ALL CORVETTES ARE RED: The Rebirth of an American Legend

No other American car has the mystique and romance of the Corvette. It has been a legend for over forty years. Early in 1997 General Motors unveiled the fifth-generation Corvette. All Corvettes Are Red is the inside story of the people who made that Corvette from drawing board to assembly line.

The gap between the fourth- and fifth-generation Corvettes (C4 and C5, in GM lingo) was the longest ever, and the Corvette program came close to dying. Just as serious design work was under way, GM suffered the worst losses in its corporate history, and the C5 program was put on hold. The Corvette was saved by a fiercely dedicated team of designers, engineers, and executives, who pulled together to keep their dream car alive. They overcame internal politics and company-wide budget cuts to produce a new Corvette that is better engineered, better built, and less expensive than its predecessors.

Author James Schefter was granted unprecedented access to every part of GM, including areas that were off-limits to many company vice presidents. He spent eight years witnessing the C5's journey from drawing board to clay model to prototype to production vehicle. He accompanied test drivers across scorching deserts and into snow-packed mountains. As a result All Corvettes Are Red is not just the most authoritative book ever written about the Corvette, it is the most revealing account of the inner workings of the U.S. automobile industry.

What I got was a far different story, a scary walk down the halls of a giant corporation that I only thought was some kind of standard to measure the overall management prowess of other firms. The author does a magnificent job of detailing the warts of GM without seeming ungrateful for the opportunity to do so.

The new Corvette was five years late and probably wouldn't have happened for another three years were it not for a very small number of dedicated individuals who had to work like Green Berets in enemy territory to get out a new car in their own corporation.

Don't expect fluff or coffee table graphics. This book is a masterful chronicle of the making of a new car in an environment of overpowering resistance to the concept of movement. It is a real eye opener to everyone who believes that large firms know what they are doing - or even that they recognize the differnce between moving or not moving.

This book could very well be a case study text in the Organizational Behavior/Development classes took in grad school.

A must read for car nuts or students of the American business scene, but not for the Vette nut that wants a promo piece on the new wheels.


Great, great reading for Corvette enthusiasts   March 19, 1999
 3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I rate it 4 stars; a little too much time spent on early industrial design situations, but excellent care of details throughout. The book provides, in appropriate detail, particulars of the automobile design and test process. I have a C5, I can relate to the results of decisions made by Engineering.

This Corvette team never gave up; through a number of senior staff shake-ups, budgetary problems, technological risks and sleepless nights. The biggest problem I had with this book is that it ends prematurely; there is little mention of the product announcement, public response or the results published in the press. I'll be reading it again. The book fortifies my belief that the Corvette is one of the best engineered automobiles available today, at any price.


PZeditor replies:   March 13, 1999
 0 out of 5 found this review helpful

I certainly don't want to start slinging mud with Jim, however I have to dispute his continued insistance that Dave McLellan did not complete the C5 chassis before he left GM. Dave has told me on several occasions that the C5 chassis was done when he left in 1992. Jim insists on painting Dave as the villian in All Corvettes Are Red, and that's a shame. McLellan was tough to work for but no one can question his vision or his genious. I still contend he is not portrayed fairly.

As far as the other points that I took Schefter to task on, I stand by my sources and the first hand information they gave me.