ALL CORVETTES ARE RED: The Rebirth of an American Legend [Hardcover]

James Schefter (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0684808544 | ISBN-13: 978-0684808543 | Publication Date: January 6, 1997

This work focuses on how the automobile giant GM reinvented the Corvette, a car which became legendary soon after its original release in 1953. It explains how dedicated designers, engineers and executives, eventually managed to produce the fifth-generation Corvette, which was originally meant to be released in 1993, but was delayed due to GM experiencing extreme financial problems. It is also a revealing account of the inner workings of the automobile industry.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Corvette, according to Schefter, is an American icon, a democratic sports car beloved of teenagers, mail carriers, Hollywood stars and millionaires since its birth in 1953. In 1988, General Motors resolved to redesign the fourth-generation Corvette on the road since '83, and Schefter's solid report-based on his eight years of confidential access to the project team, and timed to coincide with the launch of the 1997 model-offers a candid look at the tortuous, crazy, unpredictable process of creating a car. A former editor of Popular Science, he delves into the work environment of GM, a company he views as too big, an amorphous, disorderly corporation whose unstable bureaucratic landscape of ever-changing rules and procedures makes it difficult to get things done. The 1997 Corvette stayed on budget and on time, unlike a dozen other GM cars and vans scheduled for release in 1996 and '97-a fact he attributes to the project team's willingness to maneuver around the system. Crammed with an abundance of technical and engineering detail, his book will engage auto enthusiasts, but others may find it an uphill drive.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The Corvette is America's best-loved and longest-lived sports car. For this work, Schefter was granted unprecedented access to board meetings, designers' studios, and engineers' workshops to document the conception and development of the 1997 Corvette, newly redesigned for only the fourth time in the car's 40-year history. A revealing tale of intrigue and the inner workings of corporate America is the result. Had the book (and the car) been released in 1993 as originally planned, this work might have been unique. However, so far in 1996 "insider" books on GM's electric car (Michael Schnayerson, The Car That Could: The Inside Story of GM's Revolutionary Vehicle, LJ 8/96) and Chrysler's redesigned minivans (Brock Yates, The Critical Path, LJ 7/96) have already focused on the development and/or redesign of important vehicles to the extent that little is left for Schefter to say on the subject of "new and different." On the other hand, this is a book about the Corvette, an American legend and icon. The car has a following, and one expects that the book will have a following as well.?Eric C. Shoaf, Brown Univ. Lib., Providence
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (January 6, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684808544
• ISBN-13: 978-0684808543
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,066,171 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Author's Response, February 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: ALL CORVETTES ARE RED: The Rebirth of an American Legend (Hardcover)

PZEditor received this response:

Interesting review. But it sure had a lot of wrong stuff.

1. The chassis design was not completed until long after McLellan left.

2. The book was not rewritten. Not even once. My deal with GM gave them the right to correct technical mistakes, but nothing else. At the request of a GM lawyer, I did delete three cuss words in John Cafaro quotes. That still left a lot of cussing. There was a few minor technical mistakes that were found by the readers inside the Corvette team and those were fixed, too. No one in Chevrolet management, except a couple of PR guys, read the manuscript. The PR guys did not raise a single objection.

3. Your PR source about fighting between Hill and McLean is dead wrong. I was there. I sat in on the meetings. I saw them work.

Basically you're calling me a liar. I wrote what I saw and I'll stand by it 100 percent. Somebody gave you bad info.

Jim Schefter

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Scary Look Into the Birth of a Clasic, March 2, 2000

By 

rich (Tempe, AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: ALL CORVETTES ARE RED: The Rebirth of an American Legend (Hardcover)

I don't know exactly what I expected when I purchased this book, probably a fluff piece with lots of GM furnished pap and glamour shots of the car and people. I guess that was OK with me.

What I got was a far different story, a scary walk down the halls of a giant corporation that I only thought was some kind of standard to measure the overall management prowess of other firms. The author does a magnificent job of detailing the warts of GM without seeming ungrateful for the opportunity to do so.

The new Corvette was five years late and probably wouldn't have happened for another three years were it not for a very small number of dedicated individuals who had to work like Green Berets in enemy territory to get out a new car in their own corporation.

Don't expect fluff or coffee table graphics. This book is a masterful chronicle of the making of a new car in an environment of overpowering resistance to the concept of movement. It is a real eye opener to everyone who believes that large firms know what they are doing - or even that they recognize the differnce between moving or not moving.

This book could very well be a case study text in the Organizational Behavior/Development classes took in grad school.

A must read for car nuts or students of the American business scene, but not for the Vette nut that wants a promo piece on the new wheels.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For all Corvette lovers, December 12, 2001

By 

william sweitzer (Cincinnati, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: ALL CORVETTES ARE RED: The Rebirth of an American Legend (Hardcover)

Excellent behind the scenes of General Motors; unbelievable detail in what goes into bringing a new car to market; all the office politics withing GM; all the secret stuff you always wondered about are now exposed. This book provides the history and the detail all car enthusists will want. Anyone that owns a Corvette must read this book. Anyone thinking or dreaming about owning a Corvette should read this book.