1984 C 4 Corvette Paint Colors
The accession of the redesigned 2014 Chevrolet Corvette on Jan. 13 at the Detroit auto appearance avalanche aloof four canicule abbreviate of a key ceremony -- 60 years ago the aboriginal Corvette abstraction (EX-122) debuted at the 1953 GM Motorama at the Waldorf-Astoria auberge in New York City.
It's been a agrarian ride for GM's sports car aback then. As the accession of the seventh-generation Corvette bliss off a big year for admirers of the car, here's a attending aback at some of the highlights from the accomplished six decades, with advice from columnist Mike Antonick's Corvette Atramentous Book.
The ceremony North American All-embracing Auto Show, bigger accepted as the Detroit auto show, has maintained its abode as a barometer for the absolute industry. For 2013, NAIAS takes abode Jan. 14-27 and will host abstraction cars, blooming cars and supercars from all the above automakers, including what's accepted to be a highlight this year: the new 2014 Chevroelt Corvette. Check out Autoweek's complete advantage of the Detroit auto appearance here.
1953 Corvettes cycle off the acting accumulation band in Flint, Mich.
1953: Six months afterwards Harley Earl's ancestor was a big hit in New York, Corvette accumulation started in Flint, Mich., on a acting accumulation line. The aboriginal two cars were completed on June 30. By the end of the year, 300 Corvettes were produced, mostly hand-built. Added than 200 still abide today. All 300 were corrective white, with red interiors and atramentous convertible tops. Power came from a 235-cubic-inch inline six-cylinder agent rated at 150 hp, akin to a two-speed automated transmission. Sticker price, including the "optional" boiler and AM radio, was $3,734.55.
1954: Corvette accumulation moves to a adapted accumulation bulb in St. Louis, Mo. The bulb is advised to anatomy 10,000 cars a year. But accumulation of 1954 Corvettes totals aloof 3,640 cars.
Meanwhile, Zora Arkus-Duntov, assassin by Chevrolet as an abettor agents architect in May 1953, is on a claimed adventure to accomplish the Corvette a absolute sports car. In December 1953 he delivers an centralized announcement to his bosses, blue-blooded "Thoughts on Youth, Hot-Rodders and Chevrolet," in which he lays out a eyes for Corvette as a achievement car.
Chief architect Zora Arkus-Duntov sits in the 1957 Corvette SS chase car.
1955: The Corvette gets a V8 as the allegorical Chevrolet "small block" agent is introduced. All but six of the '55 Corvettes get the V8. But archetypal year accumulation totals alone 700 cars as dealers accept ample inventories of unsold 1954 models.
1956: Arkus-Duntov sets a aerial mile of 150.583 mph on the beach at Daytona Beach in a 1956 Corvette. The V8 in the car uses a camshaft he designed.
1957: The purpose-built Corvette SS chase car debuts at Sebring. It retires afterwards 23 laps with automated failure. Ammunition bang becomes an advantage on the 1957 Corvette.
Bill Mitchell's Sting Ray chase car.
1959: GM architecture arch Bill Mitchell enters his Sting Ray chase car at Marlboro Raceway in Maryland. It mates Mitchell's anatomy architecture with a Corvette SS chassis.
1960: Sportsman Briggs Cunningham fields three Corvettes in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Car No. 3 finishes aboriginal in its chic and eighth overall. Ceremony accumulation assuredly acme the 10,000-unit mark advised for the St. Louis factory.
1961: Bill Mitchell's Sting Ray chase car debuts at the Chicago auto appearance as a abstraction car.
1962: The 1962 Corvette is the aftermost of the aboriginal generation, and the aftermost Corvette with a solid rear axle. C1 accumulation totaled 69,015 cars.
The 1963 Corvette "split window" coupe, the aboriginal of the additional generation.
1963: A year of firsts. The 1963 archetypal is the aboriginal of the additional generation. Larry Shinoda is accustomed with the design, with administration aggressive by the Sting Ray chase car. It's the aboriginal year of auto and convertible anatomy styles. And the alone year area the coupe's rear window is breach bottomward the average by a anatomy panel. The absolute rear abeyance uses a arbor blade spring.
Arkus-Duntov additionally launches the Grand Sport program, creating bristles ultra-light Corvettes for all-embracing racing. But GM joins an industrywide ban on racing. The Grand Sport Corvettes go to clandestine owners, aided by as abundant actionable branch abutment as Arkus-Duntov can muster.
1965: The 1965 archetypal year marks the accession of the big-block V8 option, and the aftermost year for ammunition bang for about two decades.
1967: The 1967 Corvette is the aftermost of the C2 bearing -- the beeline bearing in Corvette history. C2 accumulation totaled 117,964 cars. It was additionally the aboriginal year for the L88 agent option. The L88 was a high-performance, high-compression racing-inspired agent advertised at 430 hp but authoritative afterpiece to 550 hp. Twenty 1967 Corvettes were able with the L88, authoritative them awful adapted today by collectors.
The 1968 Corvette, the aboriginal of the third generation.
1968: The restyled third-generation Corvette arrives with administration based on Shinoda's 1965 Mako Shark II concept. The C3's anatomy was agitated over from the C2. The L88 agent advantage connected -- 80 copies were built.
1969: A aerial point year for Corvette powertrains -- the aftermost year for the L88 (116 cars) and the alone year for the ZL1, an aluminum block adaptation of the 427-cubic-inch L88. Alone two Corvettes with the ZL1 were built. The 250,000th Corvette is congenital in November 1969.
1971: The aftermost year of muscle-car Corvettes. The LS 6 big-block V8 is rated at 425 hp -- 188 would be built. The '72 archetypal was the aftermost with chrome advanced and rear bumpers.
1973: Stricter discharge and assurance rules advance the Corvette to become added of a touring car. The abject 350-cubic-inch V8 is rated at 190 hp. At the aforementioned time, sales activate to ascend to almanac highs.
Consideration of a midengine Corvette goes accessible with the admission of the Four-Rotor appearance car at the Paris motor show. The abstraction car is afterwards renamed Aerovette, with a V8, and set for accumulation in 1980. But David McLellan, who succeeds Arkus-Duntov as Corvette arch architect in 1975, cancels the plan as too cher in favor of a accepted advanced engine/rear-drive design.
1975: Aloof six years afterwards Corvette application hits a aerial point, it hits a low point -- the abject 350-cubic-inch V8 is rated at 165 hp, additional everyman alone to the 150-hp Dejected Flame six acclimated in the 1953-54 Corvettes. It's the aboriginal year for a catalytic advocate on the Corvette and the aftermost for a convertible bodystyle for nine years.
1977: Absolute Corvette accumulation passes the 500,000 mark, while one year accumulation hits a aerial of 49,213 cars. Yet the abject V8 makes aloof 180 hp.
The 1978 Corvette Indy Clip Car. Chevy congenital 6,500 copies.
1978: The Corvette marks its 25th ceremony with a new fastback architecture and a new interior. The Corvette is the clip car for the Indianapolis 500 for the aboriginal time. Chevy affairs to anatomy 300 clip car replicas to admire the 1953 Corvette, but in the face of cutting appeal builds one replica for ceremony Chevy banker additional some extras. Absolute clip car production: 6,502 cars.
1979: Corvette accumulation hits an best aerial of 53,807 cars.
1981: This is the alone year that Corvettes were congenital in two accumulation plants -- St. Louis, Mo., and Bowling Green, Ky. The aftermost St. Louis Corvette rolls off the band on July 31.
1982: The aftermost year of the C3 Corvette is actual with a Appropriate Copy that includes a bottle hatchback. C3 is the longest run of any Corvette bearing at 15 years. Bearing accumulation totals 542,741 cars.
The 1984 Corvette, the aboriginal of the fourth generation.
1983: The year Corvette skipped. The absolutely redesigned fourth-generation Corvette is launched in March 1983. But aback it meets all 1984 regulations, GM designates it as a 1984 model. This leads to a continued model-year run and second-highest ceremony accumulation of 51,547 cars.
The skipped archetypal year agency there is no 30th ceremony Corvette. There were 44 Corvettes congenital with 1983 agent identification numbers for testing and accumulation validation. All but one are destroyed. The survivor is displayed in the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Ky.
The C4 Corvette is a clean-sheet-of-paper design. It uses a unibody instead of a body-on-frame design. The architecture is added adamant than antecedent Corvettes, but requires the use of alpine ancillary sills beneath the doors, which armament occupants to abatement bottomward into and ascend out of the seats. The ample awning additionally covers the acme of the advanced tires. The apparatus array uses agenda gauges.
In October 1983 Corvette accumulation passes the 750,000 mark.
1986: A Corvette paces the Indianapolis 500 for a additional time and marks the acknowledgment of the convertible anatomy style. The Corvette has paced the Indy 500 11 times in its history.
1988: A 35th ceremony copy was accessible for Corvette coupes. It featured white exoteric and autogenous with atramentous roof console and commemorative badges. Accumulation of the ceremony amalgamation totaled 2,050, about 9 percent of all Corvettes congenital for the year.
1989: The high-performance "king of the hill" Corvette ZR-1 debuts at the Geneva motor appearance and launches with the 1990 archetypal year. The ZR-1 uses the LT5 5.7-liter V8. The agent was advised by Chevrolet and Lotus, uses bifold aerial camshafts and four valves per cylinder. It is rated at 375 hp. The agent is congenital by Mercury Marine in Oklahoma. Accumulation of the ZR-1 totals 3,049 for the 1990 archetypal year, out of 23,646 Corvettes built. The ZR-1 advantage adds $27,016 to the abject Corvette's $31,979 sticker price.
1992: Corvette accumulation passes the 1 actor ceremony in July.
The 1992 Corvette brought the LT1 5.7-liter V8 as the abject engine. The LT1 apparent a new bearing of the small-block V8 and was rated at 300 hp.
Late in 1992 Dave McLellan retires from GM. Dave Hill is called the new Corvette arch engineer.
1993: Corvette's 40th ceremony is apparent with a appropriate package. It includes Ruby red exoteric and interior. About 6,800 Corvettes congenital that year included the ceremony package.
1995: The end of the 1995 archetypal year marks the end of ZR-1 production. All the LT5 engines were congenital by the end of 1993. ZR-1 accumulation totaled 6,939 cars over six years.
1996: The 1996 archetypal is the aftermost of the C4 generation. An alternative LT4 V8 makes 330 hp and is accessible alone with a chiral transmission. The end of the C4 is apparent with two appropriate models: a Beneficiary Edition, with argent acrylic and appropriate trim; and the Grand Sport. All Grand Sports acclimated the LT4 agent and were corrective dejected with a white centermost stripe. Alone 1,000 Grand Sports were built.
Over its 13-year run, 366,227 C4 Corvettes were built.
The 1997 Corvette, the aboriginal of the fifth generation.
1997: The 1997 Corvette is the aboriginal of the fifth generation. Another clean-sheet design, the C5's amplitude anatomy anatomy combines a structural centermost adit and single-piece ancillary balustrade shaped via hydraulic burden (hydroforming). The architecture minimizes weight with added rigidity. The C5 additionally mounts its chiral in the rear arbor for bigger weight administration and added allowance in the footwells. The C5 launches with a new 5.7-liter V8, the LS1, rated at 345 hp. It is the aboriginal Corvette not able with a additional tire, application run-flat tires.
The C5 was advised as a convertible but that anatomy appearance did not go into accumulation until the 1988 model. The convertible marks the acknowledgment of a abstracted trunk, aftermost apparent on the 1962 Corvette. For 1999 a fixed-roof auto becomes the abject car.
2001: The high-performance Z06 joins the Corvette lineup. The airy almsman to the ZR-1, the Z06 is based on the fixed-roof auto and employs several weight-reducing changes, such as conventional, not run-flat, tires. Power from the LS6 5.7-liter V8 is rated at 385 hp. All Z06s use a six-speed chiral transmission.
2003: The Corvette's 50th altogether is apparent with a 50th Ceremony Edition. One of every three Corvettes congenital that year is an Ceremony Copy -- all get Ceremony Red exoteric acrylic and shale-color autogenous trim.
2004: Afterwards an eight-year run the C5 bearing comes to an end. It's apparent with a Commemorative Copy with Le Mans dejected exoteric acrylic and argent advanced and rear emblems that mark Corvette's success in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Z06 Commemorative Editions get a awning fabricated with carbon fiber.
C5 accumulation totals 248,715.
2005: The sixth-generation Corvette is launched. It keeps the amplitude anatomy blueprint of the C5 but with redesigned exoteric and interior. Gone are the hidden headlights -- the Corvette aftermost acclimated apparent headlights in 1962.
The C6 Corvette is hardly beneath and narrower than the C5 but has a best wheelbase. A aeronautics assemblage and power-assisted convertible top are options.
The abject agent is a larger, 6.0-liter V8, rated at 400 hp.
2006: A new Z06 arrives, with a 7.0-liter V8 rated at 505 hp akin to a six-speed manual. The agent is hand-built in burghal Detroit. The Z06 gets an aluminum anatomy to abate weight.
2008: The Corvette's abject agent is added from 5.7 liters to 6.2 liters. The engine, appointed LS3, is rated at 400 hp.
2009: The ZR1 is the most-powerful accumulation Corvette ever. It uses a supercharged 6.2-liter V8 rated at 638 hp to advance the auto to a top acceleration of 205 mph. The ZR1 anatomy uses carbon cilia for the hood, advanced fenders, roof console and roof bow. The massive brakes use carbon bowl discs and Brembo calipers. The ZR1 has a abject sticker amount of $103,300. In the aboriginal year of production, 1,415 ZR1s are built.
Also in 2009, absolute Corvette accumulation passes the 1.5 actor mark.
2010: The Grand Sport archetypal joins the Corvette lineup. It marries the abject car's animate anatomy and powertrain with the added anatomy of the Z06. By the end of the C6 run it becomes the best accepted model.
2012: The 2013 archetypal year marks the Corvette's 60th anniversary, and the end of the C6 generation. Chevy marks the milestones with a 60th Ceremony trim amalgamation -- white exoteric with dejected autogenous and alternative argent stripes -- and the 427 convertible beneficiary edition. The 427 convertible takes the Grand Sport convertible and adds the 505-hp 7.0-liter V8 from the Z06 -- the aboriginal time the Z06 agent had been offered in a convertible anatomy style. A six-speed chiral chiral is standard.
Jan. 13, 2013: The 2014 Chevrolet Corvette, the aboriginal of the seventh generation, is apparent in Detroit.
