Author: Peter Brock
Publisher: Brock Racing Enterprises LLC
ISBN: 978-0-9895372-0-9

“When the Stingray Racer was completed in late 1958 and seen by the public, it created a sensation,” Peter Brock writes in his book, Corvette Sting Ray: Genesis of an American Icon.

At one hundred and forty-four pages, this hardbound coffee table book targets those who love the Corvette, especially the Sting Ray or Stingray versions that have been produced over fifty years. After acknowledgements, a forward by Ed Welburn, a preface, and an introduction, there are thirteen chapters dedicated to the iconic automobile. The ending includes an epilogue and appendix on the Cadet.

With over one hundred and eighty never-seen-before color and black and white photographs, the book essentially covers the evolving design of one of America’s well-known sports car.  Design copies, clay prototypes, scrapped concepts, and finished products are shown on almost every page, including information of history, features, and design. This reader found the many punctuation errors distracting. 

Chapters explain the foreign influence that created the model, the participation of four dynamic individuals (Bill Mitchell, Harley Earl, Ed Cole, and Zora Arkus-Duntov), the C2, SS Corvette, and Mitchell’s split window, along with the difference between the Sting Ray XP-87, the Stingray, and the 2014 Stingray C7 remake. Also included are chapters on the AMA racing ban, function versus aesthetics, and other contributing designers.

In addition to learning the history of the name being one or two words, the biographies of the key players provide interesting facts as they design, race, and perfect the look and performance of the vehicle. With Bill Mitchell as the apparent driven factor behind the wheel, his love and pride of the car is obviously noticed in the photographs. 

Since the author of the book was only nineteen when he began his career in the industry, he is the last surviving member that worked on the 1963 Sting Ray. The book focuses mainly on the first five years of the car’s inception, skipping to today’s model.

Meant for Corvette enthusiasts, the book makes a nice coffee table gift that explains the beginnings of a car loved and cherished by so many, as they wonder what new exotic creation is in store over the next fifty years of its existence.

Thanks to Jenkins Group and Bookpleasures for furnishing this book in exchange for a review based on the reader’s honest opinion.

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