The Corvette Factories: Building America's Sports Car [Hardcover]

Mike Mueller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 16, 2009

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.

Editorial Reviews

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.

From the Inside Flap

Since its birth in 1953, Chevrolet’s Corvette has gone from underpowered, impractical styling exercise to world-class performer. While the engineering and styling behind the car are well-documented, what about how the cars are actually built? Author Mike Mueller delves into the GM Historical Archives to find the answers.

 

First constructed on a small six-car assembly line in a GM facility in Flint, Michigan, Corvette required extensive manual assembly and hand finishing. When regular production moved to St. Louis for the 1954 model year, the process had been streamlined enough to steadily increase production for each successive model year through 1978.

 

By the time discussion of the C4 car had begun, the St. Louis plant was showing its age. Nagging quality issues and a need for additional production capacity necessitated the search for a new assembly plant. Quietly, the search began. A suitable building was located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and assembly commenced there in 1981, while the St. Louis plant began to wind down. Production shifted entirely to Bowling Green in 1982 and has remained there ever since.

 

The Corvette Factories tells the story of each plant and the cars that rolled out their doors. Extensively illustrated with Chevrolet’s fascinating period photos, Mike Mueller tells the story like no other auto historian.

 

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Motorbooks; First edition (November 16, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0760335516
• ISBN-13: 978-0760335512
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 11.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #363,698 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mike Mueller is the author of many books, including The Complete Book of Classic GM Muscle, The Complete Book of Mustang: Every Model Since 1964, and The Complete Book of Corvette: Every Model Since 1953, all published by Motorbooks.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent source of Corvette history, February 24, 2010

By 

Scott Sparkman - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Corvette Factories: Building America's Sports Car (Hardcover)

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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, December 13, 2009

By 

David H. Meents (N Ogden, Utah) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Corvette Factories: Building America's Sports Car (Hardcover)

Great book for the Corvette fanatic. Lots of pictures. Great history of the Corvette and great info about the building of the Corvette and the different factories used to build it since it's intoduction.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fact filled interesting read., February 22, 2011

By 

buickguy - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Corvette Factories: Building America's Sports Car (Hardcover)

Great book with many interesting facts and photos covering the 56+ years of manufacturing America's only true sports car. Glad to see that it was pointed out that the Corvette got its start in Flint, the home of Buick. My only complaint is the miss-mash organization of the photos. They do not follow the text or chapters and bounce around from one decade to another, often on the same page.