Corvette Model Gallery

1969 Coupe

The media continued their attack. Road & Track referred to the car as "lacking finesse; like using a five-pound axe when a rapier, properly designed, could do as well." Car & Driver tempered their attack with an explanation. "It being a mass-class sports car, the Corvettes excellent engineering tends to be obscured by some rather garish styling gimmicks." Chevy could be forgiven for not being able to fix every problem the media could find to criticize. They were too busy just trying to keep up with the demand for the car which exceeded 1968 sales numbers by ten thousand. Some of this increase is explainable because the production year lasted two months longer then usual. While it takes a keen eye to tell the difference between a ‘68 and a ‘69 changes were being made, most of them designed to fix the niggling problems of the previous year. Inside, the steering wheel diameter was reduced by an inch to fifteen and made tilt and telescopic to ease driver entry. Inner door panels were also revised to provide marginally more shoulder room. All knobs were rubberized and inner door handles made more safe as well as head rests being added to the options list. The dash mounted ignition was moved to the steering column and made locking, an admission that Corvettes were high on the theft list. Within a few years an alarm system would also become standard. To alleviate the lack of storage room three map pockets were added to the passenger side of the dash but it wouldn’t be till 1978 that this was changed to a proper glove box. External changes would include the moving of the back-up lights from beneath each bumper to the center of each inboard tail light. The grill which had been chrome in ‘68 was now painted black. The true nit picker of detail would also note the change in the door handle. In 1968 a finger hold was mounted on the top of the door but the push button to open it was located below, for ‘69 the finger hole was also the opener and only the key hole was on the side of the door. The most noticeable change was that Corvette would again be given the Stingray name and a name plate would be added above the fender louvers. While Chevy claimed that work had been done on the frame to increase structural stiffness, that a change from 7 inch wheels to 8 inch ones had improved handling and that body panel tolerances had been improved, work in these areas would have to continue. A barely noticed milestone occurred on Nov. 19. With little fanfare a Riverside Gold convertible rolled out of the St Louis. It was the 250,000 Corvette built. Final word on the inaugural years of the C3 should be left to Zora Arkus Duntov. When asked to comment on the bad press the car was receiving he commented that "the Corvette was a well-balanced Sports Car while its rivals see it as a Flash Gordon Thunderbird for the Hugh Hefner school of mass cult glamour."

The model

John Moore built this '69 street machine from the Revell kit:

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Page updated  08/24/08