it is often said the last years of the seventies to early eighties were the darkest in Corvette history as far as performance, yes, choked down power plants and smog equipment abounded but Chevrolet kept the Corvette viable and truth be told, the “rubber bumpered” cars (as they are known) accounted for over half of the total sales in this series! the 1976-1977’s were almost 50,000 strong, the 25th anniverary kept things interesting with two special editions and of course, 1979 still holds the sales record of any Corvette series before or since. that being said, 1982 was the last year of the “shark” series in Corvette, and i have grown to appreciate this model year more and more as time has passed. consider that in 1982 you got the classic shark lines plus a litany of optional equipment and luxury ammenities to outfit your Corvette for great boulevard cruising. just about power everything was offered, a wide range of much improved sound systems to play just about what ever was available in 1982. for me, the ultimate in luxury cruising is the 1982 “collector edition”, a rather expensive piece of machinery (in 1982) but the features, special color scheme, luxurious interior and the availibilty to open the rear hatch plus the cloisone emblems and turbine spoke wheels set the car apart from the avereage Corvette. oh sure every 1982 came with the new cross-fire fuel injected L83 producing 200 hp, and (the only transmission available) a 4 speed automatic with overdrive that enabled this last year of the shark to break the 20 mpg range (something that was becoming more and more important-decent fuel economy) but the “collector” edition just kicked everything up a notch. i especially like the interior treatment of the C.E. the bronze tinted glass roof panels, the faded/shadow treatment on the seats and door panels to match the exterior’s fading stripes, the seats are comfortable and i am surprised that with a complete year in production (October ‘81- October ‘82) that only a total of 18,648 Corvettes left the Bowling Green plant including 6,759 CE’S which were available from day one of production. of course the all new soon to appear C-4 was well known and anticipated and, in truth after a 14 year run with a chassis that dated back to 1963, i guess 18,000 plus Corvettes wasn’t too bad. the 1982 Corvette deserves it’s rightful place in Corvette history as a testament to the 500,000 plus sharks produced during this series’ run but also as the forerunner of things to come, more creature comfort options for cruising, the return of fuel injection and the absolute drive to gain better fuel economy out of a fairly large power plant. a 21 mpg highway shark? unheard of from the factory unless you are talking the 1982 Corvette!

the introduction of the 2010 corvette grand sport is truly amazing in that corvette now offers something for everyone. consider that this model replaces the Z-51 suspension or sport ride option in the corvette. a complete car to replace an option? but with the G/S you have your choice of coupe or convertible, 6 speed automatic or 6 speed manual, and the car is pretty close in perfomance to the Z-06 but you can still open the top up on the coupe or go topless with the convertible. larger brake calipers, generous rubber at the corners gives the car a wider footprint than the standard coupe. also, the body panels are wider with the Z-06 splitter in the front so, for a few thousand above a standard 2010 coupe you can have quite a formidable corvette to drive. great handling, very good fuel economy (*27 mpg) and skid pad numbers in the 1G range, not too bad. or you can opt for the fixed roof Z-06 or go all out and order the ZR-1!!!! whatever corvette model you desire, 2010 has pretty much covered the wish list of any performance car buff. the constant improvements in this series are most noteworthy and i believe will go to serve the collectibility aspect of this series in the future. the C-5 series seems to be holding quite a bit of it’s value and the C-6 is such a well made and optioned corvette i feel the same is in store for it. i recommend this series to anyone out there who always dreamed of being the original owner of a corvette, you will not be disappointed.

They say you can’t have your cake and eat it too but, in reviewing an article for the 1973 Corvette,Rroad and Track said “These days, the Corvette is softer and a little bit raw at the same time”. They always referred to that (C-3) series as a ‘harsh’ ride and non compliance over anything but a smooth road surface. I always enjoyed that aspect of the Corvette eg: you felt very much in contact with road and machine. Now, the reason I bring this up is because, in 2009, you have a sports car with all the creature comforts you could ever hope for and a very subtle ride over any road surface. Even with a sport suspension equipped Corvette, you get a fantastic ride. In fact, I truly enjoy any seat time i get in a C-6. They are considerably quieter that the C-5, and we all know what a great series the C-5 is. So, if you get a chance get behind the wheel of a new Corvette and see for yourself.

Consider what would have happened to the Corvette had it not been for Chevrolet’s appointment of a chief engineer to the Corvette line? As we know Zora Arkus-Duntov was the first and he took command in 1955 and his presence was immediately felt by the addition of a V-8 and manual gearbox. Zora continued and served ‘his’ car for over 20 years retiring in 1975 giving way to Dave McClellan who took us into the C-4 series. Dave was followed by Dave Hill and the C-5 to the development of the C-6. The shortest tenured chief engineer is Tom Wallace who is scheduled to retire in November and the current man in charge is Tadge Juechter who looks to be poised for a run to rival that of Zora’s (provided GM can survive). One thing is for sure, the performance of today’s Corvette has certainly come a long way since the very early days and mid to late seventies. I salute and pay tribute to all these fine gentlemen and say “hail to the chief”! It will be interesting to see what the next generation (C-7) will be.

The Corvette evolved from Motorama show car to a true sports car in the C1 series as the solid axle cars evolved over the 9 year span. In 1963 an all new car was introduced again based on a specialty car (Bill Mitchell’s Stingray racer) and only the drive train was carried over. Here we saw the development of some great power plants and suspension systems as the C2 evolved over the 5 year run. Entering 1968 we saw another toned down show car derivative (the Mako Shark ll of 1965) and this time the entire drive train and chassis were carried over with minor tweaks and adjustments. The C3 was and remains the longest most successful run in Corvette history with over a half million cars produced in this body style. Entering 1983 (of which no Corvettes were sold to the public) the C4 again was touted as a technological Tour de Force and once again only the engine and transmission (automatic) were carried over from the previous series. In 1997 once again with a clean sheet of paper we saw the introduction of the C5 and this car ran for 7 strong model years. The current generation C6 is sometimes referred to as a C5 and 1/2 but here that tag is unfair as the C6 is truly it’s own car. Introduced in 2005, the C6 is rumored to continue until 2013 when the C7 is supposed to debut for Corvette’s 60th birthday. Time will tell what the future holds and what the C7 corvette will be, another continued evolution of the previous series or another clean sheet design? It is my sincere hope we see that car appear because with the current state of Corvette (shutdowns in production and furloughing employees) I have serious doubts the car will continue (see previous blog entry ‘Corvette 1953-20xx?’) past the current generation.

This is an opinion only and I have not, am not privy to any official information. I am just a concerned enthusiast. And I wonder, how long can the Corvette survive? It is any body’s guess but with the elimination of GM’s performance division and the phasing out of the entire Pontiac line plus the constant shutdowns at the Bowling Green Assembly plant that have been occurring since 2008, you have to wonder. The C7 is said to be tooled up and ready for the 60th anniversary in 2013. The amortization of the tooling for the C5/C6 has long been realized but the truth is: it is still a very low production, segmented car and despite the profit margins it brings GM, I’m afraid when it it comes down to a practical purely business decision, the Corvette may be doomed. How many more times can GM afford to ‘furlough’ employees and keep this operation alive? Again, this is pure conjecture on my part but you have to see some writing on the wall as they say. Should the end come in the next few years we will have witnessed one of the most successful nameplates to ever grace the nation’s showrooms and highways and it will surely be a sad day indeed. Are you looking for a good Corvette or other used car?

October 10th 2009 is the 6th annual Kerbeck Chevrolet’s (in association with the USMC and N.J. State Police) “toys for tots” run. This is a chance for Corvette owners to run their cars wide open on the Atlantic City Expressway. All it costs you is the price of one new unwrapped toy and fuel, Kerbeck picks up the toll, the N.J. State Police close down the expressway until all the Corvettes are safely off the road. You meet at the Farley service plaza on the expressway and depart at 12 noon, run wide open from there to exit 2 (about 18 miles) and meet at the Atlantic City Surf ballpark just a block from Kerbeck Chevrolet. There is a cruise-in with food, music, giveaways and it is just a great day out with fellow Corvette owners. I highly recommend this event as a close out to the summer show season. So, if you are in the Philadelphia-New Jersey area, check out the website www.kerbeck.com for the flyer and registration informatioin, you’ll be glad you did.

Earlier in this blog I have an entry on the C-3 series production concerning the number of automatic vs. manual transmissions. While I have always thought the C-4 series would bear out in favor a stronger preference for automatics vs. manuals, I have to admit I was a bit surprised by the numbers. Of the 366,082 C-4 Corvettes produced during the second longest series run in Corvette history, a respectable 77,405 cars were manual transmission equipped or 21.1% of the production total. This of course includes all the ZR-1’s produced from 1990-1995 (which required the manual gearbox). Here is the breakdown year by year:
1984—–51,447 coupes………………6,443 manual transmission equipped. This of course was the new 4 speed with 3 overdrive gears or the 4+3 as it is known.
1985—–39,720 coupes………………9,576 manual transmission equipped. This was a pretty respectable percentage of the total production.
1986—–33,109 coupes and convertibles. With the return of the convertible the Corvette was chosen again to pace the Indianapolis 500 and the manual transmission was installed in 6,835 of the production run.
1987—–30,632 coupes and convertibles……….4,229 manual transmission equipped.
1988—–22,789 coupes and convertibles……….4,282 manual transmission equipped.
1989—–26,412 coupes and convertibles……….4,113 manual transmission equipped, the first year for the new ZF 6 speed.
1990—–26,646 coupes and convertibles of which 3,049 coupes were ZR-1 optioned and 8,100 manual transmission equipped Corvettes were produced. The interior received a new wrap around dash and the introduction of a functional glove compartment on the passenger’s side. This was the last year for the kamm style rear end-ZR-1 and the Corvette rear bumpers were more rounded.
1991—–20,639 coupes and convertibles of which 2,044 were ZR-1’s and the manual transmission total was 5,875. Front and rear fascias received an updated look and were more rounded.
1992—–20,479 coupes and convertibles. The ZR-1 optioned cars fell to 502 and the manual transmission equipped total was 5,487.
1993—–21.590 coupes and convertibles. There were 5,330 manual transmission equipped Corvettes and the ZR-1 option again fell to only 448. This was the 40th anniversary of Corvette and a special all ruby colored paint scheme was offered with ruby red interior. The ZR-1 was also included this trim. There were low numbers of manual transmissions and ZR-1 production for this year. It is my belief that one of the soon to be desired collector Corvettes will be the 40th anniversary edition ZR-1.
1994—–23,330 coupes and convertibles…………..6,012 manual transmission equipped. The ZR-1 was stuck at 448 units, the sane total as last year and the same would continue for 1995.
1995—–20,742 coupes and convertibles…………..4,784 manual transmission equipped, the swan song year for the ZR-1.
1996—–21,536 coupes and convertibles…………..6,359 manual transmission equipped. This was the final year of C-4 production and Chevrolet offered two special editions. The ‘Grand Sport’ replica was available in both coupe and convertible with an admiral blue exterior and red hash stripes on the left fender. A bright red interior also adorned a lot of these cars although other interior color choices were available. This package required the LT-4 coupled to the six speed manual gear box. The other ’special’ was the collector edition sebring silver with your choice of interior, body style and transmission/engine. On a side note: if you opted for the LT-4 in any 1996 Corvette, you had to order the manual transmission. Well, that’s my report on the C-4 series transmission production. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed doing the research.

A very interesting year in 1973, first, Road and Track magazine had predicted an all new mid engine Corvette for this model year. They got egg on their face (something they never seemed to put behind them) because as we see, the ‘73 is just a continued evolution of the shark series. The mid engined car that appeared at auto shows and the one R&T staked their reputation on, probably would have been produced. Zora Arkus-Duntov desperately wanted the car to go in that direction, but the tougher federal crash standards and soon to appear emission standards kept everything status quo. In other words corporate politics won out. So the coupe and convertible shark line continued. Also noteworthy, production for 1973 was 30,464 Corvettes even though the vin’s end at 34,464. This was because there were a reported 4000 vin’s missing ranging from 24001-28000. Very interesting when you consider that the cars are numbered as they are produced and the ‘bird cage’ has an embossed sequence number stamped on the left of the “A” frame pillar. 1973 was the first year for a 5 mph front bumper that would take a hit up to 5 mph while sustaining no damage to the car. Also this year saw a redesign of the hood eliminating the windshield wiper hatch. There were steel beams added to the doors for some side collision protection and radial tires were now used in place of the previous bias ply tires from previous years. This would be the last year for rear chrome bumpers in this series. The ‘73 has a very nice stance and profile and is a very respectable Corvette to drive.

Celebrating the 56th Birthday of the Corvette, Empire City Casino will showcase ‘Vettes from the fifties through today’ at its first ever Corvette Car show on Sunday, June 28. One lucky patron can win a 2009 Corvette on Tuesday night, June 30, at 8 pm. Log on here for details.