Corvettes By Color

Some history behind the different Corvette colors

Some history behind the different Corvette colors
Since 1952 when the Corvette was released GM always tried to amaze people with the styling, speed, and overall effect of the Corvette. A Corvette is not a car you need; it is a car that you desire to own. Most people have a favorite body style or group of years that they prefer to collect.

Since day one Corvette was all about flash with colors like Polo White with a bright red interior, too Pennant Blue or Sportsman Red, in 1953 and 1954. 1955 continued with the flash with colors like Corvette Copper, Harvest Gold, and Gypsy Red.
1956 not only brought a new body style it also brought new colors like Onyx Black, Aztec Copper, Cascade Green, Artice Blue, and Venetian Red. 1957 continued with the same colors as 56 but with the addition of Inca Silver.

1958 brought as even more styling changes and horsepower, plus all new colors like Charcoal, Snowcrest White, Silver Blue, Regal Turquoise, Panama Yellow, and Signet Red. 1959 brought a few different colors like Classic Cream, Frost Blue, Crown Sapphire, and Roman Red. 1960 continued with some of the same colors from 58 & 59 but saw the addition of Tasco Turquoise, Honduras Maroon, Sateen Silver, Ermine White, and Horizon Blue. 1961 saw only a few changes from 58, 59, & 60 with colors like Jewel Blue and Fawn Beige. 1962 used the same colors as 61.

1963 brought a completely redesigned Corvette with more horsepower, improved ride & handling, and a hardtop coupe that was never offered before in a Corvette. 1963 also had some major color changes like Silver Blue, Daytona Blue, Riverside Red, Saddle Tan, Ermine White, and Sebring Silver. As in previous years of the Corvette, the colors did not change from 63 too 1964. 1965 was the first year for 4 wheel disc brakes, this year also brought a few new colors to the Corvette like Nassau Blue, Glen Green, Silver Pearl, Goldwood Yellow, and Rally Red. 1966 brought a few new shades of blue and green like Laguna Blue, Trophy Blue, Mosport Green, Sunfire Yellow, along with the other colors from the years before. 1967 brought a few color changes like Marina Blue, Lynndale Blue, Elkhart Blue, and Goodwood Green. 1967 was the last year for the Mid Year Corvette and this body style.

1968 brought in the C3 era of the Corvette, along with a new body style, along with a coupe with removable T Roofs. This year also had some new colors including some like Polar White, Rally Red, LeMans Blue, International Blue, British Green, Safari Yellow, Cordovan Maroon, and Corvette Bronze. 1969 saw some new names to the colors offered, with colors like Can-Am White, Monza Red, Lemans Blue, Riverside Gold, Fathom Green, Daytona Yellow, Cortez Silver, Burgandy, and Monaco Orange. 1970 brought somebody styling changes along with the LT1 engine. 70 Corvettes where release in Classic White, Monza Red, Marlboro Maroon, Mulsanne Blue, Bridgehampton Blue, Donny Brooke Green, Daytona Yellow, Cortez Silver, Ontario Orange, Laguna Gray, and Corvette Bronze. 1971 saw the horsepower and compression ratings dropping as the end was near for high performance sports cars. 1971 bought colors like Nevada Silver, Sunflower Yellow, Mulsanne Blue, Bridgehampton Blue, Brands Hatch Green, Steel Cities Gray, and War Bonnet Yellow. 1972 brought the end to the LT1, and the beginning of some new colors like Pewter Silver, Bryar Blue, and Targa Blue. 72 also saw the end to chrome bumpers on both ends of the car.

1973 was the first year for a rubber front bumper to meet crash test standards. The rear end of the car did not change. 73 brought with it a few new colors like Silver, Medium Blue, Dark Blue, Blue-Green, Elkhart Green, Yellow, Metallic Yellow, And Orange. 1973 was the last year for chrome bumpers on the rear.

1974 was the first year for rubber bumpers on both ends of the car; it was also the last year for the 454 engine. 1974 also saw some major paint changes like Silver Mist, Corvette Gray, Corvette Med Blue, Dark Green, Bright Yellow, Dark Brown, Medium Red, and Corvette Orange. 1975 was the last year for a convertible. This year Corvette had colors like Bright Blue, Silver Blue, Bright Green, Bright Yellow, Medium Saddle, Orange Flame, Dark Red, and Mille Miglia Red. 1976 Corvette shard the same steering wheel as the Vega, they also had new colors like Mahogany, Buckskin, Dark Brown, and Red. 1977 added a number of new paint colors like Corvette Light Blue, Corvette Dark Blue, Corvette Chartreuse, Corvette Yellow, Corvette Bright Yellow, Corvette Orange, Corvette Tan, Medium Red, and Corvette Dark Red. 1978 brought us the new fastback window for better sight and storage, this was also the twenty-fifth anniversary for the Corvette which they mark with a Black and Silver Inday Pace Car and a Silver and Gray Anniversary Vette. GM produced 6,502 Indy Pace Cars and 15,283 Silver Anniversary Corvettes.This year continued with most of the same colors as before with the addition of Corvette Dark Brown and Corvette Light Beige. In 1979 you could order the Pace Car Spoiler package from the Indy Pace Car from 1978. 1979 also saw the Indy Pace Car high back seats become standard equipment. 79 carried the same paint colors as 1978, with the exception of Silver and Gray(Silver Anniversary paint scheme) and Black and Silver(Inday Pace Car paint scheme).

1980 brought redesigned bumpers to incorporate the pace car spoilers of 78 & 79. They also released new colors like White, Silver, Black, Dark Blue, Dark Brown, Yellow, Dark Green, Frost Beige, Dark Claret, and Red. 1981 was the last year for Corvettes to be built at St Louis, this was also the first year for Corvettes to be built at Bowling Green Kentucky. With the Corvette moving to Bowling Green they could now better handle two-tone paints, with Base Coat Clear Coat setup. 1981 was the last year for a 4 speed manual transmission. They released 4 different two-tone paint schemes this year: Silver/Dark Blue, Silver/Charcoal, Beige/Dark Bronze, and Autumn Red/Dark Claret. They also release colors like Mahogany Metallic, Silver Metallic, Bright Blue Metallic, Beige, Maroon Metallic, and Charcoal Metallic. 1981 was also the last year for a Carburated Corvette. 1982 was the first year for the CrossFire Fuel Injection system, it was also the last year for the C3 Mako Shark body style. GM released a limited run of Collector Edition Corvettes with opening rear hatches and special paint and interior to commemorate the end of the C-3 Corvette. The paint schemes available where White, Silver, Black, Silver Blue, Dark Blue, Bright Blue, Charcoal, Silver Green, Gold, Silver Beige, Red, Dark Claret, White/Silver, Silver/Charcoal, Silver/Dark Claret, Silver Blue/Dark Blue.