rising to prohibitive levels and more government regulations imminent, it was clear to all the craziness of the last few years was nearly done and reflecting that, a mere 188 ordered a LS6 for their Corvette. Chevrolet built only a dozen ZR2 Corvettes (two
of which were convertibles) in 1971, not because production deliberately was limited
but because of the cost (the list price was a then substantial US$7,672.80) and
their unsuitability for everyday use meant demand was subdued. Although
scheduled for 1970, industrial relations problems delayed production of the ZR2
until 1971 by which time stricter regulations had compelled cancellation of the
LS7 454 so RPO ZR2 was re-purposed for the LS6 and its 425 HP rating, although conservative, didn’t fool the insurance industry.
800 cfm (cubic feet per minute) carburetor on 1970 Corvette LT-1.
Lurking behind the thunder of
the 454 however was the most charismatic of the small-block Corvettes since the
days of the fuel-injected 283 & 327. This was
the 350 LT-1, a high-revving engine very much in the tradition of the Camaro Z28's (in the early days it appeared also as Z-28 & Z/28) 302 cubic inch (4.9 litre) V8 used
in the Trans-Am series. The LT-1 featured heavy-duty internals and high performance
additions including solid valve lifters, forged pistons, an 11:1 compression
ratio, four-bolt main bearing caps, forged steel crank, hi-lift camshaft, baffled sump and a free-flowing induction and exhaust system. At US$447.60, the LT-1 option was some 35% more expensive than the big block LS5 454 which listed at US$289.65 (echoes of the days of Rochester fuel-injection),
it was almost twice the price of a 454 but was a persuasive package and over three seasons 1287 were made. Available only with
a four-speed manual transmission, it lasted until 1972 and although the lowering of the compression ratio meant power ratings dropped season-by-season (1970:370 HP; 1971:330; 1972:255), the 1972 number reflected also the industry's change from quoting gross (SAE) to net (DIN) HP so the reduction wasn't as dramatic as it might appear. Although still fast by most standards, the 1972 cars were somewhat less potent, the compensation being that by reducing the redline to 5600 RPM (from 6500), the belt would no longer be "thrown" from compressor so in its swansong season the LT-1 could be ordered with
air-conditioning; of the 1741 Corvette LT1s built in 1972, 240 were so-equipped (it was the first time since 1965 the combination of AC and a high performance small-block was possible). The intricacies of the detail differences (such as the different oil pan used on cars with a CTU engine suffix and the availability of power steering with the CTX engine) mean assessing an LT-1 (there are fakes in the wild) is an exact science and the judging bodies (the best known of which is the NCRS (National Corvette Restorers Society)) have codified the process so are able to produce a single "authenticity metric". They don't insist the fuel in the tank or air in the tyres be original but where possible, everything should be "as delivered".
1972 Chevrolet Corvette LT1 Convertible (left) and Coupe (right) in Mille Miglia Red
(Code 973) over Black Leather (404). Coincidentally, both these 1972 Mille Miglia Red Corvette LT1s are fitted
with some of that season’s most desirable options including Power Windows
(A31), Custom Shoulder Belts (A85), AC (C60), Power Brakes (J50), Close Ratio four-speed
Transmission (M21), Power Steering (N40), Tilt-telescopic Steering Column (N37)
and Power Steering (N40).
The Mille Miglia was a road-race
from Rome to Brescia and back and by the mid 1950s the cars had become very
fast (speeds of 180 mph (290 km/h) were recorded and the 1955 race was won by a
Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR (W196S) with an average speed close to 100 mph (160
km/h)). At the time, that was dangerous
enough even on a purpose-built circuit but the Mille Miglia was run on public
roads which, while closed for the occasion, were poorly supervised and crowd
control was in many places non-existent, people forming along the roadside to
ensure the best view, literally inches from cars travelling at high speed. Over thirty years, the race claimed the
lives of 30 souls but the eleven in 1957 would be the last because within days,
the Italian government banned all motor racing on public roads although
since 1977 an event of the same name over much the same course has been run for
historic vehicles which competed in the event in period (or were accepted and
registered). Now very much a social occasion
for the rich, it's not a high-speed event.
The original race had been one of the classic events on the calendar in
an era in which top-line drivers counted on attending a couple of funerals a
year (possibly their own) and it’s the 1955 & 1957 events to which a particular aura
still lingers.
A little opportunistically given no Corvette was ever entered in the classic race, Chevrolet made Mille Miglia Red available for the Corvette between 1971-1975 (the factory codes variously 973, 976 & 4147), the connection being that over the years many cars in the event were painted in variants of the by then semi-official "Italian Racing Red" including Maseratis, Lancias, Fiats, Alfa Romeos, OSCAs and, most famously, Ferraris; Chevrolet’s Mille Miglia Red was very close to many of Ferrari’s mixes of Rosso Corsa (Racing Red). Despite the latter day reputation of "resale red", fewer than 10% of 1972 Corvettes were ordered in Mille Miglia Red and of today's favored hues, black wasn't even on the list, gray was less popular than red with white only slightly more so while silver was least chosen.
Most
desirable (for a buyer with specific needs) of the LT-1s were those ordered
with the ZR1 package, 53 of which were delivered between
1970-1972. A US$968.95 option in 1970
(in 1970 the MSRP (Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price) for the new
sub-compact Chevrolet Vega was US$2,090.00), the ZR1 options were focused not
on more power but rather rendering the chassis better suited for use
in competition, the target market those who wanted to participate in competitions
run by the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America).
Accordingly, what was included was a “cold-air” hood, transistorized
ignition, the famed (and noticeably audible) Muncie M22 (rock crusher)
four-speed manual transmission, electronic ignition, upgraded power brakes,
stiffer shock-absorbers (dampers) & springs and a front anti-sway (stabilizer)
bar (despite the existence of some documentation, no ZR1 seems ever to have
been factory-fitted with a rear bar). There
was also a larger capacity cooling system with an aluminum radiator, augmented
by a metal shroud and fan combination optimized for high-speed operation
although the 1972 ZR1s were shroudless.
In an indication of the purposes of many buyers, a popular option was
the 4.11 Positraction rear axle (Code G81 @ US$12.65), ideal for drag strips and some race
tracks but less suited to highway driving.
1970 Corvette LT-1 ZR1 Convertible with factory hard-top (Code C07 @ US$273.85) fitted.
The ZR1 engines did however
have detail differences from most of the standard LT-1s, all fitted with the 6
quart (5.7 litre) oil pan (used on the early 1970 LT-1s with a CTU engine
suffix, later (CTX) cars using a 5 quart (4.7 litre) version) and a smaller,
lighter flywheel & clutch combination (a la the L88s) while some (apparently
restricted to those delivered in California which even then had stricter
emission standards) also had a special venting device for the carburetor. Given the emphasis, choosing the ZR1 package
meant that (like the big-block L88 & ZL1), the fitting of luxuries like power
windows, power steering, air conditioning, the rear-window defroster, the fancy
wheel covers, alarm system and a radio was precluded. ZR1 buyers inhabited a certain niche and the things
are now highly prized.
Not so highly prized: 1980 Corvette (California model with LG4 305 V8) in Frost Beige (paint code 59) over Dark Doeskin leather (trim code 59C). It looked the part, even if the engine and transmission were shared with station wagons and pick-up trucks.
The LT-1 is fondly remembered but from then on, mostly it was downhill for
the C3 although in its twilight years its popularity reached new heights which would have gratified the corporation because it was one of GM's most profitable lines. In 1975 both the convertible and
the (by then much-detuned 454) big-block V8 were cancelled but tellingly, in what came to be called the "malaise era", the C3 enjoyed a long India summer, its performance
stellar on the sales charts if not the track and, with no appetite for speed,
Chevrolet devoted attention to creature comforts, seats and
air-conditioning systems much improved. A sort
of nadir is attached to the 1980 models sold in Californian which, because of more stringent emission rules, were fitted only with an automatic
transmission and the LG4 305 cubic inch (5.0 litre) engine found often in Impala station
wagons and pick-up trucks although it managed to be a little brisker than the
Blue Flame powered original of 1953. The Californian 305 was claimed to generate 180 HP which was actually 15 more than the unfortunate 350 (L48) in the 1975 model (the optional L82 listed with 205). The method of calculating stated HP changed in 1972 from gross to net so the earlier numbers should not directly be compared with the newer but there's no doubt the Corvettes after the early-1970s were making a lot less power than the tarmac-melting fire-breathers of a few years before and though things had improved by the early 1980s, it wasn't by much. Both the tamest of the 1975 cars and the 1980 Californian 305 tend to be coupled as the least desired of the breed but, enjoying solid demand to the end, the C3 remained in production until 1982, the last sold the following year. In fairness to the "malaise era" Corvettes, they should be compared not with what came before or later but with what else was on the market at the time and judged thus, the Corvette was one of the better performers and still offered much for the money, looking good (if something of a caricature) to the last.
