Location:  Home » Corvette Books » The Corvette Factories: Building America's Sports Car  
Categories
Corvette Parts
Corvette Books
Corvette Collectibles
Corvette Clothing
Corvette Software
Corvettes for Sale
Corvette Classifeds
Corvette Auctions
Place an Ad
Contact Us

The Corvette Factories: Building America's Sports Car

The Corvette Factories: Building America's Sports CarAuthor: Mike Mueller
Publisher: Motorbooks
Category: Book

List Price: $40.00
Buy New: $26.36
as of 9/9/2010 04:46 CDT details
You Save: $13.64 (34%)



New (19) Used (8) from $23.99

Seller: supermoviedeals
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars 8 reviews
Sales Rank: 234638

Media: Hardcover
Edition: First
Pages: 192
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.8
Dimensions (in): 11 x 9.7 x 0.8

ISBN: 0760335516
Dewey Decimal Number: 629.2222
EAN: 9780760335512
ASIN: 0760335516

Publication Date: November 16, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Similar Items:


Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
In its nearly six decades, Chevrolet's Corvette--America's only sportscar--has been produced in just three factories, first in St. Louis and now in Bowling Green. This book is the first to offer an up-close view of the process of building an automotive legend. From the rudimentary hand-formed fiberglass bodies in the St. Louis factory, to the state of the art production on the modern line in Bowling Green, The Corvette Factories takes readers through the story of the Corvette's evolution as the world's performance benchmark. Detailed archival photographs and the latest images provide a unique behind-the-scenes look at the Corvette as an exemplar of General Motors' most advanced technology. Indispensable to Corvette fans and sportscar aficionados, this volume is also a critical chapter of automotive history.

Book Description

This book is the first to offer an up-close view of the process of building America’s only sportscar, the Chevrolet Corvette. From the rudimentary hand-formed fiberglass bodies in the St. Louis factory, to the state-of-the-art production on the modern line in Bowling Green, The Corvette Factories takes readers through the story of the Corvette’s evolution as the world’s performance benchmark. Detailed archival photographs and the latest images provide a unique behind-the-scenes look at the Corvette as an exemplar of General Motors’ most advanced technology.




Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8



1 out of 5 stars Waste of time Corvette book   April 25, 2010
Willaim M. Corwin
I am a big Corvette fan. I have most of the books written about Corvettes and their history. This book adds nothing new. There is very little information on manufacturing, nothing you have not read before. More importantly is it a chronological mess. You bounce between model years with very little continuity. You want to know about the production and manufacture of Corvettes finds something else to read.

Bottom line the book is a rip off.



5 out of 5 stars Excellent source of Corvette history   February 24, 2010
Scott Sparkman
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I am a Corvette nut. I love everything about the Corvette. This book gives great insight to how the Corvette came into being and how they were made. I've always been fascinated by car assembly plants and how they can turn out so many cars in a relatively short period of time. Now you can see pictures and read comments by the people that were on the line. From the beginning in 1953 to today's Bowling Green Assembly Plant. You'll be fascinated at how these cars come together.

The author also gives some great information about the different generations of Corvette. It's not just about the factories and the assembly lines.

I highly recommend this book.



5 out of 5 stars The Corvette Factory by Mike   February 14, 2010
Daniel C. Skopp (Oak Crek, Wisconsin)
This is a "must read" book for the person that really wants to know about the corvette. From its humble beginnings in Flint Michigan to Bowling Green Kentucky. I am a member of the NCM and a "new" owner of a 1981 Corvette. I read anything and everything about America's Sports car. This book is very well written and easy for the non-corvette owner to appreciate. Zora would be proud of the way Mike Mueller has told the story of "The little ship that could"


5 out of 5 stars The Corvette Factories   December 28, 2009
Paul S. Farkas
Great reading for the Corvette enthusiast. Nice coffee table book. Tons of photos, along with lots of interesting info.


5 out of 5 stars SpeedReaders.info Review   December 21, 2009
Speed Readers (USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

The Corvette Factories: Building America's Sports Car
by Mike Mueller

Mike Mueller has scavenged the General Motors Media Archives and we are the better for it. His 192 page book, The Corvette Factories: Building America's Sports Car is filled with more than 300 photographs, 150 in color, that start out to tell the story of the three factories that have built America's sportscar, but in the end provide a detailed history of the famed fiberglass flyer.

This is not Mueller's first book about Corvettes; in fact he has written almost a dozen of them over the past decade and a half. This is not a bad thing as it means the information provided in The Corvette Factories has been well-vetted by editors and enthusiasts. The long history of the Corvette has thus already been covered elsewhere by the author and by others. This new book, which combines photographs from the earliest production efforts with present day shots of cars from notable Corvette collectors, along with Mueller's research, contributes additional dimension to the Corvette story.

Corvettes sit in a sort of nether world between the guys with gold chains and real car enthusiasts. Despite a long history stretching to drag strip success and road racing victories in places like Daytona, Sebring, and Le Mans, the car's detractors cite its broad blue-collar appeal as evidence that it isn't a real sportscar. This is unfortunate, because even the earliest Blue-Flame Special six-cylinder powered Corvette from 1953, with its automatic transmission and white-wall tires was, in reality, more than a match for many of the pukka British roadsters.

Most of us think we know something about the history of the Corvette. That it was GM's first production experience with fiberglass, or that it originally was provided with a six-cylinder engine and that no plans were in place to power it with a V-8. Other tidbits, like the fact that although Zora Arkus-Duntov is considered by many to be the "father" of the Corvette, the reality that he wasn't even around during its conception might be new to those of us not steeped in Corvette lore. Mueller, quoting Arkus-Duntov and other sources explains that GM's legendary vice president in charge of styling, Harley Earl, should get the credit for GM's new baby. Working for Earl, Bob McLean led a small group of designers developing the concepts in 1952 for GM's Motorama show that opened at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in January 1953. Zora Arkus-Duntov didn't start working at General Motors until May of 1953.

And here is another tidbit: The frame and suspension for the first Corvette was designed by another GM legend, Maurice Olley. The vehicle dynamics genius whipped up a sturdy frame and suspension system in just ten days, using many in-stock and proven Chevrolet components to avoid the need for extensive testing. This is information that is no doubt available in other places, but Mueller pulls it together in this tightly written package.

Despite their long history sitting atop Chevrolet's product line, Corvettes have been produced in only three factories. The first 300 cars were built in a makeshift facility in Flint, Michigan in 1953. Production moved to St Louis when it went full-scale in 1954, and remained there until 1981, when Corvette production was relocated to Bowling Green, Kentucky. Building Corvettes in each of these three plants is well documented in the book with detailed black and white and color photographs of workers building fiberglass sportscars.

If Mueller had merely summarized the production facilities, the book would have been interesting to Corvette fans. But by going much further than this he has produced a book that is fascinating even if you have never fallen under the car's spell. There have been six generations of the Corvette, and each is covered in great detail describing not only how the cars were made and by whom, but providing information about options, colors, special models, accompanied by quotes from contemporary magazine stories. Mueller even tours the National Corvette Museum, located across the street from the Bowling Green factory.

Life has not always been easy for the Corvette. The oil crisis and exhaust emission legislation in the 1970s strangled much of the performance from its V-8 engine. Then a $24.2 billion loss in 1992 for GM had the company seriously considering pulling the plug on its sportscar, even as the 1 millionth Corvette was rolling off the Bowling Green assembly plant in July of that year. But the Corvette survived and the C5 and C6 generations of the car are often mentioned in the same sentences as the best from Porsche and Ferrari.

The Corvette Factories isn't the first book written about Corvettes, nor will it be the last. In a scant 192 pages however, Mike Mueller has managed to make The Corvette Factories a book that deserves your consideration.

Copyright 2009 Kevin Clemens (speedreaders.info)


Showing reviews 1-5 of 8


bowling green  chevrolet  corvette  hardcover  2009  
CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON SERVICES LLC. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED ‘AS IS’ AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME.
A Wholly Owned Website of Tangled Web Ventures

Copyright © 2008 - Corvettes Sale .com | Links



Designed By: Skinzee.com - Autoboss Templates
Make Money Online | Cheap Web Designer | Mustang Parts | Civics For Sale | Corvettes for Sale | Mustangs For Sale | | Mustang Auto Auctions | GT500 For Sale | Mustangs For Sale | Mustang Questions and Answers | RVs For Sale | Boise For Rent | Honda For Sale | Hondas For Sale | Celicas For Sale | Cars For Sale | Jeep Raffle | Pool Cue Auctions