1978 Chevrolet Corvette Indy 500 Pace Car

Sunday afternoon, not long after the dramatic photo finish down at the Brickyard, this 1978 Indy 500 Pace Car edition Corvette came tooling up College Avenue, probably on its way home from the track.

1978 was the Silver Anniversary year for the Corvette, and saw some styling changes for the C3 body style, most notably with the tunneled rear window being replaced with a compound-curved glass fastback (which was fixed in place and not a hatchback.) In addition to a Silver Anniversary edition, every '78 got 25th Anniversary badging. 

That wasn't the big special edition for 1978, though, because Chevrolet got the 'Vette in for its first appearance as the Official Pace Car for the Indy 500 and commemorated it with a Pace Car Limited Edition replica.

The Pace Car Limited Edition came with the L82 350cid V-8. With a dual-snorkel air cleaner feeding its four-barrel carb, 8.9:1 compression ratio, and dual exhausts, the L82 made 220 SAE net horsepower at 5,200rpm. A period test by Road & Track returned a 0-60 time of 6.6 seconds and a 15.3 second quarter at 95mph on the way to a 127mph top speed.

MSRP was $13,653 ($68,400 in today's money), but Chevy's decision to produce enough for every dealership to have one makes this one of the least-limited Limited Editions ever. Chevy hyped its special edition status in advertising, yet when all was said and done, with 6,502 examples produced, better than one in ten '78 Corvettes sold was a Pace Car. 

A quick googling shows there are a ton of nice, really low-mileage ones floating around out there, since a large number were bought and parked as "sure-fire future investments" that haven't even halfway kept up with inflation.

As you can see from this photo of a different one, with added side pipes, photographed back in August of 2022, they're not terribly uncommon. I've spotted at least four distinct ones in the neighborhood over the years.

The one above either never had the door decals applied or lost them in a repaint. I'm going to go with the latter, since it has neither the rear quarter IMS logo decal nor the Limited Edition decals on the fenders, both of which were installed at the factory, unlike the door decals that were dealer-installed. Also, the fender badges seem oddly placed and the rear spoiler's not there. It's possible that it could be an attempt to create a Pace Car clone, but why clone such a common car?

The one below was snapped in the summer of '22, like the sidepiped car.

The top car was photographed with a Canon EOS R and an RF 24-105mm f/4L IS lens in May of 2026, the second one with a Fujifilm X-T2 and 16-80mm f/4 R OIS WR lens in August of 2022, the third with an Olympus OM-D E-M1X and a Panasonic Leica 12-60mm f/2.8-4 lens in June of 2024, and the last one with a Nikon D7100 and a 16-80mm f/2.8-4 zoom in September of 2024.

1969 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray

We've had a 1969 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray coupe on these pages before. It was even a small-block car in Can-Am White...

But this particular example illustrates why the vacuum-operated pop-up lid that concealed the windshield wipers from the '68-'72 model years was eventually dropped. It was unnecessarily complex in operation and had a tendency to get stuck in the wrong position.

This one was photographed in May of 2015 using a Nikon D1X.

1975 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible

The 1975 model year would feature Chevrolet's last convertible Corvette for over a decade. Only twelve percent of the 'Vettes sold that year were ordered as droptops.

This year saw the introduction of the new HEI ignition system and catalytic convertors, and the base 350 cubic inch V-8 only made 165 SAE net horsepower at 3,800 RPM, a new low for the C3 Corvette. 

The big blocks were gone and the only optional motor was the L82 350 small block. Even with different heads, bigger valves, a hotter cam, and forged crank, among other performance boosts, the L82 only put out 204 ponies.

The base motor could be paired with a four-speed manual or a Turbo Hydra-matic gearbox, and the L82 offered the option of a close-ratio four-speed.

The photo of the Classic White specimen above was taken with an iPhone 7 Plus in July of 2020.

1970 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Convertible

This isn't the first 1970 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray on these pages. It's not even the first one in Monza Red. But that other one was a small block coupe while this beastie is a convertible powered by a big block 454 cubic inch Chevy rat motor, as the badge on the side of the hood bulge proudly proclaims.

There was only one big block option on the menu for the '70 model year, and that was the LS5 version of the 454. It was an oversquare, all-iron pushrod motor with a 4¼" bore and 4" stroke, 10.25:1 compression ratio, sucked premium fuel through a four-barrel Rochester carb to the tune of 9-12 miles per gallon, and was rated at 390 SAE gross horsepower. It could be backed with a four-speed manual or a three-speed auto and a variety of rear axle ratios were on the option list.

Road & Track tested a 1970 Stingray 454 coupe with the three-speed Turbo Hydra-Matic slushbox and the 3.08:1 "economy" rear end. The tall final drive gave a top speed of 144mph, but acceleration was tame for a big block 'Vette, with a 0-60 time of 7.0 seconds and a 15.0 quarter at 93mph.

The top three photos were taken in September of 2021 using a Hasselblad Lunar and a Sony Zeiss Vario-Tessar T* 16-70mm f/4 zoom lens and the bottom pic was snapped in April of 2017 using a Leica D-LUX 3.

1977 Chevrolet Corvette

1977 was the last year of the vertical rear window between flying buttress sail panels for the Corvette. The next year would feature a new glass fastback. This was also the model year that the chrome script "Stingray" badges came off the fenders, replaced by crossed flags. In fact the combination of the tunneled rear window and the fender badges are how you can positively identify this Corvette Yellow C3 'Vette as a 1977 model.

The L82 badges on the hood bulge was one of 972 who sprang the extra $14 for the optional 210 horsepower version of the 350 small block, rather than the base 180hp version. The L82 featured different heads with bigger valves, a more radical cam, and four-bolt mains, among other changes. This gave it a thirty horsepower boost, although it made less torque than the base motor and the torque peak came a thousand RPM further up the tachometer.

When Road & Track tested a '77 Corvette with the L82 motor and the regular 4-speed manual (a close-ratio 4-speed was also available), they recorded a 6.8 second sprint to sixty, which was blisteringly quick for a stock production car in the dark days of the Malaise Era, no doubt assisted by the optional 3.70:1 rear end. The quarter mile took 15.5 seconds, doing 92.5 through the traps. Fully optioned, the test car stickered for $10,431 in 1977, which is the rough equivalent of $55,200 in today's money.

This one was snapped in June of 2025 using a Pentax K20D and an 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens.

1992 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible

The fourth generation of Corvette was nearing a decade old in the early Nineties, and the next generation had originally been scheduled to debut as a 1995 model, but a soft economy affected sales and so the new 'Vette had to get pushed back another few years and the C4 would linger on.

For 1991 the car received a styling update, with the nose and rear fascia revised, new front fender panels with faux horizontal vent strakes, and new 17" turbine-styled aluminum wheels.

For the 1992 model year, the revised exterior was joined by underhood upgrades to match.

In the '92 Corvette, the L98 Tuned Port Injection 5.7L motor that had powered Chevy's flagship since the 1985 model year was replaced by the new LT1.

An evolution of the previous 350 small block V-8, the new second generation LT1 featured a host of changes, including a revised intake and exhaust, new free-flowing cylinder heads, new engine controls, and a reverse-flow cooling system that directed coolant from the radiator to the heads first which helped enable the 10.5:1 compression ratio.

All these changes bumped the output by twenty percent, from 250 to 300 SAE net horsepower.

Car and Driver's testing of a 6-speed 'Vette coupe with the new motor returned a zero-to-sixty time of 5.0 seconds flat and a quarter mile run of 13.6 seconds at 104 mph, with a top speed of 157. Base price for the coupe was $36,604, or the equivalent of about $83,250 in today's prices.

This one was snapped with a Nikon D7000 and 16-80mm f/2.8-4E in October of 2020.

1969 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray

The second year of Chevy's third generation sports car, the '69 Corvette Stingray could be had with either a big block or small block Chevrolet V-8. We've already seen a big block Le Mans Blue coupe on these pages, identifiable by the bulging domed hood.

The lack of said hood bulge indicates that this Can-Am White hardtop coupe, rolling up College Avenue with its t-tops removed, has either the base 300 horsepower Turbo-Fire 350 small block V-8 or the optional L48 Turbo-Fire 350 that was rated at 350 SAE gross horsepower. The 350 cubic inch small block was new for the 1969 model year, replacing the 327 cube small block from the previous year.

This one was photographed in June of 2024 using an Olympus OM-D E-M1X and a Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Elmarit 12-60mm F2.8-4.0 ASPH zoom lens.

2003 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible 50th Anniversary Edition

In 2003 the fifth generation of the Chevrolet Corvette was getting long in the tooth, being on its eighth model year. But it was a special year because it was the fiftieth birthday of Chevy's fiberglass two-seat sports car.

Every 2003 'Vette got special 50th Anniversary badging but buyers could opt for a special 50th Anniversary commemorative package and over 11,600 of them did.

Those fans got the lustrous metallic Anniversary Red paint job and the Shale interior which even covered the dash, the first C5 with anything other than a black dash.

Mechanically, the 50th Anniversary models were like any regular '03 Corvette, with a 5.7L pushrod LS1 V-8 pumping out 350 SAE net horsepower through either a Borg-Warner T56 six-speed manual or a GM 4L60E four-speed slushbox.

Motor Week recorded a 4.9 second zero-to-sixty dash and a 13.4 second quarter at 106mph from their test convertible, which had a base sticker price of $55,745, the equivalent of about $96,242 in today's money.

The one in the photo was snapped in September of 2023 using a Canon EOS-1D Mark IV and an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS zoom lens.

1998 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible Indy 500 Pace Car

For the 82nd running of the Indianapolis 500, the 1998 Chevrolet Corvette convertible was chosen as the official pace car, the fourth 'Vette to receive the honor.

The 1,158 Official Pace Car replicas were mechanically pretty much identical to the actual cars that paced the race, save for the light bar and the slightly freer-flowing intake on the track cars.

Painted a special Radar Blue color with yellow/white/purple decals, they had an eye-popping yellow and black leather interior and yellow five-spoke alloy wheels.

Under the hood was the 345 horsepower 5.7L pushrod LS1 V-8. (While the metric displacement was the same, the LS small blocks that had debuted in 1997 actually displaced 346 cubic inches and were a clean sheet of paper design not related to the small blocks that had been powering previous 'Vettes going back to the mid 1950s.)

When Car and Driver tested the new C5 1997 Corvette in hardtop coupe form, they got a zero-to-sixty time of 4.9 seconds and smoked the quarter in 13.4 seconds at 108 miles per hour. These would have been numbers associated with Italian exotica only a few years prior.

Base price of a '98 droptop 'Vette was $44,425, and the Pace Car package (which included a generous helping of luxury options as well as the eye-catching cosmetics) added $5,039 with an automatic or $5,802 for the six-speed manual. An interesting side note is that these were the first Corvette pace cars which had the livery applied at the factory rather than the dealer.

The one in the photo was snapped with a Canon EOS M and EF-M 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS in May of 2019.

1964 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray Convertible

The 1964 model year was the second one for the second generation of Chevrolet's Corvette sports car, now dubbed the "Sting Ray".

As was the practice for Detroit of the time, there were numerous cosmetic differences to make sure the neighbors knew that you had this year's model and not an old '63. The most notable change was the removal of the vertical divider in the rear window on the fastback coupes, so if you see a "split-window" 'Vette you know it's a 1963 model.

On the convertible, you’re deprived of that cue, but there are a couple others. For one, the chrome simulated vent grilles were removed from the hood, leaving a couple non-functional indentations in their place. Also, the chrome strips along the rocker panels had fewer ribs than the previous year and the indentations between them were painted black.

There were four choices of power plant for 1964. The base Corvette motor was the 327 small block V-8, with a four-barrel carburetor and a 10.5:1 compression ratio, rated at 250 SAE gross horsepower. Next up the ladder was the same motor with a bigger carb and different heads with larger valves, which gave you 300 horsepower.

The two enthusiast choices had all the performance goodies: solid lifters, Duntov cams, 11.0:1 compression, and could be had in 365 horsepower carbureted or 375 horse fuel-injected forms.

All motors could be backed with a three- or four-speed manual transmission, and the two wimpier offerings could also be had with a two-speed Powerglide automatic gearbox.

With such a wide range of powertrain choices came a wide range of performance. Road & Track tested a coupe with the 300bhp motor and the Powerglide transmission and recorded an 8.0 second zero-to-sixty and a 15.2 second quarter mile at 85mph. The 3.56:1 rear end gave a top speed of 130.

Meanwhile, Motor Trend tested a fuelie coupe with the close-ratio four-speed and optional 4.11 Positraction rear end, and it put the zero-to-sixty sprint away in 5.6 seconds and dispatched the quarter in 14.2 at 100mph. Top speed was measured at 134.

Base price was $4,394, and the as-tested price for R&T's coupe was $5,016 while the gnarly M/T test car was $6.367. (That's $44,463 for the base, $50,757 for the 300hp Powerglide car, and $64,428 for the wild-eyed fuelie ride, calculated for inflation.)

This Silver Blue '64 ragtop was photographed with a Canon EOS 7D and EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS zoom lens in September of 2021.

1960 Chevrolet Corvette

1960 was the last model year for the old rounded tail on the first generation of Corvettes. The big identifying tell-tales for the model year are the fewer, heavier chrome "teeth" in the grille and the inset taillamps.

For '60, Corvette buyers had a choice of five different flavors of the Turbo Fire 283 cubic inch small block V-8. The base motor had a single 4-barrel carb, hydraulic lifters, 9.5:1 compression, and was rated at 230 SAE gross horsepower. Alternatively you could get the same motor with dual quads and 245 horsepower. Top of the heap of the lower-compression, juice lifter motors came with Ramjet Fuel Injection and put out 275 ponies.

If you didn't mind noisy valves that needed occasional lash adjustment, and a lumpy idle, there was a solid-lifter, Duntov-cammed, 270-horse 283 V-8 on the menu with dual 4-barrels, and if you wanted all that plus didn't mind shopping for premium gas, you could get the 11.0:1 compression fuelie motor rated at 315 SAE gross horsepower. Both of the high output motors came with aluminum radiators for weight savings.

Motor Trend tested a '60 Corvette with the 270-horse motor and 4-speed transmission and recorded a zero to sixty time of 8.4 seconds and a 16.1 quarter mile elapsed time at 89 mph through the traps.

This French Blue one with Ermine White coves was photographed in November of 2020 using an iPhone 7 Plus.

1962 Chevrolet Corvette

Since its debut for 1953, Chevrolet's sports car had received a steady series of styling and performance upgrades. The '56 model year saw styling "coves" sculpted in the car's previously smooth flanks, while the headlights were thrust forward pugnaciously. For 1958, the car went to quad headlamps, with separate high beams, following the trend at the time.

1961 saw the biggest styling change, as the rounded rump of the car was replaced by a creased ducktail with four round taillights, which were to become a perennial 'Vette styling trademark. The rear end resembled the tail of Bill Mitchell's Mako Shark show car and in fact was heralding the next generation of the Corvette, the Sting Ray. 

That next gen 'Vette was supposed to go on sale for 1962, but development work required pushing it back a year, so the C1 soldiered on for one more model year.

New under the hood for '62 was the Turbo Fire 327 small block V-8, created by boring and stroking the previous 283 V-8. It was available from the factory in four different states of tune. There was the single four-barrel base motor with a 10.5:1 compression ratio and hydraulic lifters, rated at 250 SAE gross horsepower. Optionally, a larger Carter four-barrel gave a 300hp rating. 

Then came the two fun motors, both of which had solid lifters, Duntov cams, and 11.25:1 compression ratio: a single four barrel motor rated at 340 horsepower motor, or one with Rochester fuel injection making 360 SAE gross bhp. Transmission choices were either the 2-speed Powerglide auto or a 4-speed manual.

The styling on the '62 cars had a lot of the "gingerbread" removed. Gone were the chrome strips surrounding the side coves as well as the option of having the coves painted a contrasting color. The inserts in the fender vents at the front of the coves were now matte alloy rather than bright chrome, and about the only brightwork left on the side of the cars was the ribbed rocker panel molding.

Car and Driver tested a pair of '62 Corvettes: A four-speed fuelie car and one with the base motor and the Powerglide slushbox. The base car made an 8.8 second zero-to-sixty run and put the quarter away in 16.8 seconds. The gnarly injected car, with 3.70 rear gears and no Posi, displayed wheel hop on the way to a quarter in fifteen flat at 95mph.

The Ermine White car with the Red interior was snapped with an Olympus OM-D E-M1X and M. Zuiko Digital 12-200mm f/3.5-6.3 zoom lens in October of 2024, while the Honduras Maroon car was photographed with an iPhone 7 Plus in April of 2016.

1967 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray Convertible

Intended to have been replaced by the 3rd Generation Corvette, the Sting Ray stuck around for one last model year to allow the C3 to get debugged.

The lack of a hood bulge on this Sunfire Yellow ragtop indicates a small block V-8 lives under there, which in 1967 would be one of two flavors of 327. The base four-barrel motor had a 10.25:1 compression ratio and was rated at 300 SAE gross horsepower, while the L79 bumped the compression up to 11.0:1 and made 350 horses. Either one could be mated to a 3-speed automatic or 4-speed manual transmission.

You can tell it's a '67 by the four gills on the fender vents.

Road & Track tested a four-speed convertible Sting Ray with the base 300hp 327 and recorded a zero-to-sixty time of 7.6 seconds and a quarter mile run of 16.0 flat at 86mph. Base price was $4,228, which is as close to forty grand in current money as makes no nevermind.

This example was photographed in August of 2021 using a Nikon D2X and 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6 VR zoom lens.

1985 Chevrolet Corvette

The fourth generation of the Corvette appeared as a 1984 model (after a Corvetteless '83 MY at Chevy) and it was long overdue. The outgoing C3 'Vette, which had been around since 1968, was itself riding on a platform that was essentially a heavily refreshed C2 Sting Ray, which dated back to 1963.

The C4 was all-new for '84, except it carried over the L83 Cross-Fire Injection 350 small block V-8 from its 1982 predecessor, so named because it had twin diagonally-opposite throttle body fuel injectors mounted to the intake manifold. The chassis, brakes, and big 16" rims and Goodyear Gatorback tires promised big performance, but the 205hp L83 had a hard time delivering.

It fell to the 1985 model year, like this Black example, to bring back performance and put an end to the Malaise Era, and it did it with a bang. We can tell it's an '85 by the combination of turbine wheels with black painted centers and the "TUNED-PORT INJECTION" badging on the front fenders.

Under the hood of the '85 Corvette was the L98 350 small block, fitted with Chevy's new Tuned Port Injection setup, which featured equal-length runners sprouting from a central plenum and individual fuel squirters for each intake port.

The new intake setup raised the output of the 5.7L small block Chevy to 230 SAE net horsepower and 330 lb-ft of torque, which pushed Corvette performance numbers to levels that hadn't been seen since the demise of the big blocks in 1973.

Car and Driver tested a brace of '85 Corvettes, a base coupe with the 4-speed automatic and a car with the Z51 suspension package and the 4+3 speed Doug Nash gearbox. (The funky four-speed manual with an overdrive unit bolted to its ass end was because Chevy didn't have a 5-speed transmission that would hold up to the L98's torque output.)

The manual car ran zero to sixty in six seconds flat and did the quarter in 14.4 at 95 mph, while the automatic car cracked off a 5.7 second 0-60 and flirted with the thirteens in the quarter, smoking it in 14.1 seconds at 97 miles per hour. Both 'Vettes ran to an honest 150, too. C/D hadn't recorded Corvette acceleration numbers like that since the last time they tested a 454 Stingray back in 1972.

On top of that, the optional 3.07 rear end let the motor get closer to the meat of the powerband in top gear, enabling that 150mph top speed while still giving EPA Highway numbers in the low 20s. The new Corvettes also cornered at 0.84g and stopped from 70 in 182 feet.

These new TPI Corvettes out-accelerated the Porsche 928 or Ferrari 308 at a fraction of the price. The Malaise Era was over.

The one in the photo was captured with an Canon EOS-1D Mark IV and EF 24-105mm f/4L IS zoom lens in November of 2024.

1969 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray

The big bulge in the center of the domed hood on an early third generation Corvette serves the same purpose as black and yellow stripes or rattly tail scales do in the animal kingdom; it's a warning that this is a car with which one should not trifle.

The one-word cursive "Stingray" script on the fenders and the all-black grille inserts tell us that this is a 1969 'Vette, and the "427" on the hood bulge and sewer-pipe-sized side pipes tell us that it is down to party.

For 1969 the absolute tamest 427 that could lurk in the engine bay of this Le Mans Blue coupe with a Bright Blue interior is the L36, with a single four-barrel Rochester Quadrajet, hydraulic lifters, and a 10.25:1 compression ratio, rated at 390 SAE gross horsepower. Opting for the L68 427 got you basically the same juice-lifter engine but with three two-barrel Holley carbs and 400 horsepower.

Next rung up the performance ladder was the solid-lifter, 11.0:1 compression Tri-Power L71, which made 435 ponies, and then there was the gnarly 4-barrel L88 which, despite having the same solid lifters as the L71 as well as a 12.0:1 compression ratio and fresh air induction to boot, mysteriously was only rated at a (completely fabricated) 430 horsepower. 

There was also the semi-mythical all-aluminum ZL1 427, of which only two were sold, and which was also rated at "430" hp. Like the L88, it required 103 octane Sunoco racing gas.

Of the big block '69 Corvettes, something like 10,500 were fitted with the L36, while there were only a couple thousand each of the L68 and L71. Only 116 L88 cars made it off showroom floors and into the wild.

In October of 1968, Car and Driver tested a 1969 Corvette coupe with the L71 Tri-Power motor, Muncie M-22 four-speed close ratio gearbox, side pipes (a $146.70 option!), and optional 3.70:1 Positraction rear end.

The car ripped off a 5.3 second zero-to-sixty run and a 13.8 second quarter mile at 107 mph. Price as tested was $6,573 (or $56,471 in today's dough), which price included almost two grand's worth of options. 

This one was photographed in September of 2021 using a Hasselblad Lunar and Sony Zeiss Vario-Tessar T* 16-70mm f/4 OSS zoom lens. 

1992 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1

I know we just did the 1990 Corvette ZR-1, and the 1992 is basically mechanically identical, so this is just more of an exercise in 'Vette spotting cues than anything else.

For 1991, the C4 Corvette got a new, more aero nose, the molded "vents" in the front fenders switched from two vertical gills to four horizontal slots, and all 'Vettes received the convex rear and squarish taillamps of the ZR-1, so the only way to tell a '91 ZR-1 was a small ZR-1 badge on the rear fascia and the fact that its Center High-Mounted Stop Lamp was still externally mounted atop the hatch, while more pedestrian Corvettes had theirs integrated into the top center of the rear fascia.

The four-slot fender gills ran from '91-'96, so they don't narrow it down much. However this one has ZR-1 badges on the front fenders, also, and those were added in 1992. For 1993, the fortieth anniversary year of the Corvette, the 17" "sawblade" or "turbine" wheels received a shinier machined finish, replacing the matte cast finish on the '91-'92 cars, and then in 1994 the ZR-1 went to distinctive five-spoke wheels.

All that points to this Bright Red ZR-1 being a 1992 model.

It was photographed in October of 2024 using an Olympus OM-D E-M1X and M. Zuiko Digital 12-200mm f/3.5-6.3 zoom lens.

1979 Chevrolet Corvette

In 1979 disco was showing signs of its impending demise, and so, by all indications, was automotive performance.

The big block American V-8, already strangled by lowered compression ratios and emissions reduction systems, had all but disappeared from most American performance cars, with the 6.6 liter in the '79 Trans Am being one of the final holdouts. The fuel crisis sparked by the Iranian revolution, as well as increasingly stringent Corporate Average Fuel Economy mandates would come for it, too.

Into this world came the 1979 Corvette, distinguishable from the '78 model mostly by its lack of 25th Anniversary badging. Under the hood, a less restrictive exhaust gave both the base L48 and optional L82 engines a 5-horsepower performance bump over the previous year.

That base L48 350 small block had an 8.2:1 compression ratio and was rated at 195 SAE net horsepower, while the L82 gave the buyer an alloy intake manifold, higher-lift cam, 8.9:1 compression, and 225 horsepower. Both could be had with either a three-speed auto or four-speed manual, and an L82 customer could also opt for a close-ratio 4-speed.

While the Corvette was still one of the quickest and fastest cars you could buy in America, that was damning with faint praise in the depths of the Malaise Era. Car and Driver tested an L82 'Vette with the 4-speed and optional 3.70:1 rear end and only managed a 6.6 zero-to-sixty time, while the quarter mile took 15.3 seconds at 95 mph. The car would pull all the way to redline in top gear, which resulted in a maximum velocity of 127 miles per hour.

All this could be yours for only $11,951 dollars in 1979 money, or roughly fifty-two grand in today's terms. The Stingray name was gone from the fenders and the sting was gone from under the hood.

The Black 1979 Corvette in the photos, with the Red interior, was photographed with an Olympus OM-D E-M1X and M. Zuiko Digital 12-200mm f/3.5-6.3 zoom lens.

1990 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1

Chevrolet's fourth generation of Corvette debuted in January of 1983 as an '84 model, replacing the C3 'Vette, a.k.a. the Stingray, which had enjoyed an uninterrupted fifteen model year run.

With the introduction of the Tuned-Port Injection L98 350 Small Block V-8 in 1985, it brought performance back to the model line, after the dismal 200hp "Cross-Fire" dual throttle body injected 350 of the '82-'84 models. In '89 the clunky Doug Nash "4+3" transmission, needed because the Borg Warner T5 of the era wasn't up to the torque of the L98, was replaced with a proper ZF 6-speed manual.

Finally for the 1990 model year came the ultimate factory C4 Corvette option, the ZR-1.

GM had acquired Lotus in '86, and they proceeded to design a new 5.7L V-8 that shared nothing but its displacement and the spacing of its bore centers with the existing Chevy Small Block. An all-alloy DOHC 32V motor, it was largely built by Mercury Marine before final assembly and installation at the Corvette plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Known as the LT5, it was rated at 375 SAE net horsepower and 370 lb-ft of torque.

Car and Driver's test ZR-1 bolted to sixty in only 4.5 seconds, which was legit supercar territory in 1990 and still not too shabby today. It dispatched the quarter in 12.8 seconds at 111 miles per hour and topped out at a buck seventy-five. These wwer Ferrari and Lamborghini performance numbers, but with a GM warranty and a $51,500 price tag, roughly $124k in today's coin. Only 3,049 ZR-1s were produced that first model year, one of which is this Bright Red example.

They were subtle, too. The only external cues that this wasn't a regular 'Vette were those super meaty 17" rear skins (315/35-ZR17s mounted on 11"-wide rims) and a convex, rather than concave, rear end that had four squarish tail lamps rather than the traditional round 'Vette units. Of course, since most other cars would only be viewing it from the rear, maybe it wasn't that hard to spot...

(For 1991, all Corvettes got the convex rear, but the nose and fender vents mark this as a 1990 car, so it's a ZR-1.)

It was photographed in March of 2023 using a Canon EOS-1D Mark IV and an EF 70-200mm f/4L IS zoom lens.

1963 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray Convertible

The second generation of the Corvette was a stylistic triumph that had engineers pulling their hair. The Sting Ray is one of those cars that, like the E-Type Jaguar, you can't really appreciate until you see one out motoring around among the Accords and RAV-4s and Chrysler minivans of day-to-day traffic.

The sleek lines generated lift at speed and made handling sketchy when you started getting near triple digits. Chevy was Officially Not Racing at the time, so when 'Vette engineer Zora Arkus Duntov and his posse snuck a This Isn't A Factory Race Car, Honest out the back door, the Grand Sport was festooned with vents and an elaborate air dam to keep it from turning into a frisbee on the back straight.

This was also the first year that a hardtop Corvette coupe was offered, and Larry Shinoda's design for it had a solid longitudinal panel dividing the rear glass, which is why 1963 Sting Ray coupes are known as "split windows". (This formed a handy vertical blind spot smack in the middle of the rear view mirror, and was removed for '64, which is why only '63 Sting Ray coupes are known as "split windows".)

1963 was the only year of the C2 'Vette where the coupe was almost as popular as the convertible: 10,594 coupes versus 10,919 ragtops were sold.

You could get the new 'Vette with any one of four flavors of 327 cubic inch V-8. The base four-barrel motor had hydraulic lifters, a 10.5:1 compression ratio, and was rated at 240 SAE gross horsepower. Going with the L75 option got a bigger Carter AFB carburetor and different heads and exhaust manifolds and bumped the output to 300hp. The gnarliest carbureted motor was the solid lifter L76, which raised the compression ratio to 11.25:1 and the rated output to 340 horsepower. Finally, the king of Corvette hill was the fuel-injected L84 327, boasting 360 horsepower at 6,000rpm.

Car & Driver tested a 1963 Sting Ray coupe with the L75 V-8, 4-speed manual, and 3.36:1 rear end and reported 0-60 times between 6.0 and 6.4 seconds and managed a best quarter mile time of 14.4 seconds at 100mph.

The Riverside Red ragtop in the pictures was snapped with a Nikon D7100 and an 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR II zoom lens in June of 2022.

1970 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray

Spotted rolling northbound on College Avenue in March of 2024 was this Monza Red Corvette Stingray coupe.

I had the Nikon D700 with the compact 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6G travel zoom. Plenty of focal length to grab details. You can embiggenate the photos!

I love that style of wheels on muscle cars and pony cars of the era, but I'm not sure how I feel about them on a sports car like the 'Vette. They look pretty good on this one, though.

Telling a 1970 and a '71 apart from a distance like this is well-nigh impossible as best I can discern. If it has amber front turn signal lenses (which this one does not) it's a later '71 model, but earlier '71s seem to have had clear lenses just like the '70s.

We'll play the odds and file this one as a 1970 model. The lack of a hood bulge means it's a small-block coupe, which means it has one of three different 350 cubic inch V-8s. The base Corvette motor was the 300 horsepower ZQ3, and the next option up was the L46, which had an 11.0:1 compression ratio and was rated at 350 SAE gross horsepower. New for 1970 was the hairy LT-1, which not only had the premium-gas-only 11.0:1 compression of the L46, but added a 780 cfm Holley four-barrel, solid lifters, a lumpy cam, special exhaust manifolds, and an aluminum high-rise dual plane intake manifold. All this was good for 370 horsepower and a quarter mile time of 14.36 seconds at 101.69 mph, according to Motor Trend.