The Complete Guide To Every Corvette Model

When WWII ended, American soldiers brought home European-made sports cars by the shipload. Chevrolet's new designer got to experience some of these Jaguars, Alfa Romeos, Ferraris, and the like at Watkins Glen, and he went about designing an American competitor, code-named "Project Opel." In 1952, a concept was made with a fiberglass body, V6 engine, and soft top. It was dubbed, "Corvette," after the speedy warship class. The consumer base was excited by the concept, causing GM to rush a production version onto the assembly line.

What makes the Corvette so great is the combination of racing pedigree, and the fact that it is exotic and ostentatious without being unreachable or pretentious. Nobody ever got looked at with a sneer for wearing jeans while looking at a new 'vette in a showroom.

Year: 1953-1962
Complex Says: Let's face it, the original Corvette was nothing too special. It was rushed into production and quality was low. In addition, the 150hp I6 engine and automatic transmission left a lot to be desired. A 195hp small block V8 was added to the lineup in 1955, though, which did help. The Corvette luckily managed to survive for long enough to grow into its own in 1956. The V8 became more powerful, the six cylinder was gone, and a manual transmission was standard. Over the years, the Corvette gained another pair of headlights and a ton of chrome, as was the trend at the time, and then an additional pair of tail-lights. The four tail-lights look has continued to this day. By the time 1962 rolled around, the top-tier engine on the C1 was putting out a roaring 340 horsepower.

Year: 1957-1962
Complex Says: In 1957, fuel injection was added as an option to the Corvette. The first fuel-injected car was the legendary Mercedes-Benz 300SL, which debuted only two years prior, so this was viewed as state-of-the-art engine tech at the time. The first fuel-injected 'vette made 283hp (one per cubic inch of displacement), and that number grew to 360hp by 1962. The Corvette has become a serious performance car.

Year: 1963-1967
Complex Says: The 1963 C2 is easily the most iconic body style of the Corvette. The C2 Corvette. People obsess over the split window because it's unusual, striking, and now, quite rare. GM made the C2 with the split window only for a single year. The new Corvette didn't initially get any more power than the previous generation, but it did lose some weight and gain independent rear suspension. As a result, it did accelerate faster than the C1, and it handled a lot better as well.

Year: 1963-1965
Complex Says: Just like the C1 fuel injection before it, the C2 had a fuel-injected variant that featured the still fairly new technology. It produced 360 horses, which is still impressive by today's standards.

Year: 1965-1967
Complex Says: The fuel-injected L84 may have been cool and powerful, but the Corvette that really made enthusiasts go slack-jawed was the big block. Engines from 6.5L to 7.0L had outputs from 425hp all the way up to the 560hp, 103-octane-only, 7.0L L88 engine.

Year: 1963
Complex Says: Chevrolet saw what arch-rival Ford was doing with the Shelby Cobra, and chief engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov secretly started building a race car. He originally planned to build 125 of them so that the car could be entered in GT races, but GM executives shut it down when they found out what was going on. Only five of these 550hp lightweight monsters were built. Number 004 won at the SCCA race at Watkins Glen in 1963, piloted by Dick Thompson.

Year: 1968-1982
Complex Says: The C3 Corvette's mako shark-inspired design was an instant hit, and it is still one of the most beautiful cars ever made. It is one of the few designs that has aged so well as to look fresh and striking all these years later. The C3 generation ran for 14 years and a lot happened in them. From the early models, which were graced by things like the massive 454ci (7.4L) big-block V8, to the '80s, in which the Corvette languished under new fuel economy and air cleanliness laws. The 1980 California 305 made a sad little 180hp. For most of the years the C3 was in production, it was a high-performance, proud, loud, fast piece of ostentatious Americana...just how we like it.

Year: 1969
Complex Says: Due to their extreme cost, only three '69 ZL1s were ever produced. They all had the fire-breathing 460hp 427ci (7.0L) aluminum V8, and suspension upgrades to match. For a long time, it was believed that only two examples were ever built, a white one and a yellow one, but Car & Driver tested a red one that hasn't been seen since. That's going to be a killer barn-find some day.

Year: 1970-1972
Complex Says: The ZR1 was a competition spec 'vette, and each car came with the LT-1 engine. In order to make the cars race-ready, GM fitted them with an improved cooling system, a revised suspension, and some chassis upgrades. Power windows, power steering, air conditioning, rear window defoggers, and radios were not available. The ZR2 was only made as a 1970 model year (although it was released in 1971), and it featured the same upgrades and restrictions, with the exception that it had the 454ci (7.4L) LS-6 engine. The LS-6 was the only Corvette engine in '71 formulated to run on premium fuel.

Year: 1978
Complex Says: The Indy Pace Car Special Edition was effectively an option package that gave the buyer black-on-silver paint, a red pinstripe, a spoiler, and silver leather seats. Sweet.

Year: 1982
Complex Says: The C3 Collector Edition was the farewell to the C3 bodystyle and a small preview to the C4. It was the first Corvette with a hatchback rear window like the C4 that would come after it. Aside from that, it also came with some aluminum wheels that evoked the optional wheels of the '67.

Year: 1984-1996
Complex Says: By the end of its life, the C3 Corvette had gotten pretty sad. The 1980 models were underpowered and only available with automatic transmissions, which effectively neutered them. Power was still fairly low (250hp) until the LT1 came along in 1992. Despite the still-recovering horsepower, GM did make the C4 faster around the track than the C3 by focusing on improving handling as much as possible. All 1986 'vettes were designated Indy Pace Cars.

Year: 1987-1991
Complex Says: In 1987, an option package that cost almost as much as simply buying a second Corvette was offered for the C4. It was a twin turbo setup that upped power output to 345hp. By 1991, the Callaway's engine produced 403hp.

Year: 1988
Complex Says: Callaway didn't just want to take the crown of the world's fastest production car, but it wanted to make a car that could also be driven on the street comfortably. Amazingly, the 880hp 254.76mph SledgeHammer did just that. NACA ducts are always cool too.

Year: 1988
Complex Says: The 35th Anniversary edition is often called the "triple white" Corvette, on account of the white paint, white wheels, and white seats. Although 2,050 were made, only 180 were made with manual transmissions, and because of that, manual triple whites are worth quite a pretty penny on the auction block these days.

Year: 1990-1995
Complex Says: GM had just purchased Lotus, and the Corvette division got the idea that Lotus, with decades of motorsport experience, could help make the world's fastest production car based on the C4 Corvette. The ZR-1 was the result. The V8 in the ZR-1 made 375hp, but the real importance of the car was the ungraded suspension, braking, and chassis, as well as the FX3 adjustable ride control. Eventually, the ZR-1 also gained traction control and another 30 horsepower. Sales were poor due to the extreme price, but the car itself was brilliant.

Year: 1993
Complex Says: The 40th Anniversary package consisted of a badge, ruby red paint, and a ruby red interior. 6,749 were sold at an added cost of $1,455.

Year: 1995
Complex Says: For the Corvette's return to pacing the Indy 500, GM went for another two-tone 'vette, with a red stripe. Rather than black and silver, these pace cars were dark purple and white. In addition to the special paint, the pace cars also got ZR-1 wheels and brake rotors.

Year: 1996
Complex Says: At the end of the C4's lifecycle, Chevy produced the Corvette Grand Sport, in honor of the racing car from 1963. It came with the high-performance LT4 engine, and if you didn't like blue cars with thick white stripes, you were out of luck.

Year: 1996
Complex Says: The last C4 was the Collector Edition, just like the last C3. This Collector Edition came with Sebring silver paint and some other small trim items.

Year: 1997-2004
Complex Says: The C5 was a major departure from the C4. The car was totally re-engineered to permit for a 50-50 weight distribution and to retain chassis rigidity as a convertible. The C5 Corvette also adopted a lot of new tech, like an optional head-up display and the Active Handling System. The transmissions were also cleverly designed to retain performance, while limiting certain behaviors to obtain a comparatively high 18/25 mpg rating. The Corvette was one of the few sports cars to avoid the gas guzzler tax.

Year: 1998
Complex Says: The Corvette makes a damn good Indy Pace Car. It also makes a damn good Indy Pace Car special edition when wearing blue paint with some obscenely bright-yellow stripes. Except for the safety equipment needed to pace an Indy 500 race, this special edition was a perfect replica of the '98 pace car.

Year: 2001-2004
Complex Says: The Z06 was the successor to the ZR-1. Even though it wasn't as powerful, it outperformed the ZR-1 in every way, due to its greatly reduced weight. Eventually, power did rise all the way to 405hp, which enabled the Z06 to get from still to 60mph in as little as 3.9 seconds.

Year: 2001-2007
Complex Says: The Corvette C5-R was a dominant race car in the GTS class of ALMS and at Le Mans in France. It won eight races out of 10 in its first year. It later went on to win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 12 Hours of Sebring, and 24 Hours of Daytona.

Year: 2003
Complex Says: After a half-century of Corvette production, a special edition was offered in "anniversary red," with a shale interior. The 50th Anniversary Edition also marked the introduction of magnetic ride control to the Corvette lineup.

Year: 2004
Complex Says: The Corvette team was understandably proud of its first and second place finishes at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. So proud that a commemorative edition of the road car had to be made. The Le Mans edition came with Le Mans Blue paint with silver and red stripes. To top it all off, the Le Mans Z06 came with a carbon-fiber hood.

Year: 2005-present
Complex Says: The C6 Corvette is easily the most refined yet. It debuted with a 6.0L engine that made a respectable 400hp, although this was replaced with a 6.2L 430hp unit in 2008. Once again, transmission trickery has been used to avoid the gas guzzler tax.

Year: 2005-present
Complex Says: The C6.R racing car is the successor to the dominant C5-R. It has continued the stranglehold on the champion positions of ALMS, Le Mans, FIA GT, and 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Year: 2006-present
Complex Says: The Z06 has the biggest engine that any Corvette has sported in a long time. The 7.0L LS7 makes a roaring 505hp, and the weight has been reduced greatly as well to improve handling and acceleration. In 2010, a Z06 Carbon Special Edition was made that was just like the Z06, although it featured all the lightweight carbon-fiber bits from the ZR1.

Year: 2008
Complex Says: Rental car. The words inspire thoughts of a small, unrefined, poorly maintained econobox with a Fisher Price interior. If you're looking in the right places, you can get a Corvette ZHZ from Hertz instead. That's a hell of a lot better than a 2005 Kia Rio.

Year: 2009
Complex Says: It's too bad the C6.R endurance racer can't be purchased for road use, but that's what makes it a supercar. An homage to the C6.R was made available in 2009, though in the same Tweety Bird yellow, with a "Jake" graphic on the hood. Some other cosmetic upgrades and a body color spoiler straight from the C6.R adorn the GT1 edition too.

Year: 2009-present
Complex Says: Seven minutes and 26.4 seconds. That's all you need to know. The Corvette ZR1 holds the fifth-best Nurburgring lap time for a production car. Some people were astounded that a Corvette could cost this much (about $111,000 base). Others were astounded that a car that cost this little could pack this much technology and speed. We think it's worth every penny. It's proof that the American auto industry is still a world player.

Year: 2010-present
Complex Says: So you can't afford a world-beating ZR1. Hopefully you can still afford the track-ready Grand Sport, with all of its cooling upgrades, aero upgrades, big-ass brakes, and big-ass tires.

Year: 2013
Complex Says: Chevrolet marks the 60th anniversary of the Corvette with the introduction of a special edition 427 Convertible. This Corvette's engine bay is graced by the killer 7.0L LS7 V8, which produces 505hp. In addition to the massive engine under the hood, the 427 Convertible gets blue stripes on a white body, special stitching on the head rests, and magnetic ride control.