The digital age A driver from the 1950s wouldn’t know what to do with the buttons, knobs, and screens in the 2015 Stingray. Operation of the auto shifter, however, remains simple. Put it in drive and step on it.
THE BEST BOOK about the Corvette is back in print. First published in 1973, it benefts from author Karl Ludvigsen’s extensive interviews with Corvette pioneers—many of whom are no longer with us. The latest iteration spans from the genesis of the car through the end of the third generation. Ludvigsen is presently working on a sequel covering the C4 to C7 Corvettes and aims to get it published in 2016. “Corvette: America’s Star-Spangled Sports Car,” by Karl Ludvigsen, Bentley Publishing, 784 pages, $100, karlludvigsen.com
steering wheel and extra-skinny bias-ply tires. The transmission shifts smoothly from frst into second and likes to stay there; downshifts come only at very low speed in response to a buried throttle. (This owes in part to the tune of this particular show car; the transmission is supposed to kick down at speeds as high as 47 mph.) The Blue Flame inline-six plays a satisfying baritone exhaust note and feels up to the task of keeping pace with modern trafc. Yet nothing about the car encourages aggressive driving (neither did the stout handler from the Heritage Center who accompanied us). The very opposite can be said of the seventh-generation Corvette. Everything about it encourages us to drive fast. Whereas the C1’s styling reminds us of a happy rock ’n’ roll rif, the angular C7 is an angry punkrock tune. We hit the starter button and hear the oh-so-familiar rumble of the smallblock V-8, which debuted in the Corvette for 1955 and has never really left despite its many evolutions. This particular Corvette C7 does share one trait with its ancestor: a GM-engineered torque-converter automatic. Only this one has four times as many gears, and it must stand up to signifcantly more torque—up to 650 lb-ft in the new Corvette Z06. Indeed, February 2015 | Automobilemag.com
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