VETTESCAPE
(GM license pending) is a software program that comes on CD ROM for the PC. It claims to
be Your PC Connection to 1953-1973 American Muscle, but it definitely contains
information that would be useful to owners of later model Corvettes too.
You'll find the presentation format in Vettescape a little dry and business-like. The review copy I used had no printed documentation and no Help option, so I found myself poking around and experimenting on several occasions until I figured out how to extract and display the information I wanted. Adding to the confusion, and I freely admit I'm getting picky, I found that some of the "raised buttons" on the screens were really just titles or comment text that did nothing when I clicked on them. There is online documentation at the Vettescape web site, so I expect this will be incorporated into retail versions of the product.
Only the Vette Informers section appears to be limited to the 53-73 vintage Vettes. The Maintenance section could be used to track maintenance records for any year Vette. The Vette Retailers section would certainly be useful for any Vette owner or enthusiast. And, the Photos section actually does contain some photos of later model Vettes, including the C5.
The Vette Informer section contains detailed
information about 53-73 Corvettes. When you enter this section, you're prompted to choose
a model year and engine suffix. Once you do, Vettescapes displays information about that
specific model including the format for the VIN code. The information is presented in an
easy-to-follow format, and you can quickly change model years and engine suffixes.
At the bottom of the window, you can click buttons to view RPOs for the year, a graph showing production figures, and engine information. You can also access the Maintenance and Vette Retailers sections.
If you want to include a photo of your Vette along with the information that describes it, you can, but you'll need to send the photo to Vettescapes to be inserted in a future version. That was a disappointment. Seeing that Vettescapes appears to be based on a Microsoft Access database, I would like to see photo additions handled locally.
The Vette Retailer section contains address and
telephone information for Corvette vendors throughout the US. Though there were many
retailers listed, I found this to be a section that could benefit from a few enhancements.
You can view an alphabetical list of all retailers or view only the retailers for a particular state. Ok, that's a good start, though when I checked Pennsylvania retailers I didn't see Dobbins Restoration Publishing on the list. Most of the retailers I selected showed incomplete information. Their addresses and phone numbers were available, but the all-important description of what they sell or what services they provide was not available. Perhaps that why the retailers can't be sorted by product or service--an option that would greatly enhance the usefulness of this list! Also notably missing were Corvette retailers outside the US. Hopefully these enhancements will appear in future revisions. In the meantime, Vettescapes does include a very large list of Corvette retailers, so if you're looking for an electronic phone directory, you won't be disappointed.
The Maintenance section lets you enter and track maintenance records
for your Vette. You can track as many Corvettes as you own. Though I didn't take the time
to enter all of the work slips I've accumulated for my 73, I found that I could display a
Maintenance Summary that included a total hours and total dollars for all the work slips I
did enter. .
For future enhancements, I'd suggest offering greater flexibility for viewing maintenance information. I'd like to be able to group and total my maintenance records by retailer, so I could maybe negotiate better discounts with retailers I patronize regularly. I'd like to be able to narrow the summary report to a specific date range, so I could see just how much I spent in 1996, 1997, or say May of 1995.
Another useful enhancement would involve adding a Project Code and Category field to the Maintenance Detail screen, and offer totals for those fields too. I'd like to be able to see how much I spend on "routine" maintenance such as oil changes, broken out separately from major maintenance like redoing the rear end. I'd also like to be able to see how much I spend on a specific project, like redoing the interior.
My biggest disappointment with the Maintenance section of Vettescapes was that I could see that the groundwork has been laid for providing some very useful information, but in this version, my options were severely limited.
Last but not least, I did view the photos, of which there are multiple pages covering most model years--even those outside Vettescape's stated 53-73 model year scope. The photos were an interesting ecclectic collection of mostly exterior shots. Thumbnail sized images appear on the photo pages, but you can double-click on a thumbnail image to display an enlarged version. A suggested enhancement for this section would be to include a caption identifying each photo and possibly pointing out noteworthy details.
Overall, Vettescapes is a useful resource for Corvette owners and restorers. The current version contains plenty of good information and tracking tools. For $24.95, it's a bargain and a worthwhile addition to any Corvetter's PC software library.
Copyright 1996 Barbara Spear
