1974 Corvette Illustrated Series No.54

While the automotive world was in the doldrums over the death of performance cars, Chevrolet couldn't make enough Corvettes to satisfy customers! Duntov's objective was to make the Corvette a quality car. Obviously, his efforts paid off. And despite major social changes, Chevrolet sold 37,502 Corvettes in'74, that's up 7,038 from '73 sales of 30,464. This made the bean counters very happy!

The name of the game in business is sales. If nobody is buying, it won't be sold for long. Remember the Fiero? The marketplace was changing and Duntov made enough changes in creature comfort and quality to strike a chord with the buyers. Demand was so high that the production was bumped from 8 to 9 hours. And even then, there were 8,200 orders returned to dealers "unfilled." Buyers wanted Cadillac quality for their $6,000. A major car magazine awarded the Corvette Best All-Around Car in '73 and '74. Considering the performance drop, this was amazing!

The obvious visual difference on the '74 Corvette was the new rear bumper. While other cars had huge chrome railroad ties for bumpers, the Corvette's new look was smooth and clean. The '74 rear bumper cover was made of two pieces, later year cars used a one-peice cover.

In an effort to improve life inside the Corvette, two small resonators were added to the exhaust system to tone things down. 1974 was also the last year for non-catalytic exhaust, as well as the last year for real dual-exhausts. The big-block 454 would be gone in '75.This was also the last year for leaded gas.

Under the hood there were three engines available. The base 195 hp 350, the optional $299 L82 350 with 250 hp, or the $250 LS4 454 with 270 hp. The standard transmission was a four-speed or Turbo Hydramatic. The option buy of the year was the $7 "Gymkhana" suspension that got you a thicker front anti-roll bar and high-rate springs. This was available on all Corvettes, but only 1,905 were ordered.

All of the extras added cost and weight to the Corvette. The base price for the '74 Corvette was now 6,001.50, But it didn't seem to matter to buyers. The Corvette was over 20 years-old and now had a solid performance image even though the rip snort'n, mean machine days were over. The three most popular options were now power steering, power brakes, and telescopic steering column. Buyers taste had changed and Duntov was right on target. The car still had untapped potential, you just had to extract it yourself. But, it was better than no Corvette at all.