Four Seat Corvette??

[Pierre J.]

Link to an article on Jalopnik about a suggestion to GM in 1956, that a four seat Corvette should be considered..

http://jalopnik.com/5664921/the-american-sports-car-manifesto-of-1956?skyline=true&s=i

[Chuck S.]

Re: Four Seat Corvette??

Thunderbird was never a Corvette, but gave up any claim to being a "sports car" with its four seat platform in 1958.

The goal was to sell more cars to an upwardly-mobile, conspicuous consumption market. In the case of Corvette, sensible heads prevailed; it was kept a true sports car, albeit with lower production numbers.

The rest, as they say, is history. Thunderbird became a cheep, ugly, indistinguished, gasping, on-life-support, dying failure. By the late seventies/early eighties, I remember renting "Thunderbird" sedans on business trips...they were uninspired DOGS. Not even a cute little retro-deaux would fly.

In contrast, new or old Corvettes are still an admired and coveted marque by many around the world...sometimes less (seats/sales) is more.

[Christopher R.]

Re: Four Seat Corvette??

Chuck, your assessment is correct. But, by making it a 4 seater, Ford sold many more Thunderbirds and made much more profit than GM did on the Corvette. When comarisons like this are made, every auto executive will sadly remind every auto enthusiast that car companies are in business to make money.

I don't know the complete story, but I believe it's some combination of luck, circumstances, and Zora.

[Chuck S.]

Re: Four Seat Corvette??

Chuck, your assessment is correct. But, by making it a 4 seater, Ford sold many more Thunderbirds and made much more profit than GM did on the Corvette. When comarisons like this are made, every auto executive will sadly remind every auto enthusiast that car companies are in business to make money.

I don't know the complete story, but I believe it's some combination of luck, circumstances, and Zora.

You are correct, of course...both about Ford successfully achieving their objective and car companies being in business to make money.

In those days, engineers ran GM, and it wasn't hard for upper management to allow engineers a low volume platform to try out performance technology. It didn't hurt that they had persuasive guys like Zora to make the sale, and we're happier for the outcome.

It makes you wonder how the corporate persona of Ford and GM would answer the question: "If you could go back to the mid-fifties, would you make those decisions regarding the future of the (Thunderbird/Corvette) the same way?"

P.S. It's no wonder that Barney Clark's memo suggesting the four seat Corvette was rejected at GM. Clark took so many words to develop the idea, that executives hardly gave it a glance until it had been "delegated" down to those "performance" engineers to make the decision...they promptly "round-filed" it.

[Chuck S.]

Re: Four Seat Corvette??

Actually...There was quite a bit of internal consideration of, not to mention unflattering interpersonal politicking over, a four passenger Corvette at GM. No less than Ed Cole and Bunkie Knudsen were battling it out over the four seater Corvette.

In the end, it was only the overwhelming demand for the new C2 that kept Corvette from having a four holer. See here...excepts from Knudsen's dairy:

http://www.corvettes.nl/gm_prototypes/xp720_4seat/index.html

[Paul J.]

Re: Four Seat Corvette??

It's no wonder that Barney Clark's memo suggesting the four seat Corvette was rejected at GM. Clark took so many words to develop the idea, that executives hardly gave it a glance until it had been "delegated" down to those "performance" engineers to make the decision...they promptly "round-filed" it.

So you noticed that too. My eyes began to glaze over. If Clark would have practiced the finer points of technical writing, the Corvette may have been very different.

[Bill M.]

Re: Four Seat Corvette??

In the end, it was only the overwhelming demand for the new C2 that kept Corvette from having a four holer. See here...excepts from Knudsen's dairy:

Dave McLellan's book Corvette from the Inside, p.52, has a paragraph about Cole's 4-seater. According to Dave, the 4-seater mock-up was parked in Styling's garage, and John Gordon (GM President) tried out the back seat...and got stuck. That is what killed the 4-seater.

Dave's book is a wealth of information...highly recommended.

[Scott S.]

Re: Four Seat Corvette??

There is a picture of the four-seater with back-seat passengers on page 67 of Adam's Restoration Vol. 2.

Very glad it didn't go into production.

[Scott S.]

Re: Four Seat Corvette??

Update. For anyone who is interested in more information about the four seat version of the Sting Ray, I found an NCRS Restorer article on the subject. It's in Volume 13, #4 (Spring 1987). Titled "The Four Passenger Sting Ray", by John Amgwert. The four-seater is on the magazine's cover, and there are six B&W pictures in the article, two showing the interior (rear seats up, rear seats folded down).

[Thomas P.]

Not a GM option, but a Yenko dealership option Corvette back seat

Read to the end of the first post on this thread:
https://www.forums.ncrs.org/showthre...84440&uid=3585

[William M.]

Re: Four Seat Corvette??

Did someone say Four Seat Corvette?