How the C5 Chevrolet Corvette Was Saved

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Through its first four generations, Zora Arkus-Duntov saved the Corvette -- said to be unprofitable -- again and again. Twenty years later, the C4 Vette was tired and aging; the 'Vette itself was on the chopping block. Could Jim Perkins, then general manager of Chevrolet, save the program?

Remembers Perkins: "In 1992, Joe Spielman, head of manufacturing, came into my office one day with a long face. He said, 'There's a rumor going around that we're going to kill the C5 program.'

"I met with Lloyd Reuss, and he was unequivocal: 'We need the capital and engineering resources to do the H-car [full-size sedan].' We had a pretty intense discussion.

"Dave Hill had just become Corvette chief engineer, the next-gen car was on paper, and we were close to where we couldn't pay our bills. So we looked at the Chevy marketing budget. We put about two and a half million dollars of marketing money into the program.

"We got into hydroformed rails and alloy suspension parts to lighten it up and put a lot of rigidity into it, and we were ready to put a body on it. We put on a raggedy old C4 body and were driving it at the Mesa, Arizona, Desert Proving Grounds, and everybody was pretty well blown away. For example, when you ran over the ripple strips with the old car, you got memory shake that would rattle your teeth. But the C5, even with that old C4 body on it, just settled down and burrrrp, ran over it. So we knew we had something.

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"We had not yet developed a business case because everything had been done on the QT, but we didn't have a choice. We had to do something. I finally got with Lloyd and Mike Mutchler [who ran

Chevrolet-Pontiac-Canada] and had a nose-to-nose talk about that car and why we should continue it. Corvette was among the best-known names in the automotive world, I said, and if you don't have enough confidence in me to trust my judgment that we can make money on this car, then I shouldn't be here.

"I finally got a grudging decision, but the question came down: 'Where did the money come from to take it this far?' I think I told them we found it. I did confess that we had reallocated some money from other areas in the organization, but I didn't tell them which ones. I think they really didn't want to know.

"When we finally presented the business case, the stop or go-ahead point, I had had our guys go back and tally up all the Corvette magazine covers we had had since 1953. It was more than 800!

"By the C5's second year, we were selling more than 30,000 cars, and it turned out to be one of the most successful programs ever. I probably get a lot more credit for it than I'm due because there were a lot of guys who were totally passionate about that car." —G.W.

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Not long after the C5 Corvette program had finally been approved, Corvette chief engineer Dave Hill put together a hardware show in the GM Design Dome for GM leaders to compare past, current, and potential future Corvette architectures. Perkins invited long-retired "Mr. Corvette" chief engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov to come over and see it.

I always did my best to make sure to honor the tradition, so I invited Zora to a lot of functions. I was smart enough not to bring him in to see this display when the engineering group was there, but Joe Spielman and a couple others were present when I walked Zora through it. And of course we had chosen a backbone and pod architecture for the C5 and moved the transaxle to the rear. Zora looked at it, looked at everything else, didn't say much.

Two or three days later, he called and said [imitating Duntov's Eastern European accent], "Jim, I look at new Corvette architecture, and I am surprised. No mid-engine." I said, "No, no mid-engine." He asked, "Why? Why you make decision no mid-engine? You should fight for mid-engine."

I said, "Zora, I might as well be fighting the wind. I'm not going to win that one. We've got the program, we're going to go forward with it, we have a great architecture that we're pretty well settled on." He said, "No, Jim, you must raise issue of mid-engine." I said, "OK, fine."

He said, "I would like to come see you." I said, "Well, I'm pretty busy, but my secretary will try to find a time." I thought he was going to come in just to talk, but when he walked in that morning, he had a role of stuff under his arm. He said, "I am here to talk about mid-engine car." I said. "OK, but I don't know what there is to talk about."

He rolled out these plans that he had done himself, and started talking about this mid-engine architecture. I said, "Zora, I'd like to sit here and talk with you about this, but I'm very busy, I have other things I need to do. Nothing has changed. We are not going to do a mid-engine."

He said, "You are not going to fight for mid-engine?" I said, "No, sir. I am not. It's a waste of time and effort. There is just no point in trying to do it. I know you're passionate about it, and you're probably right, but we just cannot do it." He said, "OK." And he rolled up his plans, put them under his arm and said, "You are not going to build mid-engine. I will raise the money, and I will build the son-of-a-bitch myself." And he walked out of the office.

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