Chevrolet Corvette - Sting Ray - C1 to C4

The Chevrolet Corvette (also known as the Sting Ray) is an American two door, two passenger, rear drive sports car that was first built in 1952, starting with the C1 convertible. Coupes were introduced with the launch of the C2 in 1963.

The 1950s and 60s models were built by General Motors in Flint, Michigan and St. Louis in Michigan. Since the middle of 1981, the car has been manufactured in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and still is today.

Creative Commons image of a 1974 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray

The Corvette was initially designed as a show car to display at the New York Auto Show in 1953, However, the huge interest in the car led to General Motors producing a model to sell to the general public.

In 1984, the fourth generation of Corvette saw dramatic improvements. It was lighter, safer and more aerodynamic, and that's just for starters! The Corvette also featured lighter braking and suspension systems and an electronic LCD dashboard.

In 1986, GM relaunched the first "proper" convertible since 1975. Other coupe models simply had T-top, lift-off roof panels. New features were made available across the whole range including anti-lock braking and fuel injection.

A 35th anniversary model was produced in 1988. These can be identified by a unique I.D. number on a badge located near the gear selector. The interior, exterior and wheels were painted white.

A 40th anniversary model in Ruby Red was released in 1993, and this featured special badges and embroidered rear seats.

The top-end model is the ZR-1 and the early 90's models featured a V8, 5732cc LT-5 engines (created by Lotus Engineering in the UK) with 375 bhp and a six-speed gearbox. A fifth generation of Corvette was launched in 1997.

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There have been eight generations of Corvette

C1 1953-1962

C2 1963-1967

C3 1968-1982

C4 1984-1996

C5 1997-2004

C6 2005-2013

C7 2014-2019

C8 2020

Between 1963 and 1967 the Corvette was also known as the Sting Ray. Between 1969 and 1976 this was renamed the Sringray (as one word). The name was dropped after this.

Chevrolet Corvette Stringray ZR-1 (black )

1971 Corvette Stingray ZR-1

All images on this page are copyright free and in the Public Domain unless otherwise stated. Many have been digitally improved for this website as some of the originals were not of the best quality and were a little blurred or too dark etc.