Back in the day, Corvette News was a magical publication that I only rarely got to review. Only Corvette owners could get it and I didn’t own a Corvette, or know anybody that had one.
Corvette News was an exciting publication, filled with great looking cars, events, racing, and technical features encouraging participation. I know I sure wanted to join the fraternity.
This post has most Corvette News publications from 1958 through 1966. The Acrobat files (.pdf) that are available on the GM Heritage Center site are rather large, so I down sampled them to a manageable size for on screen reading.
By the way, Dean’s Garage has a completely new Word Press template. Thanks, Chris, for all of your help.
Click on a cover to read that issue in PDF format.
Wow, very cool set of covers!
My Dad owned a 56 Vette for several years in the early to mid 60s. The National Vette Club always denied his application. Don’t know why. Never did find out exactly what it was we were lacking. It was a 56 copper corvette with white interior with both tops. Maybe it was because he swapped out the twin carbs for a single 4bbl. Maybe because it didn’t have the white cove paint option.
My dad bought a 66 roadster in the summer of 67; one of the secretaries at work and her husband bought the car new. About 9 months after their marriage and buying the car, she became pregnant, so they sold the car to him. [They bought a 67 coupe after the baby was born! ] We almost immediately started receiving Corvette News. I have them all from that time until they stopped producing the magazine – would love to have a complete set! Like the author said, it was a magical publication that still evokes strong emotions and feelings/remembrances of the times.
Bravo Gary, very nice to see all these publications. Thank you.
As a Corvette owner, (I have a silver 2005 coupe) I look forward to reading these.
Great work that went into doing this.
I also used to get the Corvette Quarterly when it was published
But alas it has disappeared.
Does anyone know what happened to it?
Don.
Bravo Gary;
Thank you for making these available.
As a Corvette owner (I have a 2005 silver coupe),
I look forward to reading these.
I also used to read the Corvette Quarterly when it was published.
I wonder what happened to those?
Don.
—From Wikipedia: The magazine started in Spring 1962 with the sub-title “The Connoisseur’s Magazine of Motoring Today, Yesterday, and Tomorrow” or in the words of the founder—”a cross between The New Yorker and Encyclopaedia Britannica in the world of auto mania”. The founder and first editor was L. Scott Bailey (September 4, 1924 to June 26, 2012), working from offices in New York City. In 1963, an “office of publication” was opened in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, which operated first as Automobile Quarterly, Inc.
Bailey retired to live in the English Cotswolds and CBS Magazines purchased Automobile Quarterly in 1986 selling the magazine to Kutztown Publishing in 1988. In October 2000, Automobile Quarterly was sold to a newly formed company, Automobile Heritage Publishing & Communications, LLC, and relocated to New Albany, Indiana.
So far, vol. 52 (1) has been the last issue published in 2012. Although the AQ website is still online, there are severe doubts regarding further publications.—Dean’s Garage
Thanks a bunch for posting these, I really enjoy reading these. There is something wrong with the 5th one though, won’t pull up.
—That link has been fixed. Thanks for letting me know. Gary
Sorry, but this should be an obvious question: why isn’t there a bound-volume version of the COMPLETE Corvette News?
As a Detroit gearhead at an early age, I found out where the Corvette News magazine was published and dropped in on Joe Pike one afternoon. With hat in hand, I asked if there was any way I could possibly get a copy. He handed me a piece of paper and told me to add my name and address, and then handed me a copy of the current issue. The follow month, in the mail I received the newest issue of Corvette News and it continued for the next 3 years until I left for college. Joe Pike was an enthusiast and recognized another Corvette devotee. I’m on my fourth Vette and shopping for a C7 GS before the mid-engine C8 hits the market.
There is a bound volume, but it’s called “The Best of Corvette News” and it’s “Edited by Karl Ludvigsen”. It was published in 1976 by Automobile Quarterly with permission from Chevrolet. It it contains a HUGE number of selected articles in its 655 pages, all in the original page size of course. Plus a big introduction by Yours Truly describing how the magazine came about etc.
Used copies can be bought on the web for between $30 and $80 and new ones for three-figure amounts. Check Bookfinder.com.