Tom Ramirez
Corvette researcher and historian based in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Two decades documenting Corvette production history from original factory records.
Tom Ramirez relocated to Bowling Green, Kentucky specifically to be closer to the center of Corvette history — the assembly plant, the museum, and the community of collectors and researchers who have spent their lives documenting the marque. What started as a personal obsession became a long-running research project covering every generation of Corvette production from 1953 onward.
His focus is factory documentation: build sheets, tank stickers, dealer records, and the production decisions that defined each generation. He's spent years cross-referencing surviving cars against production data and tracing the development history through original sources. He writes about Corvettes the way a historian writes about any subject — methodically, with primary sources whenever possible, and with a healthy skepticism toward the myths that accumulate around desirable cars.
Tom owns a 1967 427/435 Sting Ray, a 1972 LT-1 coupe, and a daily-driver C5 Z06.
Magazine Articles by Tom Ramirez
The F-Body Platform: What the Camaro Shared with the Firebird
COPO 9561: The Factory Iron-Block 427 Camaro
The Camaro Logo and Badge: A Visual History
The 1968-69 Trans-Am Championship Camaros
Camaro VIN Decoder: Reading the First-Gen VIN
1967 vs 1968 vs 1969: How to Tell First-Gen Camaros Apart
The 1967 Z/28: The Homologation Special That Started It All
The 1969 Indy Pace Cars and the Dealer Replicas
Numbers-Matching a Classic Camaro: Trim Tags and Stampings
Cowl Tag and Trim Tag Decoded on a First-Gen Camaro
Norwood vs Van Nuys: Where First-Gen Camaros Were Built
XP-819: The Rear-Engine Corvette Prototype GM Wanted to Forget
The C3 Corvette's Reputation: Fair Verdict or Misunderstood Legend?
The 1967 Corvette Sting Ray: Why Collectors Call It the Best C2
The C8 Corvette: How Zora Arkus-Duntov's 60-Year Vision Was Finally Built
1955: The Year the Small-Block V8 Saved the Corvette
Why the First Corvette Had a Fiberglass Body
What Year Did the Corvette First Come Out?
The Blue Flame Six: The Corvette's Unlikely First Engine
Mustang Option Codes and Trim Levels Explained
Why Classic Mustangs Handled the Way They Did
How to Decode a Classic Mustang VIN
In Defense of the Mustang II: The Most Hated Mustang
