2 C6 Articles in today's Detroit News

[sleepyhead]

New Model Stays True To American Icon's Legacy

GM tells Vette Fans: Kindly Stay Away

http://www.detnews.com/2004/autoshow/0401/01/index.htm

 

[JBsC5]

Ed Welburn, GM vice president of design, displays the 2005 Corvette C6 that will be unveiled Sunday at the Detroit Opera House in time for the North American International Auto Show.



New model stays true to American icon's legacy

Beloved Vette gets a face-lift

By Ed Garsten / The Detroit News


General Motors

General Motor's first five generations of the Corvette became icons of American automotive culture. The first two-seater car roared onto U.S. highways in 1953.




What's new on the '05 Corvette



Five inches shorter and one inch narrower than current model

New LS2 6.0 liter, 400 horsepower V8 engine

Top speed about 180 miles per hour

Standard six-speed manual transmission

Exposed, non-retractable high intensity headlamps

Larger wheels: 18-inch front, 19-inch rear

More rounded front fenders

Magnetic ride control

Improved cupholders

Upgraded interior materials

White LED numerals on black background on instrument panel

Optional head-up display

Keyless entry/starter

Optional Z51 performance package

Source: General Motors Corp.





Previous reports

Corvette missed its target, but opened up a brand new market | Photo gallery
Cadillac, Corvette star at Meadow Brook Concours | Photo gallery
Nasty weather tests Corvette owners, but show goes on | Photo gallery
Review: Corvette still king of the road
The 9th annual Corvette Encounter





Corvette Stingray


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FARMINGTON HILLS — It’s one of those things that’s rare enough to be marked by numbered generations. On Sunday night, at a glittering media party at the Detroit Opera House, Chevrolet will reveal the sixth generation of the Corvette.


While other American sports cars such as Chevy Camaro and Pontiac Firebird have faded from the automotive scene, the Corvette has endured for 50 years — becoming an icon of the free-spirited American automotive culture.

“Corvette has stayed true to its mission and its heritage as America’s foremost sports car,” said Dave Hill, chief engineer of the car.

In redesigning the newest Corvette, Hill said, General Motors Corp.’s mission remained simple: “state of the art performance technology, expressive style and incredible value.”

Allen Morris, president of a Corvette enthusiast club in Newport Beach, Calif., puts Corvette’s enduring appeal more bluntly.

“It’s always been classified as an ego car and high performance car,” said Morris, who has owned 85 Corvettes.

More than 1.4 million Corvettes have been sold since the sleek, fast two-seater roared onto America’s roadways and enthusiast’s hearts in 1953. The Corvette is embedded in American popular culture, inspiring singers and starring in movies.

There are Corvette clubs across the country and even a National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Ky., where the car is built.

When it goes on sale next fall, the all-new 2005 Corvette — called the C6 internally — will replace a model introduced in 1997.

“Our goal with the C6 is to thrill Corvette loyalists and catch the imagination of a new generation of performance enthusiasts,” said Hill.

Bragging rights

Most of the thrills likely will come from a new 6-liter V-8 engine called the LS2 — the most powerful standard powerplant ever offered in a Corvette. The LS2 generates 400 horsepower and Hill estimates the new Corvettes will be able to top 180 miles an hour — making it the fastest Corvette ever.

GM’s Tremec T56 six-speed manual transmission will be standard, but a Hydra-Matic four-speed gearbox is also available.

The new Corvette is five inches shorter and an inch narrower than the current model although Hill says interior space is about the same.

“It still looks like a Corvette,” said Jim Hall, an analyst with consultants AutoPacific in Southfield and a former GM engineer. “Heaven help them when they make a Corvette that doesn’t look like a Corvette.”

The new Corvette is not without significant esthetic changes, however.

The most radical design change is a return to stationary headlamps that replace the retractable beams used since 1962.

The goal was to create a sleek, low-slung profile, Hill said.

Resembles past models

“You might have some purists that go back to the ‘60s that may have issue with that,” said Jeffrey Schuster, director of North American forecasting at J.D. Power and Associates. “It’s been a defining point over several generations.”

The new Vette’s overall appearance is designed to be “tighter” than its predecessors, said Hill, while retaining Corvette’s classic four round tail lamps. New rounded fenders are aimed at recalling the Corvette’s Stingray era.

A center-mounted “egg crate” type grille is a throwback to the Corvettes from the 1950s and is necessary to accommodate the car’s hybrid front and bottom air intake system.

Traditional door handles are also missing on the new Corvette — replaced with a keyless access system. A sensor mounted behind the so-called “hand hold” is activated by a signal emitted from a key fob carried by the driver. The signal also unlocks the starting mechanism allowing the driver to start the car by pushing a button rather than by turning a key.

GM uses a similar device on the new Cadillac XLR, which is built alongside the Corvette in Bowling Green.

Interior changes

Analysts and enthusiasts say the one real deficiency in the Corvette has been with its interior, citing materials not worthy of a premium sports car. The designers of the latest Corvette took that to heart while maintaining the model’s legendary dual cockpit theme.

The seats have been upgraded to feature a two-layer composite frame for more support. And for the first time, the Corvette will offer heated seats.

The instrument panel and doors are wrapped in a cast-skin foam-in-place trim that feels soft like leather.

The standard instrument panel is highlighted by white LED lit numerals on a black background and a head-up display is optional.

“Our mission was to systematically eliminate the compromises people used to have to live within a sports car,” Hill said.

One of those compromises has been cupholders that struggle to prevent popular lattes from falling victim to high-speed lateral movements.

The 2005 Corvette will feature two cupholders designed to hang onto two travel cups or 20-ounce bottles during performance driving maneuvers.

A Z51 performance package is aimed at bringing the 2005 Corvette’s performance close to that of the current Z06.

It’s about time for all these changes, says AutoPacific’s Hall.

“If the Corvette is the flagship for Chevrolet, it needed improvement and it was time for it to be refreshed,” said Hall.

The public will be the final judge of how successful the sixth generation Corvette will be, but Dave Hill, the car’s chief engineer, has no doubt it will build on the beloved American sports car’s hallowed legacy.

“We believe it will go down in history as the most perfect Corvette in history.”


http://www.detnews.com/2004/autosinsider/0401/01/a01-24079.htm

Happy new year!

 

[JBsC5]

Here's number 2

GM tells Vette fans: Kindly stay away


By Ed Garsten / The Detroit News

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DETROIT — General Motors Corp. craves the buzz the 2005 Corvette is already getting but enthusiasts and even employees of the automaker are being asked to kindly buzz off from Sunday night’s media introduction of the next generation of the iconic sports car.


Even credentialed journalists will have a tough time elbowing their way into the event at the Detroit Opera House. While more than 6,000 media credentials have been issued, the Opera House can only handle about 2,000 people, according to General Motors Corp. spokesman Terry Rhadigan.

That means there are going to be a lot of people turned away at the door, including many GM employees.

“As big as GM is, we’ve had a lot of internal people who would like to get in,” said Rhadigan, “but first and foremost it’s a media event and we tell them, ‘If you love the Corvette, maximize the press coverage. ‘ ”

Rhadigan said “appropriate” security would be in place, closely approximating that of last year’s splashy introduction of the Cadillac Sixteen concept car at the Opera House. The bottom line: no media credential, no entry.

Civilians and Corvette fanatics will have to wait until the show opens a week from Saturday.

“The last thing we want to do is make them feel less than valued customers,” Rhadigan said.

Anyone considering counterfeiting a media pass has their work cut out for them. This year’s credentials feature a special hologram and must be validated with photo identification before they can be used.

“Two years ago we upped our security to a level we think would be sufficient for any situation,” said Rod Alberts, the auto show’s executive director.

GM is also taking a few preventive steps to minimize the crush of would-be gate crashers at Sunday night’s event. Instead of holding details and photos of the new Corvette until after the car’s official introduction, the automaker allowed the media to run stories and photos today, in advance of the event to satisfy the public’s curiousity.

And Corvette fans on the West Coast will be able to see the car in person Monday at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

The late decision to accommodate Corvette fans in Southern California has sparked the organization of a caravan of Corvette enthusiasts who plan to arrive en masse from an Anaheim, Calif., Corvette dealership to the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Corvette collector Tony Vernogis of Grosse Pointe Woods is organizing a visit to Detroit of at least 30 members from an enthusiast group, some from as far away as Alaska, but they won’t arrive until the show opens to the public.

Vernogis — grandfather of 8, and owner of 7 Corvettes — just sold his latest ‘Vette and placed a deposit on a new one. He tried in vain to score a media pass but is plunking down 50 bucks to see the car three days early during supplier preview days. Why not simply wait until the rest of the gang arrives and save the 50 bucks?

“I just can’t,” said Vernogis. “I have to see it. Corvettes are part of my life. I feel like a kid at Christmas.”

Mr. Zippy! Happy New Year to You too!

http://www.detnews.com/2004/autosinsider/0401/01/a02-23872.htm