Corvette Illustrated Encyclopedia: Chevrolet Corvettes from 1953 through 2004

• Who were the men who dreamed up, designed and then built the Corvette?



• What significance do Warren, St. Louis, Bowling Green, Le Mans, Sebring and Elkhart Lake have for the Corvette?



• Corvette production numbers, list prices, dimensions, engines and options, listed by year.



• ... and much more!

Zora Arkus-Duntov was a General Motors engineer known for his many contributions to the Corvette's evolution.

He was born in Belgium, raised in Leningrad, and educated in Berlin. He hip-hopped through wars and revolutions in Europe and along the way, married a dancer from the Folies Bergandegrave;re. After World War II broke out, he joined the French Air Force and later arranged for the escape of his family from occupied France. He then came to America and established Ardun Mechanical, a war munitions company that eventually employed 300 people.

In the postwar years, Zora shifted gears into the high performance arena, designing a cylinder head conversion for the Ford flathead V8 that became a favorite performance modification for hot-rodders.

After joining GM in 1953, Zora changed the Corvette from a turntable darling into one of the most respected sports cars in the world.

The transformation started slowly, beginning with a suspension tweak, some aerodynamic work, the 265 cid V8, then the V8 high-performance camshaft, fuel injection and eventually independent rear suspension, purebred race cars and daring prototypes. For the first time, Corvettes began to appear in racing paddocks at places like Pebble Beach and Sebring, alongside Mercedes, Jaguars and Porsches.

EX-122 was the official factory designation for the prototype Corvette show car that debuted at the 1953 Motorama. The EX stood for Experimental vehicle. EX-122 is currently owned by Kerbeck Corvettes in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where it has been restored to its pristine Motorama condition.

Also known as the XP-87, the Stingray was a 1959 race car owned by Bill Mitchell, built on a discarded Corvette SS chassis (the Mule) and raced extensively by Dr. Dick Thompson.

Thompson raced his way to a championship with the Stingray. Mitchell used the Stingray as the basis for the 1963 Sting Ray body, after which the Stingray was once again welcomed at Chevrolet. It subsequently toured the show circuit with Chevrolet and Stingray emblems.

The Stingray name (all one word) was again used on 1969 through 1976 Corvettes, before being dropped.

• Foreword
• Preface
• Corvette Illustrated Encyclopedia: A to Z
• Year-by-Year Specifications
• Suppliers and Services
• Magazines
• Acknowledgments
• Art Credits
• About the Author