This is an off C3 topic....kind of...

We all know the Corvette lineage, (C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6 and C7). However, I have always felt that there is a generation missing.

The 1956 thru 1962 is included in the C1 catagory, but that has never seemed correct to me. There is a distinct difference in the 1953 - 1955 models than the 1956 thru 1962 models. Why didn't the 1956 thru 1962 get dubbed as the C2's? Then the 1963 thru 1967 woud have been C3's....1968 thru 1982 would be C4's and so......

To the untrained eye, (non-Corvette enthusiest), all 1953 thru 1955's look alike.
Similarly, to the untrained eye,...all 1956 thru 1962's look basically alike.
1963 thru 1967's all look alike......1968 thru 1982's look alike and so on.....

To me, it should be;
1953 thru 1955 = C1
1956 thru 1962 = C2
1963 thru 1967 = C3
1968 thru 1982 = C4
1984 thru 1996 = C5
1997 thru 2004 = C6
2005 thru 2013 = C7
2014 thru ---- = C8

Has anyone else ever thought about this?
If so......we actually own 4th generation of Corvettes.

 

Not sure, but I think the c1's are lumped together because they are all the solid axle one's.

I'm also not sure when the c1,c2,c3... classifications started being used. The c2's used to be called "mid-year" (not sure what that means) and all c3s were called "Stingrays", even though they were not all badged that way.

 

I might be wrong, but I think that the frame on the 53-62 Corvettes are roughly the same design, along with the way the front wheels ( no A frames ) are the same. Lou.

 

I believe the C generation designations started when the C5 was introduced (1997)and I think it was started by Chevrolet.

 

I believe the term "mid-year" started being used to describe (what we now know as C2s) in the C3 generation.

Because the C3's were the current (late model), the C1's were the "early Corvettes", so the C2's were the middle generation...or "mid-year"

I agree with the OP, but I also think the C3's should be broken into two generations. Chrome bumpers (68-73) and Urethane/rubber bumpers (74-82) because they are distinctly different animals.

 

I understand about the axles....but the 1953 thru 1955 are SO drastically different than the 1956 thru 1962 models.

6cyl vs. V8 engines.
Side curtains vs. roll up side windows.
Completely different bodies,...with nothing in common.

Just completely different cars.

 

Hi vet,
You mention something that's one of my pet peeves…
The 53-55 cars were Roadsters (side curtains), everything since has been a Convertible (wind-up windows).
In 1971 the people I knew called them old Corvettes, mid-years, and late models.
Regards,
Alan

I've not really ever gotten used to calling them sharks or c3s.

 

Yes. The same basic chassis design covered those model years.
(By that logic, actually, a C3 is really a C2.1).

 

My understanding is that the "C" [whatever] concept was conceived by some magazine writer....after the fact (not early in the Corvette production). Folks just kept going with the concept he created--C2's from '63-67, C3's from '68-82, etc.

Generally, I agree with your thinking; C2's should be 59-62, C3's from '68-79, C4's from '80-82 (perhaps).

Since GM didn't come up with this idea, it is up for grabs, however you want it.

 

My understanding is that the mid-years got that nickname because they spanned the middle years of the 60's decade (63 to 67).

 

Nope.

This is correct. Back then we called the C3s "late models." The midyears were also called Sting Rays in conversation. People didnt really use the Stingray name when referring to the 69-76s... they were late models or even coke-bottle cars.

 

When I started playing with Corvettes, in the mid 70's, 63-67's were known as "mid-years". This was because they were the generation that was midway between the 53-62 cars (which we called early cars, straight axles or solid axles), and the 68 up cars. The 68 and up Corvettes were called late models back then, because that's what they were, the late model, later model or latest model of the Corvette.

According to James Shefter's 1996 book, "All Corvettes Are Red", C4 and C5 were terms GM came up with. "All Corvettes are Red" was a book written about the development of the 97 Corvette, and how the Corvette was saved from oblivion, in the years between 92 & 96.

GM used the terms C4 & C5 internally, so as not to cause confusion as to which generation people were working on, and developing parts for. Right inside the dust jacket, the second paragraph starts off: "The gap between the forth- and fifth-generation Corvettes (C4 and C5, in GM lingo) was the longest ever........" (italics added).

The last line on page 17, in the first chapter of the book, reads "The current car, dubbed C4 because it was the forth-generation Corvette, was sketched out in design studios in 1979, engineered in the early eighties, and produced since late 1983." I believe this is the first time that the public ever heard of, or read, the (dreaded) "C" term.

After the book came out, and the 97 hit the market, the 97 quickly became known as the C5. It wasn't long before everyone was referring to their Corvette as a C1, C2, C3, or C4. It seemed like if your Corvette wasn't a C-something, you just weren't cool.

Personally, I hate the "C" terms. They do nothing but cause confusion. A 54 "C1" has very little in common with a 62 "C1", and a 68 "C3", shares very little with a 78 "C3". Chevrolet didn't build 19C3 Corvettes, they built 1968's or 78's or 98's.

Maybe I'm just old and grumpy, but to me, it makes much more sense to refer to a car by the year it was built, then to use some none too descriptive "C" designation.

 

No.

I don't. I own two C3s.

 

Most '55s were V8s

 

In order of importance to me:

1. A tie between C6 & C2
2. C1
3. C3
4. C5
5. C7
6. C4

 

Outside of the chrome vs plastic bumpers they are pretty much the same car. Well, okay & the big back window.

 

To me, the "latest" has always been the "greatest". Isn't that what the Corvette is supposed to be about, getting better all the time?

 

You really have to look at things in their own time frame, not todays perspective.

When the Corvette started they were all solid axle and none were collectible. Then came the 63 with its IRS. This ran through 67. This was followed by the new Corvette with a shark design. This style hung around for 15 years. Then in 84 we got an all new design for the Corvette.

So so the first generation Corvette was tagged with the nick name of “solid axle”. The next generation, 63-67, was tagged with the nick name of “mid-year”. I have seen two reasons why, one is that they were only built in the middle years of the 60s, the other is that they were between the solid axles and the current, at the time, generation Vette.

Keep in mind that these these names were developed back in the day. The newest Vette was nothing more than the current model. Also we never knew if there would be another Vette the next year.

The 68-82 became the shark due to the concept cars being named after fish. The next generation was the current model.

Then someone in GM marketing came up with the C designations for the C5. Guess they figured that the Corvette would be around for quite awhile longer and they needed a system to tell them apart.

The breakdowns is just something that developed back in the day as new years were introduced. Never was something that was designed or even intended to be anything more than automotive slang.

 

But that certainly isnt true. Do you think the engines of the '74-79 were better than than the '67-71?!

I also think the C1's are not all closely the same. My friends '61 looks like a C2 from the rear!