A couple of weeks ago I bought a copy of the book, entitled All Corvettes are Red

As a antiquariun bookseller, I collect and sell a number of books dealing with the subject of Automobiles and motor sports and I often do not buy books on Corvette since so many of them ar just a bunch of photographs with little good information on the subject. Nothing wrong with that, if course, but I'd rather read about Corvettes and not look at so many brilliant - of often, quite good - I do have a few of those, but have never read the book in question.

Have any of you read this book? I'd be interested in your opinions. I am still reading it, but it's more the story of the changeover from the C4 to the C5 and the issues and difficulties - not to mention a great insight into GM management pratces and policies.

It's actually a pretty good book, though the title might be a little misleading. In many ways it took me back to my days at a majpr aerospace company with all the meetings, focus groups, problems, ... The book will have you wondering how there is still a Corvette to buy, much less such a great one.

Please understand I am not trying to sell copies of this out-of print publication, but looking to understand how other readers felt about it?

Oh, BTW, not very many photos in this one.

 

I thought every Vette owner read that one. I especially liked the paragraphs and part that has the title in it. It is a classic Vette story. Read it several years ago.

 

Its a very good read for any Corvette aficionados or historians. The marque was lucky to survive. Long ago when I was a member of CMCS and Chuck Olson Chevrolet was the club sponsor, James Schefter the author (who has since passed on) attended one of our monthly meetings at said dealership and provided a very interesting narrative about his book and GM. Several of us purchased autographed copies.

As I recall I gave the book and a couple of other Vette books to Jeff Knoch of Jeff’s Texas Style BBQ in Marysville a few years back. We need to make a lunch run that direction one of these days.

 

Thanks, Pat. Your overview is about what I'm getting out of my one reading. I''m almost finished and continue to be upset and amazed at the corporate way of doing things. Jeez, could you imagine Boeing - or Ferrari, for that matter, build all those test cars and prototypes, even pre-prototypes long before the cars are released to the public? Sounds to me like an attempt to avoid anu product liability The Corvette team in the book should get medals for sticking with the project.

One big surprise to me was how VP of Design, Chuck Jordan was not the god he pretended to be.

Another was the little attention or narratives on Duntov and others who we also thought were the defenders guardians and all-knowing prophets of all things Corvette. Anyone who reads this book, should go out into their garage and hug their Corvettes. Then after you read the story, try to imagine what you'd have in the garage if it weren't for those people.

 

Actually Pat you gave me an autographed copy of that book for my birthday several years ago and I still very much appreciate it. I've read it several times now and enjoy it each time.

Another book I enjoy is Corvette from the Inside as told by Dave McLellan. It covers 50 years of development history but devotes the majority of the book to the design and development of the C4 & the C4 ZR-1. The most interesting part of the book for me was the interplay between Grumman and Chevrolet. Chevy utilized the early Cray 1 computer that Grumman owned to estimate crash worthiness of the frame design. Later, Grumman engineers asked the Corvette folks if they would like to visit the flight test center in Calverton Long Island to see the F14 Tomcat ..... this visit including a sit-down in the pilot's cockpit apparently had significant influence in the design and layout of the early C4 digital dash.

 

Thanks Mike... We may have read different titles - or editons of the same book. Or is the passion for the Corvette such that much of the book is either wrong or misunderstood? Perhaps, after years in another large company my view is misunderstood.

After reading it, I can understand why some might find the process of building a Corvette and introducing a new model to be interesting. Maybe of passion and simple loyalty. And that's fine. Im may very well be the "outsider" in all this. I would be remiss if I did not give enough credit to many of the characters in the story.

Let me ask this, however. Did you realize GM builds hundreds of new - mostly to test reliability, proof of concept and crash models.models - at least according to this narrative.

I guess my gripe, is my opinion that - if things put forth written in this book are accurate - and I'm sure many of them are. Why does it take several years and multiple teasts and proofs-of-Concept to make a new Corvette?

Make no mistake, I love my Corvette and my seeming frustration is not with the Corvette enthusiast or buyer. If I what I deduce from this book - and it is not new - is accurate, There ought to be by now a Corvette C6 replacing the Moon Rover on that orb by now.

Okay, okay, this is a forum, not a debate seminar. I'm merely suggesting my view and wondering how it could be.better

 

I read it several years ago and enjoyed it quite a bit. I had two C5 Z06s so it was of interest to me. I think I'll find my copy and read it again.

 

Another Corvette book is "Corvette from the Inside," by Dave McLellan, who started at GM in 1959 during the C1 era and took over a Chief Engineer when Duntov retired in 1975 and stayed until 1992. He is VERY unhappy with the explanations of the politics and delays depicted in "All Corvettes are Red." He basically says the author has no idea what he is talking about and did not understand the process. Jim Schefter is a journalist. Dave McLellan was Chief Engineer. His book is a must have if you are to understand the development of the Corvette.

 

Thank you. I will have to buy the book. From what you tell me, it comes as no surprise that some of the peoiple, mlike McLellan deserved better treatment.

 

Book arrived this afternoon and I'm anxious to read it, based on your recommendations and those of others. The Schefter book was quite interesting and I recommend it to anyone, but so many comments and anecdotes were in that volume to keep me awake at night. Personally, as a retired Aerospace employee who marveled at all the design, engineering, testing and validation and certification that goes on in that industry, I was surprised to learn that GM must think they were building spacecraft.

It will be fascinating to read another view.

Thanks again