Synopsis
Corvette From the Inside is a very different kind of Corvette book. It is a guided tour through Corvette history by a man who was intimately involved with America's favorite sports car for seventeen of the most exciting years of his professional life. The challenges McLellan faced in the 70s and early 80s as he struggled to lead the Corvette program from the edge of failure to resounding success serve as a wonderfully detailed case-study in how the American automotive industry relied on the ingenuity, intellect, and pure determination of its top engineers to resurrect itself from a near-fatal slump and compete once again with Asian and European manufacturers. Dave McLellan joined General Motors in 1959, when the Corvette was only six years old. As a result, he looks at the early tale of the Corvette from a unique insider's perspective. He recounts the background of the Corvette's creation and provides fascinating insight into the Zora Arkus-Duntov years. He discusses the technical obstacles and solutions that paralleled the development of the Corvette from a primitive and poorly executed six-cylinder sporty car to one of the fastest and best handling sports cars ever conceived. Impressed by McLellan's engineering talents, GM groomed him to assume the helm at Corvette Engineering, which he did upon Duntov's retirement in 1975. McLellan stepped into the job of Corvette Chief Engineer just as the car hit an all-time performance low. He gives his first-hand account of the transition from the underpowered C3 Corvette of the mid and late 70s to the formidable C4 and ZR-1 Corvettes with which McLellan will always be identified. In describing his experiences with the Corvette, his story traces the path of the auto industry from the dark days of the 1970s when OPEC and strangling emissions requirements took the punch out of the American muscle car, to the 1990s when the American super car-exemplified by the incredible four-cam ZR-1 Corvette-emerged as a world class competitor.
About the Author
Born in Munsing, Michigan, and a graduate of Wayne State University, and MIT, Dave started at General Motors in 1959, assigned to the Milford Proving Grounds. In 1975, he succeeded Zora Arkus-Duntov as only the second chief engineer in Corvette history. As Chief Engineer, Dave began helping Corvette road racers fashion winning programs. To him, the race track was an extension of the proving grounds. With a team including Doug Robinson, John Heinricy, Jim Minneker and Scott Allman , Dave directed a Corvette endurance racing force so powerful that it was ultimately dismissed from SCCA competition for winning too many races! In the hands of racing legends like Kim Baker, Tommy Morrison, Dick Guldstrand, Doug Rippie and John Powell, Corvettes won 19 of 19 SCCA endurance races from 1985 to 1987. Dave and Chevorlet's Frank Ellis worked to launch the million-dollar Corvette Challenge series in 1988. It was a convenient venue for final development work on Dave's most prized baby-the ZR-1. The ZR-1 was introduced to the world automotive press at the 1989 Geneva Auto Show. Almost 15 years after McLellan took over, the Corvette was universally acknowledged once again as King of the Hill. On July 2, 1992, Dave stood by as the one-millionth Corvette was driven off the assembly line in Bowling Green. Dave with a team from the legendary Chevrolet Research and Development, under the leadership of Doug Robinson concepeted the next generation Corvette (the C5). This car, brought to production after Dave"s retirement, solved the conundrum of achieving a light weight yet stiff Corvette convertible without compromising the driver passenger space. The C5 is the new paradigm in sports car convertible design. Known as an advocate for pushing the envelope, Dave McLellan wanted to make the Corvette the best possible statement for American technology. And he did!
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