Corvette generations explained: C1 to C8 by year, with engines, production and the names decoded

Two things before comparing rows. Horsepower through 1971 is gross; from 1972 it’s net, measured as installed, which reads lower for the same engine: GM’s 1962 engine sheet rates the base 327 at 250 hp gross and 210 net. And production mixes plant counts (C1 to C6) with the model-year totals published for the C7 and C8, where 2020 and 2025 include pre-production cars.

Add the rows and GM built about 1.94 million Corvettes from 1953 through the 2025 model year, by this site’s sum of the yearly figures, not an official GM count. The biggest single model year is still 1979, at 53,807. The 2023 C8 came within 22 cars of it, in a model year that ran about 17 months.

The C1 covers the 1953–1962 model years, and all 69,015 are open two-seaters; there was no C1 coupe. GM showed the Corvette at its Motorama at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York on January 17, 1953, and the first production car was built on June 30, 1953, in Flint, Michigan. GM calls it the first mass-produced car with a plastic-laminated fiberglass body (opens in new tab). All 300 built that year were Polo White, with the 150 hp Blue Flame six and the Powerglide automatic, the only transmission listed.

The six didn’t last long. St. Louis built the cars from 1954, the V8 arrived for 1955, a removable hardtop and the side coves came for 1956, and fuel injection for 1957. Quad headlights followed in 1958 and a four-taillight rear in 1961. The 1962 ran a 327 rated up to 360 hp with fuel injection, and it was the last Corvette with exposed headlights until 2005.

Year-by-year detail and what one costs now: the C1 buyer’s guide.

The C2 covers the 1963–1967 model years, and it’s the Sting Ray. GM’s own history names “the Sting Ray coupe”, with concealed headlamps and a split rear window offered only in 1963. It was the first Corvette coupe, and Hagerty notes the independent rear suspension that came with it. GM built 117,964: 45,546 coupes and 72,418 convertibles.

The muscle came fast. The Z06 package went on 199 cars in 1963. For 1965, four-wheel disc brakes became standard and the first big-block arrived, a 396; the 427 replaced it for 1966. By 1967 the top 427 made 435 hp (gross), and the L88 427, rated 430 hp, went into just 20 cars.

Five model years, and every one of them a Sting Ray. Prices, and the fakes to watch for: the C2 buyer’s guide.

The C3 covers the 1968–1982 model years, and it holds two records: the longest run, 15 model years, and the most built, 542,861 (472,275 coupes and 70,586 convertibles). Hagerty traces its long-nosed body to GM’s 1965 Mako Shark II concept car, and GM’s history notes that for 1968, “for the first time, Corvette offered removable roof panels”. Those are the T-tops.

It started strong: up to 435 hp (gross) from the 1968–1969 427, and the one-word Stingray script on the fenders from 1969. Then the 1970s caught up with it. GM switched to net ratings for 1972, chrome bumpers gave way to body-color ones (the front for 1973, the rear for 1974), and the 1975 base 350 was rated 165 hp. That year’s convertible was the last until 1986.

The C3 kept selling anyway. For 1978 it got a fastback rear window and paced the Indianapolis 500, and 1979 was the biggest Corvette model year of all, at 53,807. Production moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky, in June 1981, partway through the 1981 model year. Which C3 for which buyer: the C3 buyer’s guide.

The C4 covers the 1984–1996 model years: 13 of them, and 358,180 cars. Chevrolet introduced it in March 1983, sold it as a 1984 and sold no 1983 model at all (see Why there is no 1983 Corvette). That early start made 1984 a long model year, good for 51,547 coupes.

GM’s 1984 kit describes a coupe with a one-piece lift-off roof panel, a glass rear hatch, electronic instruments and a 205 hp V8. The headlamps hide behind pop-up doors. The convertible came back for 1986. Then came the heavy hitter: the ZR-1 of 1990–1995, with a double-overhead-cam LT5 V8 rated 375 hp, then 405 hp from 1993. GM built 6,939.

The run closed with the 1996 Grand Sport: Admiral Blue with a white stripe and red hash marks, a 330 hp LT4 and a six-speed, 1,000 built. Years to favor and what goes wrong: the C4 buyer’s guide.

The C5 covers the 1997–2004 model years, and GM built about 248,700. GM’s own history lists what was new: the all-aluminum 5.7-liter LS1 V8 at 345 hp, “a rear-mounted transmission” and a removable roof panel on the coupe. The convertible followed for 1998 and a fixed-roof hardtop for 1999.

Two years later, the hardtop got serious. “For 2001, all hardtop models became the higher performance Z06”, in GM’s words, with its own LS6 V8: 385 hp at launch and 405 hp from 2002. The LS1 itself went to 350 hp for 2001. The C5 was also the last Corvette with pop-up headlamps: GM’s 2004 manual still covers the headlamp doors, and the 2005 manual has none.

The buying side: the C5 buyer’s guide, the C5 Z06, the C5 years to avoid and C5 vs C6.

The C6 covers the 2005–2013 model years, and the plant figures add up to 215,123 cars. GM’s 2006 press material calls it “the new, sixth-generation Corvette” and lists fixed xenon headlamps, round taillamps and center-exit exhaust. Those were the first exposed headlights on a Corvette since 1962.

Power climbed the whole way through. The 6.0-liter LS2 made 400 hp, and the 6.2-liter LS3 that replaced it for 2008 made 430 hp, or 436 with the optional dual-mode exhaust. The Z06 of 2006–2013 brought a 7.0-liter LS7 at 505 hp. From 2009 the supercharged ZR1 topped them all, with a 638 hp LS9 by GM’s engine data, and GM built 4,684 ZR1s in five years. The Grand Sport name came back for 2010–2013.

Read on in the C6 buyer’s guide, the C6 Z06 and the C6 ZR1.

The C7 covers the 2014–2019 model years, about 190,000 cars, and it brought back the Stingray name. GM’s Ed Welburn said the name could come back only on a car that lived up to its legacy.

The car under the name was all new: an aluminum frame, a 455 hp LT1 V8 (460 with the performance exhaust), a seven-speed manual, and only two parts shared with the C6, by GM’s account. GM called its dual-element taillamps “the greatest departure from tradition”.

The hot ones followed. The supercharged Z06 arrived for 2015 with 650 hp, the Grand Sport returned for 2017 with 460 hp, and the 2019 ZR1 closed the generation with a supercharged LT5 rated 755 hp. GM built 2,953 of them in a model year that ran 20 months. The C7 is the last Corvette with its engine in front. Read the C7 buyer’s guide, the C7 Z06 and C7 vs C8.

The C8 covers 2020 to the present, and as of October 2026 it’s in its 2027 model year. Chevrolet introduced the 2020 Stingray as the brand’s first-ever production mid-engine Corvette (opens in new tab), with a 6.2-liter LT2 V8 rated 490 hp, or 495 with the performance exhaust, and “Chevrolet’s first eight speed dual-clutch transmission”. No C8 has been offered with a manual: GM’s owner’s manuals list the dual-clutch as the only transmission from the 2020 to the 2027 model year.

The lineup grew year by year, and by 2025 the horsepower had four digits:

• 2020: Stingray. The LT2 V8, as a coupe with a removable roof panel or a hardtop convertible.
• 2023: Z06. A 5.5-liter LT6 V8, 670 hp.
• 2024: E-Ray. GM’s “first-ever electrified Corvette with all-wheel-drive”: the LT2 plus a front electric motor, 655 hp combined. It’s in the owner’s manuals for 2024–2026.
• 2025: ZR1. A twin-turbo 5.5-liter LT7, 1,064 hp, the first factory Corvette with twin turbos, by GM’s account.
• 2026: ZR1X. The LT7 plus a front electric drive unit: 1,250 hp combined, the most of any Corvette so far.
• 2027: Grand Sport and Grand Sport X. The Grand Sport name returns, and the Grand Sport X makes 721 hp combined (535 from the V8, 186 from the front electric drive).

For 2027, Chevrolet moved the Stingray to the 6.7-liter LS6 V8, 535 hp (opens in new tab), which GM calls “the most powerful base engine ever offered in a Corvette”, and both Grand Sports share it. The 2027 lineup lists no E-Ray: the 2027 owner’s manual and Chevrolet’s model list carry six models, and the electrified ones are the Grand Sport X and the ZR1X.

The published model-year totals add up to 194,969 C8s for 2020–2025, with pre-production cars counted in 2020 and 2025. This site found no final 2026 figure as of October 2026. Years, problems and prices: the C8 buyer’s guide and C7 vs C8.

Start with the headlamps. They settle most cases from across a parking lot, and the roof or the tail settles the rest.

Between a C4 and a C5, the model year or the VIN is the surest tell (see Which generation is a given year). Under the hood, the battery moves around from generation to generation, and the battery guide shows where it hides on a C4 to a C8.

Match the model year to the ranges: 1953–1962 is a C1, 1963–1967 a C2, 1968–1982 a C3, 1984–1996 a C4, 1997–2004 a C5, 2005–2013 a C6, 2014–2019 a C7, and 2020 on a C8. A 2000 Corvette is a C5; a 1968 is a C3.

It’s the model year that counts, not the build date. Federal rules define the model year as the year used to designate a discrete vehicle model (opens in new tab), “irrespective of the calendar year” it was built, as long as production doesn’t run past 24 months. Corvettes use the room: the 1984 was introduced in March 1983, and the 2019 model year ran 20 months. One Corvette Action Center owner’s car, built in September 1993, is a 1994.

From the 1981 model year, every Corvette carries a 17-character VIN, and its 10th character is the model year:

GM’s 1984 kit gives the first VIN of the run as 1G1AY0782E5100001: E, for 1984. The codes repeat every 30 years (1984 and 2014 are both E, 1997 and 2027 both V), and the 7th character settles it: for passenger cars, the federal rule says a number there means 1980–2009 and a letter 2010–2039. The body settles it faster. Nobody mistakes a 1984 for a 2014.

Before 1981, the year sits in the serial number: the 3 that starts a 1963’s 30837S, the 9 in a 1969’s 194379S, the 7 in a 1977’s 1Z37L7S, and for 1980 the letter A (1Z878AS). Those are pointers, not a decoder. The GM Heritage Center kits in this site’s owner’s manual library are where these serials come from.

Because Chevrolet never sold one. GM’s 1984 kit, in a reproduced Corvette Black Book page, says the new car was introduced in March 1983 and, because it met all 1984 federal requirements, Chevrolet decided to “skip the 1983 model designation”. The 1983 cars were built, serial-numbered and tested, by Chevrolet and by the motoring press at a preview at Riverside Raceway in December 1982, but they were never released for public sale.

The National Corvette Museum (opens in new tab) adds development delays and the need to meet new emissions and quality standards. It says a small number of pre-production prototypes were built for testing and validation, and most were destroyed under standard GM procedures. One survived, and the museum has it.

Published counts of how many were built disagree. Lists that start the C4 in 1983 are counting cars no customer could buy.

• C1 to C8. Owners’ shorthand for GM’s own “fourth generation”, “sixth-generation Corvette” and so on. The older nicknames for the first three are solid axle, midyear and shark, and one Corvette Action Center poster dates the C-numbers to the C5’s testing, when GM called it the fifth generation.
• Sting Ray and Stingray. Two words on 1963–1967 cars, a name Hagerty traces (opens in new tab) to the XP-87 Stingray Racer. The 1968 wears no badge, though its brochures said Sting Ray. One word, in fender script, on 1969–1976 cars; then nothing until the C7 brought it back for 2014, and the C8 Stingray kept it. So a 1977–1982 C3 is no Stingray by its badge, and a 1968 is one only by its brochure.
• Z06. A 1963 option package, RPO Z06 Special Performance Equipment, on 199 cars. It returned for 2001 when the C5 hardtop became the Z06, then ran 2006–2013 on the C6, 2015–2019 on the C7 and from 2023 on the C8.
• ZR-1 and ZR1. The code first named a special-purpose engine package, RPO ZR1, on 1970–1972 C3s. The C4 ZR-1 of 1990–1995 carries a hyphen in GM’s 1993 owner’s manual, though its option code is ZR1. From 2009 the hyphen is gone: the C6 ZR1 (2009–2013), the C7 ZR1 (2019) and the C8 ZR1 from 2025, joined by the ZR1X for 2026.
• Grand Sport. First a 1963 race car: GM says only five were built before a corporate decision to suspend direct racing ended the project. The name came back on the 1996 C4, the 2010–2013 C6, the 2017–2019 C7 and the 2027 C8, alongside the Grand Sport X. On the C8, GM’s X marks the electrified all-wheel-drive version, as on the ZR1X.
• LS6. By GM’s account, one name for three engines: a 454 big-block, the C5 Z06’s 5.7-liter V8 and the 2027 C8’s 6.7-liter V8.

Put the first Corvette next to the most powerful and the whole story fits in a line: a 150 hp six-cylinder roadster in 1953, the 1,250 hp ZR1X now, and fuel injection, big-blocks, the ZR-1, the Z06 and a V8 behind the seats in between. Seventy-three years on, America’s sports car is still a Chevrolet you can order from a Chevy dealer, and GM isn’t done with it: the 2027 Stingray gets what GM calls the most powerful base engine ever offered in a Corvette.

Pick a generation and dig in: C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7 and C8, each with its years, problems, prices and verdict. For the short list across all eight, read the best Corvette years.