Unappreciated in it’s Time

The Corvette has endured years of production and at the same time has been panned over by just about every major automotive journal and magazine out there. Whether it be a road test, comparison test, endurance test or what have you, the automotive press has consistently come away with a less than favorable experience and review. So why? Well, to many an automotive journalist, the car itself was of suspicious breeding (the very first models using stock parts right off the GM shelves). The love/hate affair continued into the all new for 1963 and the C-2 series, the C-3’s were dismissed as a serious sports car but more a ground pounding beast. The all new 1984 C-4 series was at first heralded and then again panned over, they claim it was too long a production run. The C-5 series was the second shortest production run next to the C-2’s, but, here again as the models kept coming the enthusiasm died down. Similarly, the C-6 has met with much of the same disdain. I feel it is the automotive press who is missing the boat here. The Corvette has seen many transformations and offered different models over it’s 58 plus year history. Compared to say Porsche (talk about a model long on the tooth), I am not knocking them, just saying when you compare the various models Chevrolet offered in the Vette, it is head and shoulders above what Porsche (for variety) has offered. I’ll admit here I am a bit biased as I am a Corvette enthusiast and never even bothered to really check out a foreign nameplate (my loss perhaps) but to me, with the all American sports car, the car was/is reliable, holds a great deal of it’s value and if the Corvette was to become more ‘European’, I think we’d lose a very unique aspect of this great automobile.