Review - "Corvette Stingray: The Mid-Engine Revolution"

Corvette Stingray: The Mid-Engine Revolution is the first book available on the Corvette C8. There are sure to be others and while I hate to discourage anybody who has aspirations to write about Corvettes, they will have a rough time topping this one.

The distinct advantage the "Corvette Stingray: The Mid-Engine Revolution" has is that it is the work of GM. They have certain advantages when it comes to creating a tome on the subject, and it shows with photographs and drawings that could only have come from GM. Mark Reuss wrote the Forward but, and I am disappointed to see this, there is no author credited.

The history of the mid-engine Corvette is quite involved and it's good to see that it gets thorough coverage. Also welcome is the credit given to Zora Arkus-Duntov. Zoras' contribution to the Corvette art cannot be overstated; the fact is that without him and his dedication to the Corvette there would not be a Corvette today or, by extension, the Vintage Corvettes of Southern California club. It was good to see that the C8 design staff took inspiration and design cues from the previous Corvette mid-engine concept cars.

The GM author connection advantage can be seen in the quotes from the design staff and the various insightful concept drawings and sketches offered. There are plenty of C8 photographs, most of which are familiar to anyone who has been mining them on media.gm.com.

The book covers are many fascinating details on the C8, such as how the shape of the steering wheel came about - they had about 30 different wheels scattered about the studio. The sometimes controversial HVAC controls and their positioning is explained. Also interesting is the seats and why there are three different styles available, unlike the C7 which only offered two. It turns out many C7 customer liked the look of the competition seat with the carbon fiber bezels and expressive screw pattern. So they ordered it but after living with it for a while found the competition oriented design was uncomfortable and wished they had bought the touring seat. For that reason, the C8 has three seats available including a GT2 seat which offers the pizzaz of the competition seat but is comfortable for daily use.

Most of the content deals with the exterior design and rightfully so. The C8 was a huge departure for the Corvette and keeping the Corvette fans faithful was taken seriously. All one has to do is to recall how upset some Corvette aficionados got when they learned the four round tail lights would not be part of the C7 design and you can see the problem. There were also practical aspects to deal with such as aerodynamics and providing enough air for the engine intake for example.

There are many photographs of the work in the design studio - again, it helps that GM was behind the creation of "Corvette Stingray: The Mid-Engine Revolution". The convertible C8 is also generously dealt with and we learn that the design team worked on both the coupe and convertible from the beginning.

Another plus is the price: MSRP is only $45.00, a clear bargain for a book of this quality. Unlike the C8 itself, there is no dealer "marketing" upcharges; Amazon has it for just a tad north of $40.00. Please enjoy.