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Old Mar 31, 2005 | 09:07 AM
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The first 200 production C5 Corvettes were painted Red, not the traditional color for the first production run.

The 1997 Corvette C5 is the first Corvette designed from the ground up to be a Corvette.. Not borrowing parts from other cars. One of the few "Off the Shelf" parts - the exterior door handles, same ones used on the Oldsmobile Aurora.

The first use of a transaxle in a production Corvette occurred in the '97. However, the first plans for one were in the Q-Corvette in 1958, planned for the 1960 model. Transaxles showed up in Corvette prototypes in the mid '60s in running models.

The first 4 speed in a Corvette was built by Borg Warner in 1957. The first transaxle in a production Corvette was also built by Borg Warner, forty years later in 1997. Both were introduced late in the model year.

Borg Warner has produced a transmission for each generation of Corvette: C1 - 1957 to 1962, C2 - 1963, C3 - 1980 to 1981, C4 - 1984 to 1988, and C5 - 1997 to 1998.

The 1997 Corvette is the first Corvette to have windshield wipers that sweep in the same direction instead of opposing directions.

November 4, 1997 - The 9752nd 1998 Corvette rolled down the assembly matching the total 1997 Model production run.

The last "Fairway Green" C5 a 1998 Model came down the assembly line November 10, 1997. The color was discontinued.

It takes 55 hours to build the new C5 Corvette, down from 70 hours for the previous C4 model.
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Old Mar 31, 2005 | 09:17 AM
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Good trivia.

Did you also know that one of the least most obvious body parts taken from the C5 and used on the C6 is the outside mirrors?
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Old Mar 31, 2005 | 09:19 AM
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Interesting, thanks!
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Old Mar 31, 2005 | 09:27 AM
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I gotta remember this for the Cruise In VI Trivia contest!

I have the ever popular 1997 with 108k miles used as daily driver (including 600 mile weekend trips Knoxville to Columbus), drag racer and autocrosser!

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Old Mar 31, 2005 | 09:27 AM
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Originally Posted by vetdude
Good trivia.

Did you also know that one of the least most obvious body parts taken from the C5 and used on the C6 is the outside mirrors?
No but thats cool.
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Old Mar 31, 2005 | 09:35 AM
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Good little factoids.
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Old Mar 31, 2005 | 09:43 AM
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Heres one I remember from All corvettes are red.

The door handles on the corvette where borrowed from the Oldsmobile Aurora. I think they are on the Olds Intrigue as well. BUt I think that is a common thing in the auto industry to borrow parts from other cars to avoid higher costs of designing a new one.

Jason
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Old Mar 31, 2005 | 09:43 AM
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intersting... thanks!
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Old Mar 31, 2005 | 11:27 AM
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Back in October I did the factory tour. They claimed it only took 32 hours to build C6.......longer for the C5?
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Old Mar 31, 2005 | 11:38 AM
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Muy interesante... ¡gracias!
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Old Mar 31, 2005 | 12:13 PM
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Originally Posted by vetdude
Good trivia.

Did you also know that one of the least most obvious body parts taken from the C5 and used on the C6 is the outside mirrors?
How sure are you on that? Look at the base it was changed. I asked Dave Hill about this during CI-V. He quicly corrected me and told me there's countless hours of research on the new mirrors. to reduce wind noise and buffeting inside the car.

Chris


BTW...I love the facts! I want to read more!
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Old Mar 31, 2005 | 12:35 PM
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Nice list of facts. Thanks for sharing.
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Old Mar 31, 2005 | 12:52 PM
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Originally Posted by allegro
Back in October I did the factory tour. They claimed it only took 32 hours to build C6.......longer for the C5?
Sure- it only takes a few hours to add bumpers and moldings to a C5 to make it a C6! :-) or C5.5 anyway! LOL
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Old Mar 31, 2005 | 12:58 PM
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I've been told the C-5 has balsa wood sandwich floor. The cross section at the museum showed a foam sandwich floor. Did the original C-5 have the foam and what year was it changed?
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Old Mar 31, 2005 | 01:00 PM
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Old Mar 31, 2005 | 01:03 PM
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Did you know that the firing order on the LS1 was revised from 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 to 1-8-7-2-6-5-4-3 ?

Also - the LS1 is 44lbs lighter than the LT4 used in the C4.

The 1998 convertible weighed 114 lbs less than the C4 convertible, yet it is more than 4 times stiffer torsionally.

That's all I've got - and it is courtesy of the Corvette Black Book by Mike Antonick.
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Old Mar 31, 2005 | 01:17 PM
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Originally Posted by blacksedan87
Did you know that the firing order on the LS1 was revised from 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 to 1-8-7-2-6-5-4-3 ?

Also - the LS1 is 44lbs lighter than the LT4 used in the C4.

The 1998 convertible weighed 114 lbs less than the C4 convertible, yet it is more than 4 times stiffer torsionally.

That's all I've got - and it is courtesy of the Corvette Black Book by Mike Antonick.
Good stuff! Thanks...
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Old Mar 31, 2005 | 01:18 PM
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cool post
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Old Mar 31, 2005 | 01:20 PM
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Originally Posted by allegro
Back in October I did the factory tour. They claimed it only took 32 hours to build C6.......longer for the C5?
GM get more efficient with every new vette design.
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Old Mar 31, 2005 | 01:31 PM
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good info
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