Corvette
from the Inside: The Development History as told by Dave McLellan, Corvette's
Chief Engineer 1975-1992
by Dave McLellan
Also
available from Amazon UK
Corvette From the Inside is a very different kind of Corvette book.
It is a guided tour through Corvette history by a man who was intimately
involved with America's favorite sports car for seventeen of the most exciting
years of his professional life. The challenges McLellan faced in the 70s
and early 80s as he struggled to lead the Corvette program from the edge
of failure to resounding success serve as a wonderfully detailed case-study
in how the American automotive industry relied on the ingenuity, intellect,
and pure determination of its top engineers to resurrect itself from a
near-fatal slump and compete once again with Asian and European manufacturers.
Dave McLellan joined General Motors in 1959, when the Corvette was only
six years old. As a result, he looks at the early tale of the Corvette
from a unique insider's perspective. He recounts the background of the
Corvette's creation and provides fascinating insight into the Zora Arkus-Duntov
years. He discusses the technical obstacles and solutions that paralleled
the development of the Corvette from a primitive and poorly executed six-cylinder
sporty car to one of the fastest and best handling sports cars ever conceived.
Impressed by McLellan's engineering talents, GM groomed him to assume
the helm at Corvette Engineering, which he did upon Duntov's retirement
in 1975. McLellan stepped into the job of Corvette Chief Engineer just
as
the car hit an all-time performance low. He gives his first-hand account
of the transition from the underpowered C3 Corvette of the mid and late
70s to the formidable C4 and ZR-1 Corvettes with which McLellan will always
be identified. In describing his experiences with the Corvette, his story
traces the path of the auto industry from the dark days of the 1970s when
OPEC and strangling emissions requirements took the punch out of the American
muscle car, to the 1990s when the American super car-exemplified by the
incredible four-cam ZR-1 Corvette-emerged as a world class competitor.
Not one to let his 1992 retirement from GM slow him down, McLellan continues
his work in the automotive industry as a consultant. In this book he reveals
his vision of the Corvette's future as he explores new levels of performance,
active safety, and other innovations that may once again revolutionize
the Corvette.
“Dave McLellan pulled the Corvette through the technical challenges
of the 70s and 80s, and out the other side as America's performance icon.”
-David C. Hill Corvette Chief Engineer
“When it comes to Corvettes, nobody knows them like Dave McLellan. What's
always impressed me about Dave is that when he was running Corvette, he
lived, breathed and was totally immersed in Corvettes, it was a wonderful
sight to see.” -Thos L. Bryant Editor In Chief, Road & Track
Text and quotes courtesy Bentley Publishers
Hardcover: 288 pages
Bentley Publishers; ISBN: 0837608597; 1 edition (June
)
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