Corvette: Year by Year
1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 19671968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982
1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
A Brave New Corvette World
The automotive world changed significantly during the reign of the C4 Corvette. Computers had not only become part of the cars but perhaps more importantly were being used extensively in the design and engineering process.
Performance car standards, along with customer's expectations, had changed. Until recently high performance meant comfort sacrifices. Bone rattling, noisy and uncomfortable rides was the price of speed and there was no getting around it. But technology had changed and when the latter part of the 1990s arrived, going fast did not require self imposed torture.
Although still classified as a "small block" about the only thing still in common with the original small block V8 installed in the 1955 Corvettes was the 4.40" bore centers and the fact that both were a two valve pushrod design. The new motor was aluminum with cast-in cylinder liners. The LS1 was designed to go 100,000 miles between major servicing - try that in 1957! It also featured a "throttle by wire" design. This meant that the customary throttle cable was eliminated and pressing what was usually known as the gas pedal actually moved a sensor that was part of the engine management computer. As of 1997, only BMW had sold a car in the US with similar technology.
The output of the LS1 was 345 hp - only 30 hp less than the ZR-1 as introduced in 1990. Engine RPM was limited to 6,000 RPM
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