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Never Stop Driving #129: The Corvette Chief
Tadge Juechter had a Motown engineer’s dream job: For over three decades he helped develop multiple generations of the Corvette, starting with the later versions of the fourth generation (C4). He served as the executive chief engineer from 2006 until he retired last year. Under his tutelage the Corvette morphed from a fast but unrefined sports car to the soon-to-released 1064-hp ZR1, a supercar with a Chevy badge. Incredible.
We wanted to hear Tadge’s stories from years in the Corvette trenches, so we arranged an exit interview with him and Harlan Charles, the longtime Corvette product marketing manager who worked alongside Tadge for nearly 25 years. We also included Jerry Burton, a former advertising copywriter who penned a must read book on one of Juechter’s predecessors, Zora Arkus-Duntov. You can listen to the entire two-and-a-half-hour interview, for free, on the Never Stop Driving podcast on Apple and Spotify, and we’ve also included a video version published in three parts.
I first met Juechter and Charles around the turn of the century, when I was a green automotive tester at Car and Driver. Back then readers loved comparison tests between the Corvette and the Porsche 911. Whenever either company came out with a new model, we took both to a track. I wrote some version of the same verdict multiple times: The Corvette was a second or more quicker around a race track, but the Porsche felt like an extension of the driver’s body. Even though the Corvette was also far cheaper, we’d pick the 911 more often than not. Scribes like me didn’t have to write the check and we valued feel over a slight edge in speed.
I learned to describe the difference between the sports cars from Detroit and Stuttgart. With the Corvette you learned to trust the handling over several laps. You had to tell yourself, rather than sense, that it could safely carve an intimidating high-speed corner at the limit of tire grip. Even then my doubting voice would ask, “Are you sure?” The 911 of that era, the 996 chassis, provided what felt like a hard-wired pathway between the driver and the tire contact patch. The Porsche just made the driver feel more confident. If your job is to get the fastest lap time but you’ll be fired if you crash, the car that makes you feel more comfortable is simply more compelling.
Car reviews are subjective, however. I wondered what car company engineers like Juechter thought about criticisms of the cars they’d sweated over for years. Did they think I was clueless or simply wrong? I never found out, because executives in Juechter’s position are trained in how to deal with the media. Above all, they are told by their PR colleagues to avoid critiquing the critic. During that time, I also hung out with a lot of GM engineers during amateur race weekends in the Midwest. In the pits and over dinner, we’d naturally talk about cars, and I quickly came to understand that these obviously sharp guys appreciated the same man-and-machine connection that we magazine testers did. They also revealed that GM did its own competitive analysis, including a battery of tests. They knew what made a car inspire confidence in its driver. Why, then, didn’t the Corvette reflect that?
In our interview, Juechter explained some of the limitations GM insiders dealt with and how they battled them. He also, to my surprise, said he used negative reviews from reviewers like me to justify upgrades to future versions of the Corvette. That is just one of the traits that made him such an effective leader: He didn’t dismiss the feedback, he embraced it. And in 2013, when the Corvette team unveiled the seventh-generation Corvette, it was a landmark. Finally, the Vette had Porsche-style road feel to go with all the value-packed performance. And the C7’s styling was striking. I like the C7’s looks and performance so much, in fact, I recently bought a used one. You can imagine, then, how much I loved hearing Juechter explain the improvements he made to the C7 versus the C6, which was itself highly regarded. Corvette number seven, by the way, was supposed to be the first mid-engine version, but the financial crisis of 2008 and GM’s subsequent bankruptcy delayed the project, a fascinating tale that you’ll hear in the interview.
Give it a listen and let me know what you think. And don’t miss these other recent highlights from Hagerty Media:
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- Hagerty’s Andrew Newton explains why cars come and cars go, but we shouldn’t shed too many tears over the ones that got away
- How Bob Lutz finally got the affordable roadster he tried to build at multiple car companies, in the Pontiac Solstice
- Hal Sperlich, Unsung Father of the Mustang and the Minivan, Dead at 95
- Tom Cotter, the Hagerty Barn Find Hunter, visits a fire engine restoration shop in Maine
Have a great weekend!
Larry
P.S.: Your feedback and comments are welcome.
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Honestly I did not read the complete story. Just wanted to mention that Corvettes have come a long way, the only trouble is I can no longer afford one. Remember, this is suppose to be an affordable Chevy, or at least it used to be.They are also not too friendly if a person wants to take a trip, just get away for a weekend or longer. At least with the older cars there was some room for baggage and after a few years they may have been affordable to retired folks like me. Now even a three or four year old car might be too expensive. Anything older than that and they may be too beat to be dependable. Guess I’ll have to stay with my ancient Lancia Beta Zagato that nobody wants because Fiat took over the company. It doesn’t have 1000 horsepower but it still is satisfying to drive.
I grew up on GM performance cars and the Trans AM. It made me feel like Mario Andretti.
To me the 911 was just an expensive beetle.
Then I went to California and drove a 911 Carrera from San Diego to San Fran and back on the PCH and I5. The 911 made going fast feel slow Vs that Trans Am would handle but it made slow feel fast.
It was not till the GM Performance Group was formed and they applied many of the things they learned on
the C5, C6 and the racing many of the engineers and test time at the ring.
The new cars began to have that feel of being fast but it feeling like you were slower than you were.
I know they have adapted this to the C8 and I saw recently that Porsche called and congratulated GM on the Z06 and told them they nailed it. There was always a bit of rivalry there over the years.
As for affordable it is not that the Corvette is priced out of reach. The Stingray today can be had for the same value as it was in the past. In today prices the old price would be nearly the same. Yes they do offer more expensive models like the Z cars but the Stingray is still about the same as it was. If you can’t afford it now in a couple years used it will be even a better low mile deal.
The truth be told the big HP models are not the best Corvettes. You will never use all that power even at track time.
I saw a while back a Corvette engineer said the best car they ever did for track time was the Grand Sports C6. He said it had all the power you needed at most tracks. It had all the coolers and dry sump. It has the larger body and tires with the big brakes. Best yet it has the steel frame. If you nub a rail or wall in a crash it can be repaired where the aluminum is a write off.
The C6 also lacks many of the added electronics the C7 had that just complicates things.
#2 best track car is the C5 Z06. Again 405 HP that is more than enough to push the light 3100 pound chassis. It is also a simple car compared to the later cars and is very easy to work on. The C5 is the best of the past and the future. This is why the Z06 is in high demand on the C5 yet today and will cost you more money to find a good clean one for sale.
I’m please with my C5. I would like to move to a C6 GS some day and I would be fine or even a base Stingray C8. Sure a ZR1 would be fun but I will more than happy in my low mile C5 I picked up.
I would also like to find a good 59 or 60 Corvette too. These are fun to drive as it has that old time sports car feel of the past but with V8 power.
C6 Grand Sport and Z06 I think are my favorite of modern Corvettes. Naturally aspirated, great handling and comfortable. There biggest weakness is they need better seats. The Supercharged Corvettes are not as compelling to me despite the easy smokey burnouts they can do.
“Did they think I was clueless or simply wrong?”
Well, I was a Car & Driver subscriber during those times and my answer was and still is, YES. No matter how innovative Corvette design evolved it seemed like the rag was always finding ways to elevate the Porsche and nit pick the Vettes. They didn’t just do it to Corvettes, they did it to many USA vs. foreign cars. Many USA designs at that time rightfully deserved bad ratings due to poor build quality. But it seemed the Vettes were nit picked the most. After years of having the Car & Driver subscription I quit the rag out of disgust for the obviously biased content. I haven’t picked up an issue since.
Many years ago (1971) as a development engineer in Chevrolet HVAC & Engine cooling I performed testing of the proposed mid-engine Corvette which of course did not happen until 2020. Many people have forgotten about the proposed mid-engine from that time frame. Side note is that we do have a 2016 Z51 which we are very happy with.
Have a good weekend
And the air condition on my 2017 is fantastic!
Larry!
This article, and more importantly the whole podcast interview has to be expanded. This is gold . Such a great inside story that should be expanded to a book or long-form illustrated article. What an amazing story. From the tech to the business challenges to the personal experiences- this is just incredible. The modern time version of the Zora Duntov years where they are shooting for the stars yet struggling to keep this a car alive and still something the everyday American can aspire to. Oh, and a few minor challenges in between home runs… like a worldwide financial crisis and the company going broke. Yet the Corvette only gets better and better- the best performance per dollar bargain of any enthusiast car made. What a story, told from the insiders’ perspective…