The Corvette has been a long running concept-turned-production vehicle for GM since the early fifties. It was also one of GM's first vehicles to use a modern alternator. This page explains a little about the Corvette, it's alternators, and what you can do to get more charging power for your classic sports car.
When I was 15 years old my older brother's friend bought a brand new Red and White convertible corvette with the monstrous 427 435 horse. He didn't even pay $3000.00 for the car. I remember when he took me for a ride, it was amazing. When that beast would launce you couldn't pull yourself out of the seat. The 68 had a grab bar on the dash and I can remember trying to pull forward to grab it, but I couldn't.
This guy was super neat, I'm sure if he had the car today it would be almost showroom perfect. He ended up selling it because he joined the army, that was an opportunity lost because the army ended up rejecting him because of flat feet. When he came back from the army rejection he bought a beautiful blue 1969 Corvette stingray with a 427 390 HP, what a beautiful car. Of course the insurance went out of sight and he sold it.
I have often wondered how hose cars would have been. In 1978 he bought a brand new black on black plain Jane Pontiac firebird and it has been kept in a heated garage kept for all these years. he sill has the firebird and it's perfect, just think what the corvettes would have been like.
First Generation Corvettes
Generator to Alternator Conversions
The Corvette started off life as a non-production show vehicle, but demand was so high GM decided to make the Corvette a production model. To keep the costs down, GM used only off-the-shelf mechanical components, including the standard DC generators used at the time. These old DC generators are messy to repair, hard to find parts for, and do not hold up well to the abuses of charging. With our A200 Universal Alternator Conversion bracket you can easily mount a 10Si series alternator in place of these old generators. If you need extra power, our CS144 series alternator, including the monster Extreme Duty Dual Rectifier , will also fit using the same A200 bracket .
The Sting Ray , Second Generation Corvettes
GM Introduces their Delcotron AC Generator