Chevy Corvette Stingray - The Corvette Diaries

In the six weeks before the issue was technically resolved, Knudsen churned out his increasingly common invective against corporate management. One session in Styling found him arguing with Dick Gerstenberg-who would eventually become GM's chairman and CEO-about exterior details of Chevrolet's '64 A-body coupe. He assumed the clay modelers who watched all this nonsense "must think we're nuts." The only considerations, he complained, were those related to cost-cutting and to Cole's nascent program to integrate operations of the automotive divisions. He indulged in his frequent lament about the "upper echelon in GM" and their arrogance, "The management is too self satisfied-too cocky-we can do no wrong-this is going to hurt because we're going to have to get a bump in the nose before we wake up. I hope it isn't a bad bump."

This theme was reiterated after a visit to Styling on Tuesday, September 4. Cole was reported still to be "hot" on the four-passenger Corvette. "Having trouble talking him into doing it right," Knudsen wrote. "It's getting more difficult working with Cole. He wants to run everything." First thing the next morning, Knudsen took the brand-new Ferrari 2+2 to Styling. Referring to the four-passenger Vette, he said, "Ours should be slightly larger." He came away from the meeting with Bill Mitchell feeling hopeful that an alliance had been struck with the Styling boss. While the Sting Ray was brilliant, Mitchell experienced problems with his designs for bread-and-butter cars, and Knudsen detected a flaw in Mitchell's strategy. "He starts out with a real far out car that he could never sell. Scares [chairman and CEO] Gordon and [president] Donner into being more conservative than ever."

The four-passenger car might have had only a few more weeks to live, but Knudsen evidenced discouragement by September 17. He again posed the theory that the car was a sop to be given to coachbuilders Mitchell Bentley, who were losing their job on the Buick and Oldsmobile station wagons. "I'm not going to battle," Knudsen said. "I'll give my views and opinion and then forget about it. Should let Cole hang himself. Why should I protect someone with as little integrity?" If anything lifted his spirits, it was visits from the likes of Mickey Thompson, whose great interest in LeMans was recorded, and from Jim Rathman the morning after a USAC race. "They led Milwaukee on Sunday," Knudsen observed, "but lost due to someone leaving off a gas cap."

In the third week of October, Knudsen took a call from GM Vice President Bud Goodman-probably his truest ally and confidant among top management-and was asked about the four-passenger Corvette. This was Knudsen's chance to disavow it. "It's the wrong thing to do," he told Goodman, feeling sure it would be turned down. Three days later, on Thursday, October 18, Knudsen tersely described the meeting in which the four-passenger Corvette was thrown out. "This is the correct decision," he wrote. Too big a man to gloat, he did permit himself a smile over Cole's theatrics. "Cole was mad at me because I never have wanted it. It was humorous because he was mad enough to threaten me with giving it to Olds if I didn't support him. I told him to go ahead."