OVERVIEW:
The Blue Flame Special was published by Ed and Jean Thiebaud from Fresno, California. It was the newsletter for the Vintage Corvette Club of America. With the publisher's broad goal to restore '53 to '55 Corvettes to concourse condition, the magazine included 10-24 pages of buy and sell classifieds, technical tips and profiles on restoration parts. It included sources for helpful information including contact details for other clubs, reprints of manuals and checklists for potential Corvette buyers.

After GM's publication of Corvette News, the next two significant Corvette magazines published in the 1960s were by car clubs. The first one was Blue Bars from the National Council of Corvette Clubs. The second significant periodical was this one - The Blue Flame Special. When this title ended, at least seven (7) commercial (i.e., not affiliated with a club) Corvette magazines were started. They can all be found on the left navigation bar.

Regular membership was for owners of '53 to '55 vehicles, but later Corvette models could join the club as an "associate" member. In later issues, the publisher added the "Vette Pette" featuring an attractive, bikini-clad woman next to a Corvette. This formula was followed by several future Corvette titles such as with Corvette Fever's "Vette-mate".

The Thiebauds set up a regional structure for local shows and judging events. There were at least fourteen regions in the U.S. and Canada, but apparently the judging events never really caught on.

The table of contents can be seen by clicking on the icon.

PUBLICATION DATA:
The publisher did NOT provide paid circulation data to N.W. Ayer.

CONTENT COMPLETENESS:
A total of 27 issues was printed from 1969 through 1975. All images are complete, yet we are uncertain about publication of a fourth issue in 1969 (volume 1 number 4).

Blue Flame Special 1969 Q1
1969 Vol 1 No 1
Blue Flame Special 1969 Q2
1969 Vol 1 No 2
Blue Flame Special 1969 Q3
1969 Vol 1 No 3
Blue Flame Special 1970 Q1
1970 Vol 2 No 1
Blue Flame Special 1970 Q2
1970 Vol 2 No 2
Blue Flame Special 1970 Q3
1970 Vol 2 No 3
Blue Flame Special 1970 Q4
1970 Vol 2 No 4
Blue Flame Special 1971 Q1
1971 Vol 3 No 1
Blue Flame Special 1971 Q2
1971 Vol 3 No 2
Blue Flame Special 1971 Q3
1971 Vol 3 No 3
Blue Flame Special 1971 Q4
1971 Vol 3 No 4
Blue Flame Special 1972 Q1
1972 Vol 4 No 1
Blue Flame Special 1972 Q2
1972 Vol 4 No 2
Blue Flame Special 1972 Q3
1972 Vol 4 No 3
Blue Flame Special 1972 Q4
1972 Vol 4 No 4
Blue Flame Special 1973 Q1
1973 Vol 5 No 1
Blue Flame Special 1973 Q2
1973 Vol 5 No 2
Blue Flame Special 1973 Q3
1973 Vol 5 No 3
Blue Flame Special 1973 Q4
1973 Vol 5 No 4
Blue Flame Special 1974 Q1
1974 Vol 6 No 1
Blue Flame Special 1974 Q2
1974 Vol 6 No 2
Blue Flame Special 1974 Q3
1974 Vol 6 No 3
Blue Flame Special 1974 Q4
1974 Vol 6 No 4
Blue Flame Special 1975 Q1
1975 Vol 7 No 1
Blue Flame Special 1975 Q2
1975 Vol 7 No 2
Blue Flame Special 1975 Q3
1975 Vol 7 No 3
Blue Flame Special 1975 Q4
1975 Vol 7 No 4
Last issue