Corvette Chiefs, Pt. 4 of 5 – Tom Wallace, Racer C6 Chief Engineer

Published on November 5, 2020January 29, 2021 by Scott

Former race car driver, Tom Wallace takes the helm as the new Corvette Chief of Engineering

Dateline: 11-5-20 – During Corvette’s early years, as a result of his racing at Le Mans, Zora Arkus-Duntov got the lion’s share of media attention. Credit also goes to three-time Indy 500 winner and automotive engineer Mauri Rose who helped develop the first Corvette chassis on the shop floor as they were being hand-built in Flint, Michigan. Rose and Duntov were friends but Rose wasn’t impressed with Duntov’s driving and used to say, “Zora couldn’t drive a nail with a hammer.” But by the late 1950s, Duntov was the face of Corvette racing.

We have pointed out that Duntov’s successor, Dave McLellan owned and appreciated sports cars and that Dave Hill raced a Lotus Super 7 in SCCA competition. What most Corvette fans don’t know is that while Tom Wallace had the shortest tenure of all of the Corvette chiefs (2 years and 10 months), he raced SCCA A/Sedan class cars in the early ‘70s and was professionally racing IMSA cars in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Wallace raced the 24 Hours of Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring, and won at Talladega. Why didn’t Wallace continue professional racing? Because it was interfering with his day job at Buick.

Wallace was a typical car-crazy kid growing up in the ‘50s and ‘60s. His Dad had an Opel Cadet that he kept running with help from a parts donor car. Before Wallace had his driver’s license, he bought a ’55 Chevy, replaced the stock 3-speed transmission with a 4-speed, rebuilt the engine, and added dual quads. After getting his license, he had the quickest car in high school and rarely lost a drag race.

Thanks to his excellent grades, Wallace went to General Motors Institute after securing a sponsor to become an automotive engineer. Wallace wanted to get into Chevrolet, but there were no openings, so he opted for Buick. One of his first projects was the design and development of the Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) valve that siphons off a small amount of exhaust gas and returns it back into the intake charge. This results in lower nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions.

Wallace graduated in 1970 just as the muscle car era peaked and was ending. Performance was being phased out and emissions, fuel mileage, and safety were Detroit’s new mission. Lloyd Reuss, Buick’s chief engineer was aware of Wallace’s interest in racing and asked him to research adding a turbocharger to their old V6 engine. Wallace’s reported that it could be done and Reuss instructed him to install a turbo on a Buick Century to pace the 1976 Indy 500. As part of a three-man team, Wallace was the engineman, the others did the suspension and brakes. In total Wallace produced six Indy 500 pace cars. Wallace’s turbo Buick V6 project eventually lead to the Buick Grand National, Turbo-T, T-Type, and the frightful GNX series cars that ran from 1982 to 1987.

Wallace enjoyed engineering and racing, but he knew that if he was to rise up in the ranks in GM, he needed to curtail his racing and get more education. In the early ‘80s Wallace got his Masters in Business at Stanford and over the next twenty years had a variety of chief positions with Buick, Olds, Cadillac, and Chevrolet groups. When GM started its Vehicle Line Engineer (VLE) management structure, managers were in charge of everything from design-to-production, sales, and service. Wallace ran the Trail Blazer, Envoy, Bravada, Saab 9-7, Colorado/Canyon pickups, and the Hummer H3 lines.

Dave Hill was the VLE of Performance Car that included Corvette, Cadillac XLR, Saturn Sky, Pontiac Solstice, Opel GT. One day during a group vehicle-program review meeting with Bob Lutz; Wallace heard Hill outlining the Z06 with 505-horsepower and a dry-sump oil system, he said to himself, “What the!” Wallace said to Lutz, “My goodness, this is unbelievable. Do you know what Dave is about to do?” Wallace said that some of the VLEs had no idea what Hill was talking about. When Wallace expressed real concern about selling 505-horsepower cars to novice customers, it was explained to him that only select dealers get Z06s. These dealers understand performance and coach customers to have respect for the car and help get them into a driver’s school.

Late in 2005 Wallace got the surprise of his career. After a VLE meeting, Lutz told Wallace that Hill was retiring on January 1 and that he wanted him to take the position of VLE and Chief Engineer for Corvette. Wallace was stunned and fully aware that he was inheriting a great team with Tadge Juechter as his lead engineer. But unforeseen circumstances would make this a short-lived position – only two years and ten months.

When Wallace took over the Corvette program, the C6 ZR1 was a concept on paper and was deemed too expensive. Wallace and his team worked out the cost, got the project approved, and started the ZR1’s development. It wasn’t long before rumors of a super Vette surfaced with names such as “Blue Devil” and “SS”. Then someone inside GM posted a photo of a development ZR1 as it was being shipped to Germany for testing. The Corvette world knew for sure when a cell phone video was posted of a disguised Corvette with the unmistakable sound of a supercharged engine. WOW, a supercharged Corvette!

When the ZR1 was released to the press in late 2007, Wallace explained, “We want to push the technology envelope into the supercar realm. We want a Corvette that can take on any production car in the world.” While Corvette fans were feasting, GM was heading for bankruptcy. Corvettes had a history of platforms running too long. Hill said that the planned six-year duration might even be too long. Wallace and his team started work on the C7 in April 2006. As things got worse for GM, it was discovered that the only full-size trucks and Corvettes were moneymakers. Regardless, future plans had to be stopped.

In October Lutz informed Wallace that the board of directors did not approve funding for the C7, he would have to proceed with paint and decals for the foreseeable future. Also, to preserve cash, top-level executives were offered early retirement to reduce headcount. For a car guy/racer, babysitting the Corvette was not how Wallace wanted to end his GM career, so he retired on November 1, 2008.

Wallace didn’t get to do as much with the Corvette as he wanted, but he did several things that made a difference. He knew that it would be very beneficial for his engineers to get track training at the National Corvette Museum’s and to talk with customers about what they like, don’t like, and want for future Corvettes. As Wallace had expressed concerns over selling powerful Corvettes, included in the price of the ZR1 was high-performance driver training. And with his racing background, Wallace was the perfect lead engineer to work with Pratt & Miller on issues with their C6.R cars. This intense relationship caused more racecar to be built into the C7. While Wallace wasn’t able to usher in the C7, his efforts set up the program for the capable hands of Tadge Juechter. – Scott

PS – Be sure to catch all 5 parts of my Corvette Chiefs Series

Corvette Chiefs, Pt. 1 – Zora Arkus-Duntov

Corvette Chiefs, Pt.2 – Dave McLellan

Corvette Chiefs, Pt. 3 – Dave Hill

Corvette Chiefs, Pt. 4 – Tom Wallace

Corvette Chiefs, Pt. 5 – Tadge Juechter

Corvette Chiefs, Pt. 2 of 5 – Dave McLellan

Published on July 22, 2020January 29, 2021 by Scott

Dave McLellan, Heir to Duntov’s Engineering Throne

(Dateline: 7-3-20 – This story was originally published in the now-defunct Vette magazine, July 2019 issue. Story, Illustrations & Graphics by K. Scott Teeters) – When Dave McLellan took over as Corvette’s new chief engineer on January 1, 1975, it was a whole new world. The prevailing trends went from performance cars to safer cars with reduced emissions. Not even Duntov could have made a difference in the ‘70s. But as performance went down, Corvette sales went way up! The sales department was happy, but the Corvette was really getting old. Dave McLellan was an unknown to the Corvette community and many wondered what he would bring to the brand. It turned out; he brought a lot!

McLellan was a car guy. He rebuilt his family’s Frazer and entered the Fisher Body Craftsmen’s Guild Model Contest. Upon graduation from Wayne State University in Detroit with a degree in mechanical engineering, GM hired Hill on July 1, 1959. Thought the ‘60s Hill worked at the Milford Proving Ground on noise and acoustics issues with GM tank treads, Buick brakes, and tuned resonators for mufflers. Hill was also going to night school to get his Master’s Degree in engineering mechanics. In 1967 Hill was part of the group that planned and operated the 67-acre Black Lake where ride, handling, and crashworthiness tests are performed.

Chevrolet engineering brought in Hill to work on the 1970-1/2 Camaro and Z28. Hill wanted to move into management so he took a yearlong sabbatical and attended MIT Alfred. P. Sloan School of Management. The school emphasizes innovation in practice and research. In July 1974 Hill was Zora Arkus-Duntov’s part-time assistant, training for taking over the position in 1975.

While Hill didn’t have Duntov’s racing experience, he owned several Porsches and understood racing sports cars. As Duntov was leaving, he told Hill, “Dave, you must do mid-engine Corvette.” Little did they know that it would finally happen forty-five years later.

When Duntov took control of Corvette engineering in 1956, he had to boost sales and make the Corvette a performance car and a capable racecar. When Hill took control, Corvettes were never selling better, but the platform design was nearly fifteen-years-old. Hill had to keep the car fresh, hit the new requirements, and maintain performance; all with a limited budget.

Management figured that the Corvette had a captive audience, so they didn’t have to spend money to change anything. Fortunately, that lame notion was overruled. The 1978 glass fastback and the 1980 front and rear bumper covers were excellent updates. Another major issue was quality control. The St. Louis assembly plant made three other cars and often workers were unfamiliar with the specialties of the Corvette. This issue didn’t get fixed until the plant was moved to the Corvette-only Bowling Green facility.

McLellan knew that the C3 needed to be replaced, as the chassis was designed around 1960! For a brief period, it looked like the mid-engine Aerovette would become the C4, but Chevrolet decided to abandon all mid-engine programs. The all-new C4 began to take shape in Jerry Palmer’s Chevrolet Studio Three in 1978. When the C4 debuted in December 1982, it received rave reviews, despite the fact that suspension engineers later admitted that they over-did-it with the stiff suspension. By 1985 the suspension was softened and the 150-mph Corvette won Car and Driver’s “Fastest Car in America” award and began the total domination of Corvettes in the SCCA Escort Showroom Stock racing series from 1985-to-1987. Porsche bought a Corvette to take apart to find why the car was unbeatable. By the end of 1987, SCCA kicked out all of the Corvettes for being too fast! McLellan followed up with the Corvette Challenge factory-build racecars.

McLellan’s personal style was more suited to the intricacies of modern electronic computer-controlled performance cars than Duntov’s. Where Duntov’s enthusiasm was effervescent, McLellan was laid-back, approachable, but not shy with the automotive press. After the successful rollout of the C4, McLellan took on four very serious performance projects for the Corvette; The Callaway Twin Turbo option, the ZR-1 performance model, the LT-5 Lotus/Mercury Marine performance engine, and the mid-engine CERV-III. Let’s look at all four projects.

“Supercars” were the rage and by 1985 Porsche had their 959 and Ferrari was about to unleash their F40. To have something to offer while McLellan was starting his ZR-1 project, a deal was made with Reeves Callaway to build brand-new Corvettes with a Callaway Twin Turbo package. The cars had 345-horsepower (stock Corvettes had 240) and from 1987-to-1991 RPO B2K was the only non-installed official RPO Corvette option ever offered.

The ZR-1 super-Vette had two components. The first was its Lotus-engineered, all-aluminum, double-overhead-cam engine built by Mercury Marine. McLellan’s engineers set down the size parameters and horsepower objective; Lotus did the rest. McLellan turned to the best manufacturer of all-aluminum, performance marine engines in the country, Mercury marine. The end result was the beautiful jewel-like LT-5, an engine that is still respected today. The second component was the widening of the ZR-1’s body to cover the enormous P315/35ZR17 rear tires and beef up the car’s drivetrain and suspension.

The 1990 CERV-III Corvette was McLellan’s vision of Duntov’s mid-engine Corvette, with electronic steroids. The car had a carbon fiber Lotus-style backbone chassis, four-wheel steering, active suspension, a transverse, 650-horsepower twin-turbocharged LT-5 ZR-1 engine and a dry-sump oil system, and a four-speed transaxle. This was the final design that started out as the Indy Corvette in 1986 and had a top speed of 225-mph. And lastly, the CERV-III was designed to be manufactured.

When McLellan was part of the 1992 “Decision Makers” three-man internal Chevrolet design group, gathered to evaluate the direction of the C5, McLellan chose the CERV-III concept over the front-engine “Momentum Architecture” and the stiffer/lighter restyled C4. But the CERV-III was deemed too expensive for the market. The “Momentum Architecture” with its backbone structure, a transaxle, and an all-aluminum engine with design elements from the LT-5, lives on today in the C7.

McLellan oversaw the three-year, 1990-to-1992 mid-cycle refresh. The process started in 1990 with an all-new dash; 1991 saw new front and rear bumper covers; and in 1992 the 245-horsepower L98 was replaced with the 300-horsepower LT1.

In 1990 McLellan won the Society of Automotive Engineers’ Edward N. Cole Award for Automotive Engineering Innovation. In 1991 GM was offering early retirement packages, allowing 53-year old employees to receive the same benefits as those retiring at 62. McLellan took the offer and stayed on as a consultant while GM looked for a suitable replacement. McLellan was fortunate enough to be in his consulting position on July 2, 1992, when he was on hand to see the one-millionth Corvette roll off the Bowling Green assembly line. What a thrill for a car that McLellan had given so much to and a car that was so often on the line for its survival.

Finally, on November 18, 1992, the new chief of Corvette engineering was Dave Hill. Since then, McLellan has been a much sought after automotive consultant, he wrote and illustrated “Corvette From the Inside” and he’s a frequent and revered guest of honor at all of the top Corvette events. In 1999 McLellan was inducted into the National Corvette Museum’s Hall of Fame. McLellan goes down in the Corvette history books as the second of the five great Corvette chief engineers. – Scott

PS – Be sure to catch all 5 parts of my Corvette Chiefs Series

Corvette Chiefs, Pt. 1 – Zora Arkus-Duntov

Corvette Chiefs, Pt.2 – Dave McLellan

Corvette Chiefs, Pt. 3 – Dave Hill

Corvette Chiefs, Pt. 4 – Tom Wallace

Corvette Chiefs, Pt. 5 – Tadge Juechter

Corvette Chiefs, Pt. 1 of 5 – Zora Arkus-Duntov, Corvette’s Nostradamus

Published on July 3, 2020January 29, 2021 by Scott

Duntov carried the heart and soul of the Corvette into racing and created an American legend.

(Dateline: 7-3-20 – This story was originally published in the now-defunct Vette magazine, June 2019 issue) Arguably, there had never been a chief engineer of an American car the likes of Zora Arkus-Duntov. When Duntov was hired to work at Chevrolet on May 1, 1953, the 43-year old European-trained engineer brought a background that made him uniquely qualified to become Corvette’s first chief engineer.

As a young man, Duntov was into boxing, motorcycles, fast cars, and pretty girls. After his formal engineering training in Berlin, Germany, Duntov started racing cars and applying his engineering skills to racecar construction. In 1935 Duntov built his first racecar with help from his racing partner Asia Orley; they called the car, “Arkus”. Their goal was to debut the car at the Grand Prix de Picardie in June 1935. But after a series of mishaps, the car caught fire and never raced. From this point forward, all Duntov wanted to do was build racecars.

In the 1930s Auto Union and Mercedes built the best racecars in Europe. Duntov wrote a technical paper about a new racing concept for the German Society of Engineers titled “Analysis of Four-Wheel Drive for Racing Cars”. at the 1937 Automobile Salon in Paris, Duntov met Dr. Ferdinand Porsche, the designer of the Mercedes-Benz SS and SSK racers, and French performance-car builder and designer, Ettore Bugatti. Mercedes-Benz cars were complex engineering marvels, but Duntov appreciated Bugatti’s elegant simplicity, raw speed, and the success of his cars with privateers. “Simplicity and privateers” are two hints of things Duntov would later do with Corvettes.

After marrying Elfi Wolff in 1939, war broke out in Europe, and Duntov and his brother Yura had a brief stint in the French air force. France fell quickly and Duntov and his family made their way to New York. The brothers setup the Ardun Mechanical Corporation and worked through the war years as parts suppliers for the U.S. military. After the war Duntov and Yura turned their attention back to racecars and started producing their Ardun Hemi Head Conversion kits for flathead Fords.

Post-war years were difficult and by the early ‘50s Duntov was looking for an engineering job with a major Detroit car company. His goal was to find a company that would let him build racecars. When Duntov saw the first Corvette at the 1953 Motorama, he immediately pursued GM, specifically to work on the new Corvette. Chevrolet general manager Ed Cole hired Duntov and assigned him to work under GM suspension master, Maurice Olley; the clash was immediate. Olley was reserved and a numbers-cruncher; Duntov was outgoing and designed by intuition. Six weeks after being hired, Duntov requested time-off to race a Cadillac-powered Allard JR at The 24 Hours of Le Mans. Olley refused, but Cole got him off the hook to race at Le Mans, but without pay. Duntov was so irritated that he almost didn’t come back from France. After his return, Duntov reassigned and started testing special parts to improve the Corvette’s suspension and general performance.

When the 265 small-block became available in 1955, Duntov took a modified ’54 Corvette with the new engine and some aero mods to the GM Phoenix Arizona test track where he was clocked at 162-mph. The mule Corvette was later rebodied as a ’56 Corvette and was part of a team of three Corvettes that were taken to the 1956 Speed Weeks event at Daytona Beach where Corvettes set speed records. Then in March at the 1956 12 Hours of Sebring race, Corvette scored its first major class win. Duntov and three-time Indy 500 winner and engineer Mauri Rose were then tasked by Ed Cole to design, develop, and make available, special Chevrolet-engineered racing parts. When the Rochester Fuel Injection option was released in 1957, RPO 684 Heavy-Duty Racing Suspension was there for privateers that wanted to race their Corvette.

Illustration & Graphics – K. Scott Teeters

The Bugatti pattern was laid down; make simple, fast cars, and let the privateers do the racing. Duntov also built a few purpose-built Corvette racecars. The 1957 Corvette SS was a good first step but the timing was bad because of the 1957 AMA Racing Ban. The Grand Sport was similar to the RPO Racer Kit program, only a complete, basic racing Corvette was to be sold to privateers. Again, the AMA Racing Ban killed the project. If Duntov hadn’t pushed racing, the Corvette would have morphed into a Thunderbird-like four-seater and been killed by the early ‘60s.

Duntov laid out three design concepts that took decades to implement. The first was his proposal for the 1957 Q-Corvette. This design called for the following: an all-aluminum, fuel-injected small-block engine, four-wheel independent suspension, four-wheel disc brakes, and a transaxle. This design concept arrived in 1997 as the C5.

The second design concept was the mid-engine layout. Duntov’s first mid-engine concept was the 1960 CERV-I. The design parameters were those of an Indy 500 racecar, but with a larger engine. Duntov’s second mid-engine car was the 1964 CERV-II. The third concept in the CERV-II was its unique four-wheel-drive system. Using transaxle parts from the Pontiac Tempest, the system “worked” but would not have lasted as a racecar.

Through the ‘60s several other mid-engine “Corvette” cars were built, but not by Duntov. Engineer Frank Winchell’s 1968 Astro-II Corvette was a beautiful attempt, but like all mid-engine Corvette proposals, it went nowhere. In 1970 Duntov showed his XP-882 with a transverse-mounted 454 engine. After the car was shown at the 1970 New York Auto Show, it went into hiding for some reason. Later, the chassis was used to build the Four-Rotor mid-engine Corvette that was later retrofitted with a small-block engine and rebranded “Astrovette” in 1976, after Duntov retired.

Just after the debut of the C7, the Corvette community started buzzing about the mid-engine C8. For a time the C8 was an unconfirmed rumor until Chevrolet announced that, yes, a mid-engine Corvette was in the works. In 2018 camouflaged mule cars started being seen on public roads. In July 2018 a camouflaged C8.R was seen being tested. Towards the end of 2018 speculation was that the C8 would debut at the 2019 Detroit Auto Show. Then in December 2018, Chevrolet announced that the C8 would be delayed “at least six months” due to “serious electrical problems.”

An insider friend has been telling me for over a year that they were having serious problems getting the car right, but he wasn’t specific. Then another hint was dropped; the problem is with the car’s 48-volt electrical system. Why would the C8 have a 48-volt system? Answer; because it will have auxiliary electrical front-wheel drive. Suspension and traction is everything, so AWD is inevitable.

While Duntov didn’t “predict” the Corvette’s future, he certainly set the course. His insistence that Corvette be tied to racing, kept the car from becoming Chevy’s Thunderbird. The features of the 1957 Q-Corvette are the very design foundation of the C5, C6, and C7 Corvette. The CERV I, CERV II, and the XP-882 (minus the transverse engine) will live in the mid-engine C8. And it is likely that the CERV II’s all-wheel-drive concept will live in the C8, only as an electrical, and not a mechanical system. Without one man’s obsession with building racecars, there’d be no Corvette legend. – Scott

Be sure to check out the Duntov installment of my “Founding Fathers, Pt. 4 Zora Arkus-Duntov”, HERE.

Also, catch all 5 parts of my Corvette Chiefs Series

Corvette Chiefs, Pt. 1 – Zora Arkus-Duntov

Corvette Chiefs, Pt.2 – Dave McLellan

Corvette Chiefs, Pt. 3 – Dave Hill

Corvette Chiefs, Pt. 4 – Tom Wallace

Corvette Chiefs, Pt. 5 – Tadge Juechter

Jim Perkins Tribute: R.I.P. Corvette Corporate Angel

Published on June 23, 2020June 23, 2020 by Scott

Jim Perkins: The Man That Saved the Modern Corvette

(Note: this story was originally published in the March 2019 issue of Vette Vues Magazine) – The Corvette is the most unlikely of all cars for a company such as General Motors to produce. GM is all about producing huge volumes of cars and trucks. When the Corvette came out as a late offering in June 1953, only 300 cars were hand-assembled. Engineers and builders were literally designing as they were building the cars. Sales jumped to 3,640 for 1954 and tanked to just 700 in 1955. Harley Earl restyled the Corvette for 1956 and sales went up to 3,467 units and then 6,339 for 1957. Meanwhile Ford sold 16,155 T-Birds in 1955, 15,631 in 1956, and 21,380 in 1957! They were killing the Corvette then went to a four-seater configuration, leaving Chevrolet the two-seater sports car market all to themselves. Corvette sales didn’t hit 10,000 units until 1960; not much in the big picture of GM!

The long knives were out for the Corvette inside GM. There were many that didn’t understand the Corvette, didn’t like it, and wanted it dead! What saved the Corvette were its corporate angels; Art and Color Section VP, Harley Earl; Chevrolet general manager, Ed Cole; Senior VP of Design, Bill Mitchell; Zora Arkus-Duntov; and Mauri Rose. The common denominator with all of these men is that they are “car guys”. Bill Mitchell was famous for boasting, “I’ve got gasoline in my veins!” Aside from Duntov and Rose, these men had corporate clout; they could lean on and make things happen.

Photo Credit: Motor Trend Magazine
While general manager of Chevrolet, Jim Perkins was famous for handing out pins with the Chevy bow-tie and the work “Pride” beneath it.

In 1960, after some college attendance at Baylor University and three years in the Navy, Jim Perkins took a job at a Chevrolet warehouse, sorting parts while he finished his degree. Little did Perkins know that thirty years later, he too would become a corporate angel for the Corvette.

Perkins was a Depression Era kid from Waco, Texas. When World War II broke out Perkins’ dad tried to enlist in the military but was told he was “too old”. This was a time when men did whatever they had to do to put food on the table. Being mechanically inclined, Perkins’ dad started fixing cars, then buying, and selling cars. Perkins spent a lot of time with his dad and at the age of 14, he got an after school job at a local Texaco service station. Perkins quickly developed a reputation as a very good Chevy mechanic. Perkins fixed and sold a series of cars and finally got a hot ’52 Oldsmobile. But when the ’55 Chevy came out, he sold his Olds and made enough for a new Chevy. From here forward, Perkins was a Chevy car guy!

After graduating from high school, Perkins took courses at Baylor then served three years in the Navy. After his discharge from the Navy, he took a low-level job, sorting parts at a Chevrolet warehouse, while completing his college courses. With his Navy experience and eventual degree, Perkins quickly rose through the ranks at Chevrolet in Sales & Service. In the mid-‘70s, he landed a peach-of-a-job working for then GM president, Pete Estes. That’s where Perkins learned the ropes of GM corporate life.

After a few years working for Estes, Perkins was transferred to Buick. Detroit was struggling to come out of the 1970s recession and how to deal with the success of Japanese cars. Perkins was working under Lloyd Reuss and it was a good relationship. “Just In Time” production was a new concept and Perkins was doing many of the management tasks that Lloyd normally would have done, and he loved it! The first two years they set records; then management changed.

The new top guy at Buick was Don Hackworth and it wasn’t a good mix for Perkins. The two men almost immediately started butting heads. On a plane coming back from a business meeting, Perkins asked Hackworth what they could do to have a better working relationship. Hackworth suggested a “foreign assignment” for Perkins. That was IT for Perkins. What Hackworth didn’t know was that Toyota was wooing Perkins for an executive position. The timing was perfect

Photo Credit: Motor Trend Magazine
Right to Left: Jim Perkins, General Chuck Yeager and AJ Foyt

When Perkins came into Toyota with his “GM top-down” management style, he was nearly stopped in his tracks. The Japanese car companies were all using the “Consensus Process”; which starts from the bottom (assembly workers) and goes up from there. Perkins quickly learned that while the process takes longer, the execution is like a rocket ship; everyone is onboard and you get better solutions.

A year later, Toyota made Perkins Group V.P. for Sales, Marketing, Distribution, Product Planning, and New Ventures. Around this time Japanese car companies announced that they were taking on the luxury car segment of Mercedes and BMW. Mr. Toyoda wanted to prove to the world that they could build world-class luxury automobiles. Toyota formed Lexus and Perkins was a key player.

Then, an extraordinary thing happened; GM wanted Perkins back! Typically at GM, once you leave, that’s it. Perkins learned from his former boss, Lloyd Reuss, that then-GM president Bob Stemple (another car guy!) wanted to talk to Perkins about coming back. When the two men talked, Perkins told Stemple, “There are two jobs I would come back for; president of GM, or general manager of Chevrolet.” Stemple’s reply was, “Well, that’s a little lofty.” Stemple and Perkins continued their conversation for a time before Stemple called Perkins. “OK, big boy, it’s time to put up of shut up. We’ll make you general manager of Chevrolet.”

It had been twenty-nine years since car guy mechanic Jim Perkins started sorting parts in a Chevrolet warehouse. In May 1989 Perkins was made general manager of Chevrolet. He’s always been a Chevy-guy, and now he was running the division. But when Perkins got back, he was in for a shock. Perkins said in a 2014 interview with Motor Trend, “I didn’t recognize Chevrolet when I got back. It had lost its pride. There was so much infighting among sales, marketing, product planning, distribution, you name it. Everywhere you looked was a silo with its own management, and that’s the kiss of death.”

Photo Credit: DigitalCorvettes.com
The CERV IV was really a C5 in drag. Under the stretched body was a full C5 frame and suspension. This is the car that convinced GM management to go ahead with the C5.

“TCE” Total Customer Enthusiasm had to start at the top, meaning that managers with bad attitudes had to go. Using Toyota’s “Consensus Process” concept, Perkins invited his people to write to him about the problems they faced and possible solutions. Perkins got 1900 letters, read them all, distilled them into to-do lists, and formed employee councils to come up with working plans. A lot got fixed, workers felt their experience mattered and the organization was much happier. The same concept was also applied to the dealer networks.

By 1990 the nation’s economy was moving into another recession and things were not good inside GM. All car lines were being closely reviewed and Corvette sales were in a downward direction. Once again, the car was on the chopping block. According to Corvette designer, John Cafaro, by 1992 the Corvette almost died. People in the company didn’t understand the car and no one wanted to champion the car. Former GM executive Ralph Kramer said, “Many GM insiders considered the Corvette to be a non-essential product in the GM/Chevrolet stable. The thought that the Corvette would NOT just be in the Chevy stable of cars, but instead the main character; the stud-horse; the Secretariat; was totally remote to the Corvette-haters; but how could it not be otherwise?” (Today, the Corvette is THE flagship of GM)

GM’s Mid-size Car Division managed Joe Spielman (also a car guy and Corvette fan) created a task group called, “The Decision Makers”. The group consisted of himself, Carlisle Davis, John Cafaro, and Dave McLellan. The team’s objective was to create a path for the future of the Corvette. They came up with three directions; First: A production version of the 1990 mid-engine CERV-III; Second: The Momentum Architecture, featuring an evolutionary body style, a stiff backbone-type chassis, and a transaxle; and Third: the “Stiffer and Lighter” design which was a lighter and improved C4. The team chose the “Momentum Architecture”. The problem was funding.

In November 1992 Dave Hill took over as Corvette’s chief engineer and had a big problem on his hands; how to prove the concept of the Momentum Architecture when he had no budget. Corvette manager Russ McLean went the Perkins and explained that the Corvette team needed funding for another CERV Corvette (Corporate Engineering Research Vehicle) to prove the viability of the Momentum Architecture concept. Perkins managed to pull $1.2 Million from another budget to allow Hill’s team to build what is arguably the stealthiest R&D Corvette ever, the CERV IV.

Photo Credit: Mecum Auctions
This is the 1995 Indy 500 Corvette Pace Car that Jim Perkins drove to start the 1995 Indy 500.

The CERV IV was essentially a C5 structure wearing a C4 body. A keen eye would have noticed that it looked like a “l-o-n-g” C4 Corvette, but when the car was on public roads, no one noticed. When Hill took executives for a ride, they all said, “This is like no Corvette we ever felt!” Hill proved to GM’s president, Jack Smith, that his team could reinvent the Corvette, as well as the building process. The $1.2 Million that corporate angel Perkins was able to secure for the CERV IV saved the Corvette! It was something that ONLY Jim Perkins could have done.

In 1996, at age 61, Perkins retired from Chevrolet. In his seven years as Chevrolet’s general manager he rekindled Chevy’s 1960’s-style pride; improved Chevy’s truck production; strengthened Chevy’s role in product development and design; helped his people come to grips with downsizing and reorganization, supervised the Chevrolet Racing Team that won five NASCAR Championships and had six Indy Car victories; and got to drive the pace car at the Indy 500 three times in 1990, 1993, and 1995 (in a Corvette).

Photo Credit: GM Archives
While it doesn’t look like it, the C5 is the most radical new production Corvette ever offered, thanks to its new hydro-formed perimeter frame, center spine structure, all-aluminum LS1 engine, and transaxle.

In the 2014 Motor Trend interview, Perkins said this about driving the Indy pace car, “You come out of turn four when you’re going to turn them loose, you know you have to make the left turn into the pits, you look down the track, and it looks like everything is closing in on you with all the people and color and movement. You swear you’re going through the eye of a needle. My God, it is such a tremendous, tremendous experience.”

Retirement from Chevrolet only lasted three months when Perkins accepted an offer from Rick Hendricks to take over his company after he came down with leukemia. Perkins stayed on as the CEO and later COO. Perkins said of his time at Hendricks Motorsports, “If ever anything has been rewarding, it has been seeing this company do what it has done. I have no regrets. It’s been a blast, a great, great, great ride.” In 1999 Jim Perkins was inducted into the National Corvette Museum’s Hall of Fame in the GM-Chevrolet Category.

Photo Credit: National Corvette Museum
Jim Perkins was inducted into the National Corvette Museum’s Hall of Fame in 1999.

Jim Perkins was a poor kid from depression-era Waco, Texas that liked to work on Chevys. He was described as a “wily, free-speaking, cowboy boot-wearing Texan.” Perkins died on December 28, 2019 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Jim Perkins was 83 years-of-age. Perkins had an exemplary career and most importantly to the Corvette community, saved the Corvette. – Scott

C8 Mid-Engine Corvette Fan Rendering: Is This Making You Warm?

Published on November 16, 2018November 16, 2018 by Scott

The C8 Mid-Engine Corvette will be an awesome machine, but does this “look” like a “Corvette”? What would Bill Mitchell think?

Dateline: 11.16.18 – Main Photo Credit: www.Motor1.com, except where noted, Image Credit: GM Archives – As reported on November 8, 2018 by Motor1.com, rumor clouds are gathering and indicating that the C8 mid-engine Corvette will debut at the NAIAS Show in Detroit in January 2019. That seems likely since the C8 did not debut at the Dubai International Motor Show.

Since C8 mule cars have been seen for months now on public roads wearing camo wraps and photos are getting clearer and clearer, a January 2019 debut as a 2020 model seems likely. Last July very clear images of a development C8.R (racing) Corvette was seen, indicating that the Corvette Racing Team will probably race a mid-engine Corvette for the 2019 season.

Chris Draper, owner of the “My Corvette Life” YouTube channel stitched together this very nice presentation of mid-engine Corvettes.

Today Motor1.com published five very well done digital renderings of the C8 mid-engine Corvette, based on the numerous photos we’ve been seeing on the net. I am certain that the C8 will be a wundercar, chock full of gee-wiz goodies.

A mid-engine Corvette has been the ultimate pie-in-the-sky Vette since the 1960s when mid-engine was the best layout for balance and the state-of-the-art of tires back in the day. A mid-engine Corvette was Zora Arkus-Duntov’s ultimate dream Corvette. There’s a good chance that the C8 will be called “Zora”.

Image Credit: K. Scott Teeters Corvette Library

But we’ve come a long way, baby, since the days of 100-percent mechanical supercars. Between electronics, computers, vastly superior materials, and tires with more sticky than rubber cement; does the mid-engine layout still make sense?

I would submit that the success of the C7.R argues the case that a mid-engine layout is no longer needed. The Corvette Racing Team won the 2018 Championship without scoring a single class win. It’s all about consistency and the points race. Then, factor in the disadvantage put upon the C7.R Corvettes, thanks to IMSA’s BoP rules, and clearly, the front mid-engine C7.R Corvette was the superior car in the series.

Over the past sixty-five years the Corvette has had many contenders, has vanquished them all, and is truly a world-class champion race car and “America’s Sports Car” This begs the question; is a mid-engine Corvette relevant in today’s world of electro-mechanical performance cars?

The Corvette mystique has many factors; performance, affordability, durability, utility, unique good looks, history, and more. For the most part, a Corvette is a car that you can live with as a daily driver, especially since the arrival of the 1984 C4 with its functional hatchback roof. You can do light grocery shopping, go golfing, and take a trip with a Corvette, thanks to the generous amount of storage area in the back (as sports cars go).

This kind of utility will not be part of the mid-engine Corvette. This is a packaging issue and is common with all mid-engine sports cars. Remember the Pontiac Fiero? That was a very cool, affordable mid-engine sports car, but all you could store in the “trunk” in the back was two slim brief cases.

Probably a year from now we will be seeing lots of C8 mid-engine Corvettes on the road. But this will not be a GT (Grand Touring) car. No one will be taking long trips in a C8, unless they have a support car following along with their gear. And I doubt that any C8 owner will be attaching a tow hitch for a motorcycle trailer, either.And lastly I want to address the C8’s looks. I have had a love affair with Corvettes since 1965 when I didn’t even know what I was looking at, other than it was the most beautiful car I’d ever seen in my young life. I am probably committing sacrilege, but I have to be honest. While subtle surface details are nearly impossible to make out on the camoed C8 mule cars, the overall shape and proportion of the C8 is obvious. Twenty years ago, we depended on gifted automotive artists, such as Mark Stehrenberger, to provide magazines with renderings of upcoming Corvettes in the months before official debuts. But today there are numerous very talented digital artists that create “renderings” that can pass as actual photographs. Okay, so here the “sacrilege” part.

I am not liking what I’m seeing. To my artist’s eye, the car looks stubby and bulky; a collection of add-on design elements. The styling appears to be engineering-driven. A beautiful car should hit you immediately. You shouldn’t have to think about it; there should be an immediate, visceral response; a “WOW!”

Image Credit: Motor1.com http://www.Motor1.com

In October when Motor1.com showed the upcoming McLaren Speedtail, it got a “WOW! WOW! WOW!” from me. I mentioned to Marty Schorr from CarGuyChronicles.com and founder of Vette Magazine, that if the Speedtail body was the C8 Corvette, I’m be a “Happy Corvetter”! Marty concurred.

The C5 Corvette was almost a mid-engine car. The 1990 CERV III was a serious contender for the C5 but was deemed too expensive. The CERV III was a “WOW!” Corvette for me. Prior mid-engine prototypes were almost all gorgeous cars that screamed “CORVETTE!!!” That’s why I have added images of past mid-engine Corvettes in this post. I can not imagine that VP of GM Styling Bill Mitchell would be happy with the C8. Zora would be THRILLED! But then again, Duntov and Mitchell often and famously butted horns.

Believe me, my highest hope at this point is that I’m dead wrong. We’ll see soon. – Scott

A street version of the Daytona Ptototype would have worked for me for the C8.

Founding Fathers Pt 4 of 6: Corvette Godfather, Zora Arkus-Duntov

Published on October 23, 2018January 31, 2019 by Scott

Zora Arkus-Duntov: The Performance Godfather of all Corvettes

Dateline: 10.23.18 – One of the definitions of the word, “godfather” is; “one that founds, supports, or inspires”. Of all of the Corvette’s “Founding Fathers” none are more deserving of the term than Zora Arkus-Duntov. It is not an exaggeration to say that were it not for Duntov, the Corvette never would have made it past 1970!

Although the Corvette fit the definition of a “sports car”, when Chevrolet released the car in 1953, they said that the car was, “not a sports car”. But when Zora saw the Corvette at the 1953 GM Motorama in New York City, he said that it was the most beautiful car he had ever seen, and knew instantly that he wanted to be a part of the new Corvette team.

Zora was born on December 25, 1909 and his birth name was “Zachary Arkus”. Both of his parents were Russian Jews living in Belgium. His mother was a medical student and his father was a mining engineer. After the Russian Revolution the family moved back to Leningrad, Russia, but his parents divorced. His mother’s new partner was Josef Duntov. Years later, Zora and his brother, Yura added the surname, “Duntov” to theirs.

Josef Duntov was an engineer for the Soviet government and was transferred to Berlin, Germany. Zora loved Berlin. When he wasn’t attending classes at the Charlottenburg Technological University, he was drawing cars, writing papers, riding motorcycles, roaring around in his Type 30 Bugatti, and chasing girls. When Zora met Elfi Wolff, a beautiful German dancer with the Folies Bergere, it was love at first sight, and the couple married in France in 1939. When WW-II broke out in 1939, Zora and Yura wanted nothing to do with fascism, and joined the French Air Force. But when France surrendered, the entire Duntov family made plans to get out of France and immigrate to America.

All Zora ever wanted to do was build and race cars. After the family settled down in New York, Zora and Yura started the Ardun Mechanical Corporation, a machining company. Quickly, the company became a success, receiving an “A” classification with the Army Air Force Quality Control. Government work for the war effort made Zora and Elfi wealthy. After the war Zora and Yura made their contribution to the burgeoning hot rod industry that set the stage for Duntov’s part of the Corvette story.

Ford brought the V8 to the masses and it wasn’t long before guys started hot rodding the Flat-head V8 Ford. The design was cheap and simple, but didn’t breathe very well. Zora designed an aluminum, overhead valve hemi-head bold-on kit for the popular Ford flathead engine. The Ardun OHV Hemi heads took output from 100-hp to 160-hp; a 62-percent increase! They offered a conversion kit, a complete engine, and an all-out, 200-hp racing engine. While terrific as a concept, Zora wasn’t a “development engineer” and didn’t have the patience to sort out details. Through a series of business mistakes, the company eventually folded. Also, in 1946 and 1947 Zora had two failed qualifying attempts at Indy.

Photo: K. Scott Teeters – Duntov wanted to take a team of Corvette SS race cars to the 1957 24 Hours of Le Mans race, but the AMA Racing Ban stopped Zora’s Le Mans assault.

By 1948 Zora was looking for a racecar company to work for and took a job working for Allard England. Without a company to run, Duntov was able to stay focused on engineering and development work for Sydney Allard’s sports racing cars. In 1949 Zora raced an Ardun-powered Allard J2 at Watkins Glen, but had braking problems. Then in 1952 Zora drive a new Allard J2X at Le Mans, but broke an axle at the 14-hour mark.

Working for Allard was fun, but Zora knew there was no future there. In 1952 he came back to New York and started looking for employment with an American car company. Duntov applied with Chrysler, Ford, Lincoln-Mercury, Ford, and General Motors. Chrysler suggested that his racing engineering skills would be more suited to much smaller companies. He even tried Jaguar, but was rejected. A letter to GM’s Chief Engineer, Ed Cole in October was responded with an invitation to, “…stop by if you’re ever in Detroit.” But Cole passed Duntov’s letter to his head suspension/chassis engineer, Maurice Olley, who responded to Zora on January 5, 1953 with an invitation for an interview.

Around this time Duntov had his “Oh, WOW!” moment upon seeing the Corvette at the 1953 Motorama. After a long series of letters and interviews, on May 1, 1953, Zora Arkus-Duntov was hired by GM to work in the Chevrolet Engineering Department under Maurice Olley, with a starting salary of $14,000.

Zora and Elfie Duntov didn’t fit into the GM corporate culture, and Olley and Duntov did not get along at all. Zora solved engineering problems with an intuitive sense of mechanics – Olley wanted to see calculations. GM executives socialized at country clubs and played golf – Zora went to races and played around with boats on his weekends. Elfie passed on invitations to social lunches, preferring to spend time with her entertainer friends. Yes, the Duntov’s were misfits in GM’s stuffy gray suit world.

Three weeks into his employment Zora was almost fired by Olley because he announced that he was taking off to drive for Porsche at Le Mans in June. Although Duntov worked for Olley, he reported to Ed Cole, who begrudgingly let him go racing, but without pay.

Fortunately for all of us, Duntov got beyond his issues with Olley and was transferred to the GM Proving Ground. The work was beneath him, but he needed a job and soldered on. It was a speech he gave at a Lancing SAE meeting about how high-performance programs can enhance efficiency and reliability of passenger cars, and that the Corvette would be the perfect platform for such R&D work. While other engineers were more thorough in their development work, Zora had the deep understanding of racing, and the enthusiasm that could make Chevrolet an authority on performance cars.

By the time Duntov got to work on the Corvette, his initial conclusion was, “… the car really stunk.” Zora was coming from a racing perspective and the Corvette was never intended to be a racer. He said, “Since we can not prevent people from racing Corvettes, maybe it is better to help them to do a good job at it.” Thus began the evolutionary transition of a car that was never designed to be a racer. Duntov was the perfect man for the job; truly, there was no one else in Detroit in 1954 that could have made Earl’s beauty queen sports car into a fearsome racer. The super-successful C5-R, C6.R, and C7.R Corvette Racing Team owes it all to Zora Arkus-Duntov – and a ton of work.

Duntov’s serious work began late in 1955, and by February 1956 at Daytona Beach, his trio modified 1956 Corvettes set speed records. From there it was a class win at Sebring and “Bring on the hay bales!” 1957 saw the introduction of the 283 Fuelie and the first of a long series of RPO “Racer Kit” Chevrolet-engineered parts for racing Corvettes. Zora wanted to take a team of Corvette SS Racers to Le Mans in 1957 but the AMA Racing Ban stopped him.

Take a test drive with Zora!

By the late 1950s, thanks to the parts Duntov and engineer Mauri Rose developed for the RPO program, privateer Corvette racers were winning championships. Then, closing out the C1 generation, the Grady Davis Gulf One Corvettes took the 1961 SCCA B/Production and the 1962 A/Production Championships. To jump-start the C2 Sting Ray, Duntov launched the now-legendary RPO Z06 racer kit and the Grand Sport Corvette. Again, Zora wanted to take a team Grand Sports to Le Mans, but GM’s strict AMA Racing Ban got in the way and only five Grand Sports were built.

Duntov was relentless in pushing performance and created numerous mid-engine Corvettes prototypes. “Brakes” had been troublesome for racing Corvettes since 1956. By 1965, all production Corvettes had 4-wheel disc brakes. When the big-block was introduced in 1965, Chevrolet realized that cubic-inches were the easiest way to more horsepower. By 1967 Duntov introduced the fearsome 427 L88. From 1967-to-1969 only 216 L88 Corvettes were built, and are super valuable today. In 1969 427 ZL-1 was an L88 with an aluminum block, offered L88 power, with small-block weight.

In 1970 Zora released the 350 LT1, best small-block Corvette to that date. From 1970-to-1972 RPO ZR1 was the Racer Kit for small-block racers. And lastly, Zora was responsible for the 1974, customer applied, “Greenwood” widebody kit, available from the Chevrolet Performance Parts catalog. When Duntov retied in December 1974 he had a mid-engine Corvette in the works, but management said, “We’re selling all the Corvettes we can, why to we need a mid-engine Corvette?” Sure, “business is business” but it would have been so cool.

Without Duntov supplying raw performance, even Bill Mitchell’s beautiful Sting Ray wouldn’t have saved the Corvette. The Corvette survived because of racing and Corvettes raced because of Duntov. Therefore, Zora Arkus-Duntov ultimately deserves to title as “Godfather of the Corvette”. – Scott

PS – You can readpervious installments of my “Corvette’s Founding Father Series from the bleelow links:

Corvette’s Founding Father’s, Pt 1 – Harley Earl, HERE.

Corvette’s Founding Father’s, Pt 2 – Ed Cole, HERE.

Corvette’s Founding Father’s, Pt 3 – Bill Mitchell, HERE.

And coming soon: Larry Shinoda and Peter Brock.

I’ll be offereing a free E-Book with all five of the Corvette’s Founding Fathers, soon!

Corvette Racing Team Wins 3rd Championship in a Row, Plus the Driver’s Championship – Videos

Published on October 17, 2018October 17, 2018 by Scott

How do you win a championship without winning a single race? Outstanding teamwork!

Dateline: 10.17.18 – The Corvette Racing Team beautifully finished their 20^th season with a spectacular Team Championship and Driver’s Championship. And 2018 is the third year in a row that the Corvette Racing team has won the Championship. Chris Draper from the YouTube Channel, “My Corvette Life” delivered the below overview of the 2018 Petit le Mans race at Road Atlanta on October 13, 2018. Chris is also the editor and chief of www.BadBoyVettes.com the exclusively covers the Corvette Racing Team.

Since we like nice, round numbers, here’s a review of the Corvette Racing Team’s 20 years of success.

* 1999 was the official debut of the Corvette Racing Team with the launch of the partnership of Chevrolet with Pratt & Miller.

* Since the Corvette team was launched, the team has racked up 107 total wins, more than any other IMSA entrant.

* The Corvette Racing Team has won its class at at Le Mans eight times.

* The Corvette Racing Team has won its class at the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona three times.

* The Corvette Racing Team has won its class at at the 12 Hours of Sebring 11 times.

* From 1999 to 2013 the Corvette Racing Team lead the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) in all-time wins and 1-2 finishes.

* To date the Corvette Racing Team has won 11 ALMS Team Championships.

* To date the Corvette Racing Team has won 10 ALMS Manufacturer Championships.

* To date the Corvette Racing Team has won 10 Driver’s Championships.

The last 20 years of extraordinary racing success has more than made of for previous years of spotty and sometimes embarrassing performance. Corvettes were long looked down upon as cars that were loud, brash, set track records, had pole starts, but rarely finished races.

Yes, there were exceptions, but overall Corvettes were the Rodney Dangerfield of sports race cars, “I’ll tell’m ya, I get no respect!”

With the launch of the C5-R Corvette Racing Team, Corvettes have become the Charles Atlas of the sports racing car world. No one kicks sand in our faces anymore. All it took was training and teamwork.

In November 2012 I had the opportunity to see Doug Fehan and the Corvette Racing Team at the Simeone Museum for Simeone’s first “Corvette Racing” seminar. The C6.R “show car” was there along with Simeone’s 1963 Wintersteen Grand Sport #002. As part of the program, they presented a film explaining how the Corvette Racing Team prepared for one of their Le Mans assaults. They are consummate professionals and their level of professionalism is truly world-class. Everyone came away with a whole new level of respect and admiration for the Corvette Racing Team.

Here’s the view from inside Tommy Milner’s #4 office!

Yet, despite IMSA’s efforts with their Balance of Power (BoP) rules, the Corvette Racing Team out-flanked all competitors by being a better and more efficient team. “Racing” is supposed to be about the best car and team winning races, but IMSA is practically giving everyone a participation trophy by attempting to have an even race. Leave that to the spec racers.

While I am seriously at odds with IMSA and their absurd BoP rules, this year’s third team Championship is sweet revenge from a team that has obviously been held back by IMSA. Consequently, the team did not win any races in 2018, but took the championship just the same. The Corvette Racing Team also vanquished that tired old claptrap about how the Corvette’s front-mid-engine design is outdated. Really? The Ford GT and Porsche didn’t just score their third team Championship in a row, did they?

Photo: Motor1.com The C8.R Corvette race car was seen in testing in summer 2018.

I’m very much looking forward to seeing the mid-engine C8.R competing in the 2019 season. I have no “inside connections” but I do believe we will see the C8.R debut at Daytona in February 2019. Why? Because we have already seen the C8.R being tested last July. They wouldn’t have let out those images if the C8.R was going to compete in 2020. At least, that’s my speculative guess.

Till then, CONGRADULATIONS to the entire Corvette Racing Team, and drivers; Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen, Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner, and Marcel Fassler! – Scott

Enjoy the eye candy!

Watch Footage of the Mid-Engine Corvette at the Nurburgring – VIDEO

Published on September 6, 2018September 6, 2018 by Scott

C8 Mid-engine test driver flogging the pants off a C8 mule Corvette and having too much fun!

It will not be long! I speculate that the mid-engine Zora Corvette will debut either this November at the Dubai (the exact date has not yet been set, for more info, CLICK HERE), or at the Detroit Auto Show in January 2019. I say this because the recent batch of photos and videos are very clear. Some of the surface details might be what they call “holder pieces”, but we now clearly know the C8’s overall shape. The debut can not be far off.

The video also provides another big hint as to what’s under the hood. Watch and listen for yourself. All I’ll say is that the car sounds very tame.

Special thanks to Jalopnik.com for the excellent video. Jalopnik.com offers more commentary HERE. – Scott

FINALLY! Clear Images of the Mid-Engine C8 Corvette! CAST YOUR VOTE!

Published on September 4, 2018September 4, 2018 by Scott

Yes, these C8 Mid-Engine Corvette mules are wearing camo, but at least the vinyl pads are off!

It’s getting close. Mid-engine Corvette mules have been seen on public roads wearing that crazy camo wrap, but at least we can see the basic shapes. The headlights taillights, front grille openings and engine cover are probably “holder” pieces, as they look too awkward to be the finished details.

All of the major car magazines and blogs are all over this showing the same images. Check them out from Motor1.com, HERE.

Our friend Chris Draper, star of the YouTube channel, “My Corvette Life” has different images that he got from his friend Rick Conti.

I’ve seen this over and over in the past. As the grand debut closes in, photos surface with odd, misshapen, goofy-looking parts and pieces that make the mules look, well, like ugly mules. However, this latest batch of images definitely shows the general shape and proportion. That is, unless the mule body is a total con job. Continue reading “FINALLY! Clear Images of the Mid-Engine C8 Corvette! CAST YOUR VOTE!” →

FINALLY! Clear images of the new C8.R mid-Engine Corvette – VIDEO

Published on August 10, 2018August 30, 2018 by Scott

The C8.R is shaping up to look like a real bad-ass racing Corvette. Watch out Ferrari!

Dateline: 8-10-18 – Image Credit: Motor1.com – As a commercial artist and graphic designer, I’ve been trained to go with my immediate, flash, gut impression of a design. Upon seeing the latest batch of clear C8.R images, I got an immediate, “WOW!” And yes, I understand that the C8.R is the extreme version of the C8.

CorvetteBoyz posted an excellent spy video on the C8.R. Check it out…

Motor1.com posted a written report with lots of photos, check it out HERE…

Concerning the mid-engine platform, that IS the direction the high-end sports cars are going. The whole “mid-engine Corvette” notion is an old Continue reading “

FINALLY! Clear images of the new C8.R mid-Engine Corvette – VIDEO” →

The History of Mid-Engine Corvettes, 1960 to C8: Part 3

Published on March 6, 2018 by Scott

The 1964 Corvette GS-II – Frank Winchell’s Mid-Engine Engineering (Racing) Study with Jim “Mr. Chaparral” Hall

Dateline: 3.6.18 – Images GM Archives – This article was originally published in the November 2016 issue of Vette Vues Magazine

While Duntov lead the charge when it came to racing Corvettes, he wasn’t the only power player inside Chevrolet with a vision for a mid-engine Corvette. Frank Winchell was a low-profile company man who, unlike Duntov, did not like or seek out fame and attention. He was comfortable in his role as a corporate man. Winchell ran the Chevrolet R&D group from 1959 through 1966 and was a “take no prisoners,” “lets try it” kind of guy. While not a degreed engineer, he had a natural sense of how things worked and specialized in the design and development of automatic transmissions.

In Chapter 35 of Karl Ludvigsen’s 2014 edition of “CORVETTE – America’s Star Spangled Sports Car”, in Chapter 35, titled, “Winchell’s Raiders”, Karl shares that one of Winchell’s nicknames was, “General Bullmoose” after Al Capp’s Li’l Abner character, General Brashington T. Bullmoose, the cold-blooded capitalist tyrant tycoon. (This was obviously NOT a compliment) Chevrolet engineer and author of the book, “Chevrolet = Racing…? Fourteen Years of Raucous Silence!!, Paul Valkenburgh, said, “Winchell hated the phrase, ‘That can’t be done.’ Upon hearing that, there would be an inner explosion like a mine blast. He might grab an engineer by the lapels to bellow, ‘What that means is that you can’t do it. So, by God, I’ll find someone who can!’ And he usually did.”

It has been said that Duntov managed with love and enthusiasm, where as nobody worked “with” Frank Winchell – they worked “for” him. Frank was a tough “take no prisoners” kind of guy. So, it is no surprise that the two strong willed men had different ideas of what the Corvette should be. Duntov and Winchell respected each other, but they often locked horns. Continue reading “

The History of Mid-Engine Corvettes, 1960 to C8: Part 3″ →

The History of Mid-Engine Corvettes, 1960 to C8: Part 3

Published on November 23, 2017November 23, 2017 by Scott

The 1964 AWD CERV II – Duntov’s planned Ford GT40-Killer and Le Mans Champion.Dateline: 11.23.17 – For decades the topic of a mid-engine Corvette was simply “pie in the sky.” It was a fanciful piece of Corvette lore going back to the early days when Zora Arkus-Duntov was driving the Corvette brand. Every so many years, the topic would resurface, so when I heard it again for the umpteenth time, just after the C7 arrived, I said, “Oh, sure…” But, it’s going to happen, finally! The mid-engine C8 Corvette will make its grand debut at the 2018 North American International Auto Show in Detroit as a 2019 model.
In the interest of explaining how we got to where we are with the whole, long, mid-engine Corvette story, lets buckle into the Corvette Report Time Machine, set the dials (yes, we still use “dials” here at Corvette Report) and go back to 1963/1964 when that wiley, silver-haired Russian fox, Zora Arkus-Duntov tried once again, to build a “Corvette” to race at Le Mans. Indulge me while I bench race a little here, Continue reading “

The History of Mid-Engine Corvettes, 1960 to C8: Part 3″ →