Corvette: The Owners and the Cars
by Mario Brunner
Visually attractive pages accompanied by light reading focused on Chevrolet Corvette, this book features 70 Corvettes and their owners; 35 of them in Germany, the author’s native land, and 35 of them scattered across the US. Originally written and published in Germany in 2023, the year Chevrolet was celebrating Corvette’s 70th birthday, the entire book is a celebration of all generations of Corvette that have captured and captivated fans around the globe.
Once Schiffer Publishing acquired the worldwide English-language rights, it turned out Mario Brunner, the multi-talented and accomplished author and photographer who even designed his book’s pages, is also fluent in English. Thus who better to accomplish the translation for Schiffer’s 2025 release of this English-language version.
Chapters are not arranged chronologically nor grouped by C version. They do, however, alternate by country with the first a car and owner in US. This permits the concluding chapter to be a car and owner in Germany. It is in fact, where the book’s creator, Mario Brunner, tells his own story. He describes how he discovered and was subsequently able to acquire his own quite special Corvette; a C2 but not just any C2. It turned out to be a pilot, documented as the sixth of a total of eight preproduction 1966 pilots.
One couple in Germany owns two Corvettes, Hers is an American-built 1981 C3. His is correctly an Artz Cordett (above, bottom right)), vintage 1989. Essentially it is the stretched body of an Opel Kadett mounted on (over is the word often used in Germany) a C4 platform. It particularly suits its owner Jürgen Reitz for two reasons. He was a dedicated, loyal Opel driver for many years and Opel was for years the GM presence in the town of Rüsselsheim where the Reitzes live. So this chapter is cheekily titled “Corvette Made in Germany?”
All of the stories are interesting from the standpoint of seeing and learning of the people—no matter on what continent or in what country they reside—who have been so “taken” by all that Corvettes are about that each simply had to have one of his or her own. In that sense they share common ground as readers discover with each turn of a page.
The American story that begins the book is titled “The Magic Number: 285” because those are the last three digits of the VIN of the owner’s 1953 C1 and also that of his 2020 C8. How he managed to achieve that involves one of the two who contributed to the book co-authoring the Foreword. He also has his own chapter as a Corvette-owning enthusiast who also, as it happens, works for Chevrolet. His story is told in “When Fascination Becomes an Occupation.”
A stellar photo opportunity was afforded Brunner to illustrate his chapter titled “This is One Small Step for Man.” Most will instantly and correctly associate that with the astronaut who was first to set foot on the moon, Neil Armstrong. In that era, Chevrolet presented astronauts with a new Corvette upon their return from space. The reality of this particular 1967 C2 being acquired by its current owner, taking him more than thirty years, comprises eight pages to convey its story to the reader making it the book’s longest single chapter.
If you enjoy reading car stories and especially stories about Corvettes and the people who love them, this book is for you.
Copyright 2025 Helen V Hutchings, SAH (speedreaders.info)
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