Rainy day so I worked the Zaino for the first time to wonderful results. All that elbow grease and close work with the lines of the Z06 got me wondering - who designed this beauty? Anybody know the history of the C5 design?
Originally posted by Rippied.Z06 John Cafaro designed the C5. I got his autograph on my engine cover. He is very gracious and attends most of the Corvette Museum events.
From what I know, the Chief Designer was John and he is a GM employee. Part of the GM design studio that has designed all Corvettes I believe. An interesting piece of trivia I learned from an audio tape I received in '98 when the '99 FRC came out is that the FRC body style is John's favorite and what he envisioned when he designed the C5. The similarity between the FRC and Vert with top up is no coincidence. For anyone with a FRC or Z06 that tape is awesome because its 20 minutes or so of John talking about the FRC body style design and why he loves it.
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Ditto, John Cafaro. I've met him and he is a down to earth guy!
Matter of fact, at this year's NCM labor day event, John and his family were walking past my (then 2 day old Electron blue Z) car and John stopped to talk and complimented me on the car! Like I said, great guy and a genius as a designer!
John currently works in the truck design area, and another GM design guy is working on the C6.
dsinned beat me to it. ACAR, "All Corvettes Are Red" is a really insightful book on the making of the C5. I don't know if it's published anymore, but used to could get it from Mid-America and places like that.
Take care,
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Thanks again to this forum for answers! The book 'All Corvettes are Red' is avaialble from Amazon.com for $11.20 +shipping but it is 3+ weeks out for delivery. There is another book called 'Corvette C5' that discusses the history of the C5 (it got mixed reviews on amazon).
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The book 'All Corvettes are Red' is avaialble from Amazon.com for $11.20 +shipping but it is 3+ weeks out for delivery. There is another book called 'Corvette C5' that discusses the history of the C5 (it got mixed reviews on amazon). 
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