1997 Chevrolet Corvette

Last March, GM began ripping up its Bowling Green, Kentucky, assembly plant in preparation for the first all-new Corvette in 13 years. The noise and demolition dust barely put a crimp in the plant's output of the current model (known internally as the C4). Sales are up by 32 percent over last year for this simple reason: Allocation of the first '97 C5 Corvettes will be determined by how successfully a dealer moved out the '96 C4 versions.

For the record, Bowling Green built the last C4 on June 21. Mike Yager, president of Mid America Designs, a Corvette parts and accessory firm, purchased the white, LT1-powered coupe for his collection. After build-out, Bowling Green personnel spent the summer prepping the line and fine-tuning assembly procedures for the first C5, scheduled to roll off the line this fall. By the end of the year, Chevrolet hopes to have 300 saleable units ready for distribution to a select few dealers.

Inside sources report that the C5 development program has gone well, with few significant delays. One hiccup, however, occurred during testing last spring at Grattan Raceway Park in Michigan: A wheel locked under braking at the end of a long straightaway, triggering a spin. Fortunately, the only injuries were bruised egos when the prototype suffered an expensive crunch into a corner barrier.

Chevrolet is doing its best to keep the lid on C5 information, but leaks are inevitable during the real-world testing phases. Engineering mules have been photographed in Arizona, Texas, Australia, and Canada. A few photos have even escaped GM's sanctum sanctorum. To maintain security, the Corvette group has resorted to outfitting its test cars with the usual false noses and fender pads. To further keep the next Corvette from prying eyes, winter traction tests were conducted on an indoor ice rink.

Most of the predictions we published last year in our breaking story (MT, April '95) are holding true. One mistake was calling the C5 a '98 model due to its mid-year introduction. Dealers nixed that idea because skipping the '83 model year when the C4 was introduced wrought a bit of ire from diehard Vette fans.

With more than 40 years of V-8 heritage under its belt, the new Corvette could hardly be powered by anything else. However, transmissions (both manual and automatic) have been shifted rearward to relieve cockpit congestion. Combining the gearbox with a Getrag differential in a transaxle clears space for more passenger room and a new structural layout. Instead of the C4's deep-section door-sill frame rails, the C5 has two low-profile outboard members plus a tall, narrow central backbone. The convertible's torsional stiffness exceeds not only the previous model's but also the Mercedes-Benz SL's by a wide margin.

The C5 Corvette will introduce the third generation of Chevy's small-block V-8, the world's highest-volume engine design with a lifeline that stretches back to 1955. Except for a pushrod valvetrain, virtually every subsystem contained within is state-of-the-art. The goody list of the new "LS-1" V-8 includes an aluminum deep-skirt block with 4.4-inch-bore centers ( la the previous small-block), cross-bolted main bearings and cast-iron cylinder liners, aluminum heads with roller rocker arms, sequential fuel injection, a thermoplastic tuned-length intake manifold, and one electronically triggered ignition coil per cylinder.

The new technology not only shaves about 100 pounds off the engine's fully dressed heft, but does wonders for the 5.7-liter's torque curve, with major gains in grunt from 2000 to 5700 rpm. Plan on 345 horsepower and 350 pound-feet of torque from this 346-cubic-inch setup (3.90-inch bore, 3.62-inch stroke). One innovation (for GM) is an electronically controlled throttle that eliminates most of the mechanical linkage, thereby simplifying traction- and cruise-control systems. The true dual-exhaust system features a crossover pipe and four outlets.