As the Corvette has matured over the years, its appeal grew larger and stronger. In music, on television, and at the movie theater, the car continued to evolve from sporty transportation to cultural icon, representative not only of how people lived and behaved but also of who they wanted to be and what they wanted from life. Below is an excerpt from Randy Leffingwell’s Corvette about the Corvette’s various influences on pop culture in the last twenty years.
All genres of popular music embraced the Corvette. Country singer George Jones featured a Corvette in his song “The One I Loved Back Then.” In it, the owner of a quick-shop market reminisced about how the passenger in a customer’s ’63 Sting Ray reminded him of one that got away. He meant the passenger, not the car, which became the vehicle for his memories. In 1983, singer/songwriter Prince released a song on his album 1999, titled “Little Red Corvette.” While there were several automotive metaphors in the lyrics, it had little to do with Chevrolet’s sports car. It had much to do with human relations, specifically of the carnal variety. (I’ll leave it to the reader to guess as to what, exactly, the “little red Corvette” allegorically refers.) It might not have been about America’s beloved sports car, but “Little Red Corvette” was the song that broke Prince on the national music scene and made him one of the most popular singers of the 1980s.
The Corvette also made its mark on television and in movie theaters. In summer 1985, Stephen Cannell produced a 90-minute television pilot titled “Stingray” for a series he hoped to sell. In the film, a do-gooder named Ray, played by Nick Mancuso, helps a district attorney in exchange for a promise to return the favor sometime in the future. From spring of 1986 through the following spring, the series ran 23 episodes, during which Ray helps people change their lives in exchange for calling on them for their help in the future. The name came from Ray’s 1965 black Stingray that he drives throughout the single season. As a tie-in for this show, Monogram Models made a plastic kit of Ray’s black Corvette. Shortly after the kit’s release, the show was canceled, so Monogram re-released it as Item no. 2724, ’65 Corvette Street Machine.
A film called Wanted examined the training of assassins. One of them, Angelina Jolie, positions her silver 1986 C4 in such a way that her partner flips his car in order to shoot into the open sunroof of his target’s bulletproof limousine. Few other cars offer the perfect wedge shape to launch the killer’s more mundane Mustang mid-1960s notchback coupe.
The Corvette continued to inspire filmmakers into the twenty-first century. The 2009 film Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen gave Corvette enthusiasts what they thought was a glimpse of the C7 concept. That turned out not to be the case; instead, a fantastical creation from GM Styling to honor the General Motors 100th, called the Corvette Centennial Design Concept (and then the Corvette Stingray Concept) earned a co-starring role in the film, playing a creature called “Sideswipe.” Inspired by Corvette’s history from Bill Mitchell’s 1959 Stingray racer to the 1963 production coupe, and pulling in cues from later variations on the Corvette theme, the car debuted at the Chicago Auto Show. In mid-2010, rumors placed a roadster version of Sideswipe on the streets of L.A. in close proximity to where a Camaro and other Transformers were fighting to save the world. Transformers: Dark of the Moon was released to theaters on June 28, 2011.
Corvette: Seven Generations of American High Performance
Author: Randy Leffingwell
Explore a complete history of America’s original sports car.
Through hundreds of rare and unpublished photos from GM’s media and design archives, special gatefolds and in-depth analysis from noted Corvette historian Randy Leffingwell, Corvette: Seven Generations of American High Performance celebrates six-plus decades of America’s sports car, covering the revolution and evolution of America’s longest continuously produced nameplate, from Harley Earl’s initial concept to the latest seventh-generation car—the 2014 Corvette Stingray.
Officially licensed and created in cooperation with General Motors, Corvette: Seven Generations of American High Performance focuses on the Corvette’s place in popular culture as well the its engineering and design success. This book offers something for everyone who has ever lusted after a ‘Vette. From the inaugural 1953 Corvette to today’s stunning Stingray, this book touches on all aspects of Chevrolet’s iconic sports car: history, racing, period ads, posters, memorabilia, key designers such as Bill Mitchell, engineers such as the fabled Zora Arkus-Duntov, celebrity ‘Vette fans, and more. No Corvette fan will want to miss out on this ultimate history of America’s first and foremost sports car.
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