Cranswick on Classic Chevrolet Corvette 1953-1996

This book charts the rise of America’s only sports car: the Chevrolet Corvette. Its performance, sales and racing achievements are chronicled against a backdrop of industry commentators and key GM and Chevrolet figures; a pictorial presentation of the Plastic Fantastic, depicting its global high performance impact.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and the dream of a world class American sports car took some work. Harley Earl and Ed Cole gave Corvette a push start, Zora Arkus Duntov took the Plastic Fantastic into lunar orbit with astronauts! The Corvette’s rise was based on the substance of excellent design, hardware and the racing achievements that followed.

Once established, the Corvette became a Chevrolet icon, utilised by Bow Tie and GM marketing to benefit the automaker. However, Corvette was no loss leader, it earned its keep and the respect of industry commentators. The Corvette maintained all these qualities through the insurance, governmental and fuel crises malaise era. Surviving into the ’80s, with a fresh design that took on all sports car competitors.

Archive images, independent testing, and the viewpoints of Chevrolet and auto industry personalities illustrate the rise and rise of America’s only sports car, including a substantial mid engine genesis. The Corvette has long been a glamour icon, and something of a lady killer; facts support this assertion, and underline the Corvette’s position as an ultimate dream machine!

• Corvette model evolution through the four classic generations
• Full description of Corvette’s technical innovations
• Corvette versus domestic and imported rivals
• Comprehensive coverage of Corvette in racing
• Detailed performance data from independent Corvette testing
• Full business, demographic and market analysis of the Corvette
• Corvette in the media, small screen, big screen and customization
• How Corvette overcame the malaise era
• An eclectic mix of factory and third party archive images
• Corvette modelling and caricatures