The Complete Book of Corvette: Every Model Since 1953 by Mike Mueller
Published 2011 by Motorbooks
368pp., flexibound
ISBN-13: 978-0-7603-2673-2
ISBN-10: 0-7603-2673-8
Purchased new from a major book retailer store liquidation.
The Complete Book of Corvette: Every Model Since 1953 is one of those books that, well, in most ways I’ve covered already. I am not sure ‘The Complete Book of…’ is an official series, but I reviewed The Complete Book of Classic Dodge and Plymouth Muscle: Every Model from 1960 to 1974 some time ago. That was a flexibound book and laid out similarly to this one. It was also written by Mike Mueller. Futher, Mueller’s photography appeared in another book I reviewed, Chevy Classics 1955 1956 1957. I’ve also reviewed a couple of books about the Corvette. So, these previous books all cover the subject matter, format and author. But is there anything to be gained with this book?
I’ll start by saying I’m a fan of these ‘Complete Book of’ editions. I find the layout to be very appealing, easy to follow, and there’s a lot of great information. It’s not hardcore, in-depth and technical, but it isn’t superficial either.
The book opens with acknowledgements and a short introduction. The rest is sectioned by Corvette generation – known nowadays by their designations: C1 (1953-62), C2 (1963-67), C3 (1968-82), C4 (1984-96), C5 (1997-2004) and C6 (in this case, 2005-11, though that generation continued until the 2013 model year). An exception is a specific section dedicated to the 1990-95 ZR-1 model. Other special cars, such as purpose-built racers and prototypes are included in its generation.
Each section gets an overview of about 4 pages, and then each model year is described with anywhere from 2-6 pages. Those descriptions detail many year-to-year changes – or not, in the case of some years when very little changed. For example, the C2 section contains a photo for each year of the gas cap, which I didn’t realize differs for each model year. The years in the C3 section describe how popular options were continuously added to the base package, which explains how the cost of a Corvette exploded in the late 1970s (from $6000 in 1974 to over $10k by 1979). The years detailing C6 actually note that the car carried over for the most part, with ‘new features’ sometimes limited just to new paint colours or special editions. Each model year gets an info capsule containing technical specs – body style availability, dimensions and weights, suspension type, base and optional engines and transmissions.
Now the truth is this is not a text-heavy book. There are many excellent photographs. There are a large number of official General Motors images, including many of the aforementioned prototypes and race cars. But author Mueller is an accomplished photographer himself, and his photos help illustrate points in the text (such as those 1-year-only gas caps from 1963-67). The number and quality of the photos, along with decent captions, makes it really easy to see how the models differed year over year.
This book does a very credible job touching on many facets of Corvette history. Aside from the specifics for each model year, Mueller does give background on some stories that will be familiar to Corvette lovers: Zora Duntov’s push to explore mid-engine layouts; Bill Mitchell’s influence over styling; the repeated delays in introductions of ‘all-new’ generations, and so on. Again, most of the book focuses on displaying the cars, but there are some very good passages about new, innovative systems that appeared as options, or say how important it was for Corvette engineers to maintain the 5.7l/350 cubic inch dimension in developing the second generation Chevy small-block.
As always, books such as this become obsolete as soon as the newest model is introduced. My ‘revised & updated’ version concludes with the 2011 model, part of the C6 generation. Amazon currently carries a more up-to-date edition published in 2020, as the C8 mid-engine car was introduced. At only 320 pages, that edition would seem to have lost some content through editing.
This is the fourth Corvette-specific book I’ve reviewed. Certainly, there’s redundancy across the 4 books, but truthfully, I think each presents the history of America’s sports car in a different way. The Complete Book of Corvette: Every Model Since 1953 isn’t the detailed narrative Corvette 60th Anniversary is. It does not go nearly as far in-depth into the engineering and technical information found there. And, it’s not a detailed compilation of each esoteric option and production number like The Genuine Corvette Black Book 1953-1996. That said, there is a list of options and suggested pricing found at the end of this book, and it is borrowed straight out of The Corvette Black Book. Finally, it’s an overview of all Corvettes, not specific notable cars such as Legendary Corvettes: ‘Vettes Made Famous on Track and Screen was. The value of The Complete Book of Corvette: Every Model Since 1953 is that it presents a very readable and visually accessible history of America’s sportscar that will appeal to the auto enthusiast.
Pros: great photography; good balance presenting the various aspects of Corvette development, technical info and styling
Cons: this particular version is quite dated, considering it does not cover the latest 2 Corvette generations
Where to find it: a more updated version is available in all the usual outlets, new books stores, Amazon, etc.
You might also enjoy…
Corvette 60th Anniversary
The Genuine Corvette Black Book 1953-1996
Legendary Corvettes: ‘Vettes Made Famous on Track and Screen
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