Corvette Stingray: The Mid-Engine Revolution (2nd Ed.)
by Chevrolet and Richard Prince
“While the C8 is the first production Corvette to have its engine amidships, the notion of creating a mid-engine version of America’s Sports Car predates the 2020 model year. In fact, it stretches back almost to the beginning of the Corvette’s production, smack in the middle of the 20th century.”
Buried in that excerpt is a clue that a technology that seemed desirable even necessary pretty much right from the start for a car of this type must have encountered obstacles to be so late in implementation. It is probably reasonable to say that a book produced by the maker of that very car will have limits to the degree of soul-searching it can engage in but let it be said that it doesn’t seek to hide the fact that a big company with many power centers and departments with different structures and budgets is not naturally disposed towards singing in tune. Engineering, Design, Marketing—all have to see the light (or be made to see the light by one visionary overlord [examples abound]).
The original ‘Vette may have had Motorama Dream Car glam but its performance was so lame that one can only wonder how the model ever became such a staple in GM’s line-up.
Clues also come into play in understanding who is behind this book and what its scope is because it doesn’t come right out and tell you. The scope is easier to unravel, and it is the subtitle of the first chapter that points the way: “The story of the mid-engine prototypes and the role they played in creating the eight-generation Corvette.” Prototypes, meaning this is not meant to be a soup-to-nuts model history. Seen through that lens, the book does just fine, developing in good detail the role of Corvette’s first chief engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov in whom the mid-engine idea had its first advocate.
The book describes a mid-engine layout as “endemic to the Corvette’s DNA almost from Day One and an intrinsic influence on, and aspiration for, Design.” On the right a 1970s photo on GM grounds. Lamborghini, Ferrari, Porsche—GM’s Bill Mitchell brought in everything his people should be benchmarking. The car second from right is a 1971 Sting Ray, the one in the center is a mid-engine design proposal.
Corvette readers may by now have formed the opinion that this is a book they already know. Well, yes and no. C8 production officially began in 2020 (delayed by the GM strike in 2019) and a book followed quickly—this book, and it told the story to the point it had developed by then. But Corvette enthusiasts also know that the launch model will be followed in a year or two at most by special, higher-performance models. Hence we have an updated book here, almost 20 pages longer, adding the Z06 and 70th Anniversary Model from 2023 and the E-Ray from 2024.
The book’s byline reads “Chevrolet and Richard Prince.” The former is self-explanatory (although it needs to be said right away that this book is not a glorified PR exercise) whereas the latter can only be appreciated if you already know who the man is: an ace photographer, owner of multiple vintage Corvettes (1967 being his favorite model year) and other delectables, and author of Corvette 70 Years: The One and Only (2022) along with some buyers guides and hundreds of contributions to magazines and books. He and his wife ran a full-service Corvette restoration shop from 1988 to 1995, stopping only when the automotive photography business he started in 1991 ballooned into an enviable roster of corporate clients that kept him on the road more and more. Not least, he has been the official photographer of Corvette Racing (started in 1999 as a joint effort by GM and Pratt Miller) for decades and been a regular at any number and variety of Corvette and motorsports events. Long story short, he has a proper frame of reference, a sharp eye, a keen mind, and probably bleeds gasoline. The book isn’t helping itself by not saying any of that.
While the book has many named Corvette team member interviewees it is not clear how the overarching narrative was put together or settled on. Various GM teams—historical services, media archive, communications—are credited with facilitating the process. Unlike, say, a magazine road test, nothing here has an edge to it, which is not to say a fact is not a fact but that there is a certain unfettered positivity to the presentation. That said, a C8 really is an astoundingly competent and segment-leading car so it would be silly not to blow its horn.
Hiding a prototype or development mule’s specs from prying eyes (even aerial snooping!) is hard enough, but much harder if you’re publicly denying you’re working towards an entirely new direction. This is Project Blackjack, cloaked under a Holden ute body, and it is given a whole chapter which also covers how parts/assemblies developed for engineering proof-of-concepts then undergo assessment/modification to see if they can be mass-produced.
Even for a publisher like Motorbooks that has a sterling reputation for consumer-friendly pricing this book has a ridiculously low asking price ($45, not increased from four years ago; inflation, hello!!) possibly not unrelated to the GM involvement. Also par for the course for this publisher is a wealth of illustrative material, well reproduced and printed, good paper, smart design. For once no Index, tsk-tsk.
Now, around here we consider new books in the context of the existing literature. If you are inclined to sit on your 45 clams because you think any day now Volume 2 of the epic Corvette – America’s Star-Spangled Sports Car by Karl Ludvigsen must be coming out . . . don’t hold your breath. Vol. 1, a 784-page honker, came out in antediluvian times, 2014, and years later the publisher proclaimed that Vol. 2, which was to cover the C7 and 8 models, was on ice until more of Vol. 1 sold. That book was under a $100 and it is incomprehensible that it never gained traction. Another book worth mentioning and very much alive is the series Corvette; Legend or Myth & Zora’s Marque of Excellence by GM engineer Kenneth William Kayser but that is an entirely different type of book. Counting its newest installment, Volume IV – Zora’s Mark IV Big Block “Awesome” to ZL-1 427, the set will set you back around $450 and there may well be additional volumes coming.
Another feather in Prince’s cap: right about the time this book was launched he was inducted into the 2024 National Corvette Museum Hall of Fame.
Copyright 2024, Sabu Advani (speedreaders.info).
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