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10 Things You Should Know About The Chevrolet Corvette

2.1K views 119 replies 15 participants last post by  OnaWingandaPrayer  
#1 ·
The mighty Chevrolet Corvette has been referred to as ‘America’s sports car’ on more than one occasion – and for good reason. It serves up doses of performance that punch far above its price class. Found on the bucket lists of speed freaks across this country, the Corvette represents the type of attainable dream towards which many gearheads can aspire.

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10 things you should know about the chevy corvette


Each generation has its own perks and quirks, with the most recent iterations taking on the best supercars from places like Italy. A steady – but still relatively limited compared to true mass market models – supply produced from the factory in Kentucky means that while there isn’t a Corvette on every street corner, a yaffle of secondhand examples on the used car market put the model in reach of even more gearheads with a dream.

1 - 1953

The first model to pop forth bearing the name appeared in 1953 after being shown at GM’s Motorama show. Plans were afoot to sell about 300 of these convertibles, though it is estimated only 183 takers appeared. Every single one was painted Polo White and wore red upholstery on its interior, all sprung forth from an assembly line in Michigan.

10 things you should know about the chevy corvette


2 - 1983

Flash forward thirty years and we find…no Corvette at all. At the time, top brass knew the existing model was very long in the tooth and had prepared a full revamp, but it wasn’t quite ready for prime time when the 1983 model year dropped. Rather than rush their performance flagship, the 1983 model year was skipped – at least for customers. Only one preproduction car slipped through the cracks; it now rests in a museum.

3 - National Corvette Museum

It takes a special car to earn a place in a museum - and an even more special one to deserve a museum all its own. The National Corvette Museum is located in Kentucky, not far from the GM factory where Corvettes are manufactured today. It houses a wide variety of important examples including production milestones and movie cars. Fun fact: a sinkhole swallowed eight cars in 2014, though some were recovered and even restored.

10 things you should know about the chevy corvette


4 - Starts with ‘C’

Each generation of Corvette, defined by the year in which major changes are made, is denoted by gearheads and fans using an alphanumeric notation. The first Corvette generation, from 1953 to 1962, is called the C1. This progresses in sequence to today’s model, called the C8. You know you’re talking to a true Corvette fan if they start using these terms.

5 - Shark Week

Now that you’re up to speed on terminology, we can simply tell you the C3 model (‘68 to ‘82) was massively influenced by designs on a GM concept car called Mako Shark II. Designed by ace artist Larry Shinoda, the concept was full of gills and sharp angles - and so were production versions of the C2.

10 things you should know about the chevy corvette


6 - Long May You Run

And, yes, you read that right - the C3 was in production, albeit with some changes, but not enough to move the generational needle, for nearly fifteen years. An oil crisis didn’t help, nor did the imposition of a national 55 mph speed limit and various safety crusades. Still, the Corvette persevered and emerged from the era with special editions and a fuel-injected engine.

7 - Space Oddities

Being a symbol of American success, perhaps it should be no surprise that Corvettes were favored by NASA astronauts, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s. Stories abound of Florida cops turning a blind eye as spacemen like Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom raced their cars on public roads and along some beaches.

10 things you should know about the chevy corvette


8 - Indy Fever

That other symbol of American speed, the Indy 500, has welcomed the Corvette as its pace car no fewer than 22 times as of this writing. That’s more than any other individual model, though it may surprise some to learn it didn’t first appear until 1978 when it was helmed by Indy champ Jim Rathmann. Sure beats the year they used a Oldsmobile Bravada.

9 - Electric Slide

A switch to mid-engine powertrains for the C8 generation meant the Corvette’s front end was finally freed up for an electric motor the size of a cantaloupe. Installed to assist, not replace the mighty V8 engine; it permitted GM to construct the first production all-wheel drive Corvette. Called the E-Ray, it packs a hybrid powertrain belting out 655 horsepower and accelerating to 60 mph in about 2.5 seconds.

10 things you should know about the chevy corvette


10 - Four-Figure Horsepower

Engineers broke through the four-figure wall with the most recent ZR1, whose 5.5L flat-plane crank V8 engine unleashed 1,064 horsepower. This towering grunt is entirely funneled through the rear wheels. Barely a year later, speed freaks within the company took the E-Ray’s electric motor and stuffed it up the nose of a ZR1, creating the ZR1X. Good for a stunning 1,250 horsepower, estimates say this all-wheel drive beast can reach 60 mph in less than 2 seconds.

Corvette Value

According to our friends at Hagerty, the least valuable C4 Corvettes appreciated 14% over three years since the beginning of 2020, and it has continued to appreciate with an increase of 20% over the past five years. Values of vintage Corvettes have an incredibly wide range, so there is something for just about everybody. Prices range from $16,000 for a condition #3 C4 fourth-generation Corvette (1984-1996) to $146,700 for a C2 second-generation car (1963-1967).

You can learn more about valuation trends with Hagerty’s valuation tool

For a bit of fun, check out this feature on the most expensive Corvette ever sold at auction.
 
#20 ·
Unless you are in one on a freeway in texas with an 80 MPH speed limit and bumper to bumper traffic. Then its not as boring.

RTE
 
#23 ·
I had a VW bus once. It was a POS but it did have a BED in the back. It would go 60 downhill with a tail wind. Not my favorite vehicle

RTE
 
#29 ·
I used to fawn over the C8. These days I find that Chevy over did it with the slashing and vents. The rear is too busy and incoherently designed.
C7 is peak Corvette design wise. But will always love the C2 Stingrays.
Mid-engine is awesome revision. I hope C9 will have a smoother design.

I am happy that our Kappa has traces of Corvette DNA. :)
 
#30 ·
I used to fawn over the C8. These days I find that Chevy over did it with the slashing and vents. The rear is too busy and incoherently designed.
I still think it's a nice design and comparable to fewahwis and lambojenies. I would just never buy one because of the difficulties of keeping it long-term. For example, the plumbing is horrendously complicated. Imagine trying to trace a coolant leak.
 
#31 ·
My painter has had one for over a year. He says some of the required maintenance is horrendously expensive. But as TS said, that is at least partially because of the complexity of the design.

RTE
 
#32 ·
Much as I hate to say it the design totally lacks basic harmony. Want to see harmony? Stare at a stock Solstice. The C8 is angry looking with a bug like front end. Its like the designer worshiped wasps. it is cramped and way over bell and whistled.

Its an angry looking overly expensive rolling option list.

No wonder they are piling up on dealers lots. BTW I love Corvettes, I will never love the C8
 
#35 ·
Much as I hate to say it the design totally lacks basic harmony. Want to see harmony? Stare at a stock Solstice. The C8 is angry looking with a bug like front end. Its like the designer worshiped wasps. it is cramped and way over bell and whistled.

Its an angry looking overly expensive rolling option list.
How can you say overly expensive? It's far cheaper that any comparable 'supercar'. And again, styling is on a par with comparable brands. As for cramped, again compare it with a Ferrari or Lambo, and you'll see what cramped means. It may not be on your shopping list, OK we get that, so move on.

Its design is perfectly fine in its automobile strata.

Image
 
#56 ·
How about those C8's piling up on dealers lots? Anyone know how many days supply of C8's currently in the field?

Its noteworthy that WRT the thread topic it really appears that regardless of our opinions the numbers arespeeking for themselves, and its a giant steaming bowl of not good for the decision to go mid-rear engine.
 
#62 ·
Arguing about whether cars are better because they have enough power to break the law more quickly than previous generations of performance cars is rather pointless.

Discussing the pros and cons of various engine locations is more interesting. GM got the OK for the Fiero on the basis that it was an economy car and then gradually changed suspensions etc. until in 1988 it had become a performance car - they produced a prototype (I believe two of them IIRC) that had a mid-engined V6 with a turbo. It was cancelled when it was decided that it would steal sales from the Corvette.

Since then many owners improved performance of their Fieros with things like V8 transplants or turbo engines (that was my route - a 2.9 l turbo putting out 300 bhp - and I drove it for 20 years until I replaced it with my GXP coupe.

I have no problem with GM moving to a mid-engined Corvette - it made a lot of sense. I still want to spit up when they do things like tacking rubber ducky rear wings on Camaros and such. (And yes, I never liked the rear wing on my Fiero GT).
 
#65 ·
I think the C8 is gorgeous. Anyway my thought is this: the original Corvettes were American takes on European sports cars, priced for the common man (or at least middle class.)

I think they steered wrong with the C4. It went from flowing beautiful lines to a doorstop on wheels. Loveless. Designed with so much effort to make it look modern and aerodynamic nobody stepped back and went “but does it look good?”

C5 and somewhat the C6 feel the same. Aesthetic yawnathons. Boring to look at and only don’t look like common traffic because they are low and 2 door.

the C8 in my option returned to the corvettes routes. An American take on the European sports car at a fraction of the price (of course “European sports car” has changed drastically since the OG vette.)

that’s my thoughts.
 
#72 ·
I think they steered wrong with the C4. It went from flowing beautiful lines to a doorstop on wheels. Loveless. Designed with so much effort to make it look modern and aerodynamic nobody stepped back and went “but does it look good?”

C5 and somewhat the C6 feel the same. Aesthetic yawnathons. Boring to look at and only don’t look like common traffic because they are low and 2 door.
I fully agree. Both the C7 and C8 returned to the 'good looking' side for me. We also have to remember though, that those early cars were the epitome of style over substance. Fancy looks over a (literal) truck chassis, with handling to match. Such a pity.
 
#67 ·
Wasn't it Zora Arkus-Duntov the first one to test a mid engined Corvette prototype way back in the '60s? They realized it was "too forward" for the time... 50-60 years later, is the mid engined configuration still "too futuristic"?

I'm not an absolute fan of the C8 design but can understand the decisions made to get where GM got with it. Again: for a fraction of the price of a competing European model. Only the General is able to do that. (Well, now the Chinese automakers with their unlimited government funding have that firepower too).
 
#68 ·
Wasn't it Zora Arkus-Duntov the first one to test a mid engined Corvette prototype way back in the '60s? They realized it was "too forward" for the time... 50-60 years later, is the mid engined configuration still "too futuristic"?
[...]
If you mean the Aerovette (Experimental Project 882, or XP-882), Wikipedia says the designer was Jerry Palmer. I remember my older brother had a plastic model of the concept car. Two were built in 1969, using a mid-mounted small-block; later replaced with a four-rotor, 420 HP Wankel, and finally fitted with a 6.6L V8.
Image
A fine design that, alas, never made it to production, though you can see the C3 inherited a good bit of the front end...
 
#76 ·
Perhaps an engine in both places at once. Twin flat crank V8s. How awesome to have over 2kHP underfoot.
But most likely a 4-motor electric is next. Think of the computer controls operating each wheel independently. Batteries placed for optimum vehicle balance.
I can see it now all 4 wheels instantly up in smoke with battery powered torque.
Dreams are fun.
 
#78 ·
Since this seems to be a discussion about the corvette, at least tentatively i will throw my hat in the ring.
We all know the Chevy v Pontiac corporate history and i am with RTE here, until this recent Cadillac shift towards racing nothing at GM was allowed to threaten the Corvette.

Other than some of the early vintage models i find them ugly. The new one doesnt even look remotely like a vette.

being that i prefer the rounded lines of the Solstice that opinion tracks. For me.
But its a big old world out there and at the end of the day, if it makes you happy, you do you :)
 
#81 ·
On a slightly off topic note, the C3 is, in my opinion, the best looking corvette but it’s malaise slow. At 3200lbs it’s a good candidate for an LNF swap :D just gotta tune it stage 2 or 3 to make it powerful enough for the weight.