Corvette Central has issued a recall for two fuel pump flex lines that were PURCHASED AFTER 8/30/11.  They have the part numbers 351415 and 351144,and are used on 1956-62 Corvettes.  These flex lines may leak due to a faulty crimp on the hose end.  If you purchased one of these products after 8/30/11, please stop using it immediately and contact Corvette Central (800-345-4122) for information on how to return it.

Lineup at Monterey Historics

Corvette race fans take note!  Corvette Central is pleased to announce an alliance with the Registry of Corvette Race Cars (RCRC).  The RCRC was formed to “…preserve the heritage of Corvette race cars that keeps the Corvette legend alive”.  The organization maintains an active registry of all Corvette race cars, from C1 through C6, in various racing series, including but not limited to the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA), Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA), Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) and many others.

Corvette Central will be publishing feature stories covering topics of interest from within the RCRC, with the goal of building awareness for Corvette owners and enthusiasts.  Look for updates here in the CC Blog, as well as Corvette Central’s Facebook fan page.  We have also established a gallery that will showcase many different Corvette race cars (most still actively racing) and events across the country.

The first installment will be an overview of Watkins Glen, the “birthplace of sports car racing” after World War II.  Stay tuned!

True, we sell over 40,000 Corvette parts and accessories and manufacture over 3,000 parts in-house, but are Corvette Central employees actual Corvette enthusiasts?  To answer that question, we took a picture of our Corvette-designated covered parking spots.  Today was a picture perfect summer Tuesday in Southwest Michigan, and several of our employees took advantage of this and drove their cars to work.  It must have been odd-numbered Generation day, as evidenced by the C1, C3 and C5 examples you see here…

First up is a 1958 with 2×4 bbl carburetors and an automatic.  This is the car that necessitated the search for correct grille teeth, the first products that Corvette Central produced.

Next is a 1972 convertible with a 454 4-speed combo.

Last but not least is a 2001 Z06.  This car has been mildly modified with aftermarket performance and appearance parts that we sell.

When you visit us, please feel free to park your Corvette in the designated covered spaces as well.  Drive over for a spell and park alongside your fellow enthusiasts’ cars!

In the near future we’ll be showcasing some Corvette parts that we manufacture at our facility in Sawyer, Michigan.  But for now, here’s a little history on our first parts ever offered by Corvette Central: the 1953-60 grille teeth.  Company founder Jerry Kohn: “Our first parts were grille teeth for the 1953-60.  To know why this was more complex than it sounds, you have to know a little bit about the 1953-60.  There were five different size teeth for the grille.  But Chevrolet did what they normally did to service parts like this…they made three basic sizes (center, tooth #4 and tooth #1, but not teeth #5 and #6).  This is what they catalogued as service parts.  Well, of course they weren’t right and if you had to replace an entire grille it just wouldn’t look right.

“There was one person, at that time, who made some solid aluminum teeth but they weren’t very good either.  So I had to find myself a good set of original teeth as a start point.  I had a little bit of trouble even finding a set.  I used to travel a bit to Cincinnati on casting business (Jerry once owned a company called Kohn Kastings).  On one trip I stopped to see a guy I met in Indianapolis who had a real choice ’57 grille bar with a full set of original teeth…

“That’s basically how it happened.  I needed grille teeth and I assumed that someone else would.  The difference between what I did and what other products were available was that I got a full set of original pieces, made a complete set of molds and did quality castings.  We didn’t do slush molds or cheap ceramic molds.  We did it right.  It was as close to what GM did as you could make.

Those original grille teeth are still manufactured in Michigan as part #421006 (1953-57) and #421106 (1958-60) and they are included in a mix of over 3,000 parts that we currently produce.  Stay tuned for more history on Corvette Central exclusive parts, and the production processes behind them.

Over the next few weeks we’ll be reviewing total factory production numbers for all generations of Corvette.  We’ll kick it off with the much-coveted straight axle cars, the C1 Corvettes.