- 1957: The Early Days
- 1967: A Car Fit For The Space Race
- 1971: All About Performance
- 1984: New Looks, New Generation
- 1990: 400 Horsepower And Beyond
- 2009: Smashing The 200 MPH Barrier
- 2019: A Fitting Send-Off
- 2020: The First Mid-Engine Corvette
- 2025: The Best Is Yet To Come
A journey through the history of America's most iconic sports car, from the early days to the future.
The Chevrolet Corvette has been an icon of American motoring for over half a century. Continuously pushing through the boundaries of technology and breaking records both on the road and the track, the Corvette is at the forefront of American automotive innovation.
But the Corvette isn't just a symbol of power and speed; it's also an attainable way into the world of sports cars for ordinary Americans. While European supercars appeared on posters in teenagers' bedrooms, a Corvette with a relatively close level of performance could, realistically, be sitting on their parents' driveway. This idea of attainable performance and the connection between ordinary people and high-flying celebrities made the Corvette endure in the public's collective imagination. Every central figure in pop culture, from Barbie to the Apollo 12 space mission crew, drives a Corvette; with some luck, you could drive one, too.
Let's take a trip through automotive history with a compilation of the fastest Corvettes ever made, from the early days of the model's history to the technological marvels of the near future.
1957: The Early Days
Four years after the Corvette's debut and two years after the first V8 was introduced to the model family, the 1957 model propelled the Corvette into American sports car history thanks to several performance improvements.
These upgrades included an available four-speed manual transmission and the fuel-injected 283 V8 engine, which took you from 0 to 60 in 5.7 seconds and across the quarter mile in a respectable 14.3 seconds. Unsurprisingly, the '57 'Vette proved itself to be successful in the world of motorsport, which cemented its status in popular culture as America's fastest sports car.
1967: A Car Fit For The Space Race
The automotive world made technological leaps and bounds throughout the late 60s, and the Corvette was no exception.
The 1967 model represented the pinnacle of the C2 (second generation) Corvette, and the L88 version, as legendary as it is rare, achieved a top speed of 170 mph at Le Mans. A large variety of more affordable variants, with numerous powertrain options and a wide array of specs, was also available to the ordinary buyer.
The '67 Corvette was also striking in the design department, with the contrasting colors of the newly available “stinger” hood creating an aggressive but stylish look.
1971: All About Performance
The (relatively) rare and powerful LS6 version of the 1971 Corvette is still widely known and loved by enthusiasts thanks to its legendary performance. The V8 engine produced 425 horsepower; this would be the last time a Corvette broke the 400 hp barrier until 1993 when the updated version of the 1990 ZR-1 came along).
Another low-volume variant of the '71 'Vette, the ZR2, combined the upgraded components of the ZR1 with the engine of the LS6 to create a deadly package that was purely focused on performance. This version only saw 12 cars rolling off the production line, making it one of the rarest Corvettes in existence.
1984: New Looks, New Generation
The first year of the Corvette's fourth generation was enthusiastically welcomed by the automotive world and, some might say, long overdue. The C3 was starting to overstay its welcome, having reached the end of a decade-and-a-half-long cycle. The Corvette badly needed a full styling revamp and performance-oriented upgrades to bring it into the 80s.
Chevrolet delivered on both fronts: with an all-new, futuristic shape and reduced dimensions (about 100 pounds lighter and eight inches shorter than the C3), the C4 turned out to be an agile, modern machine that proved to be an instant hit, selling over 50,000 units over a single year. And, it had a top speed of 179 mph.
1990: 400 Horsepower And Beyond
When the 1990 Corvette ZR-1 hit the market, it was an instant record-breaker. Producing 375 hp at a time when most other American (and non-American) performance cars could barely manage 300, the ZR-1 got from 0 to 60 in four and a half seconds, reaching an impressive top speed of 175 mph.
The 1993 model broke the 400-hp barrier, the first Corvette to do so since 1971. Less than 2,000 units were produced at this spec level, and they remain one of the most coveted Corvettes on the used car market today.
The ZR-1's only flaw was its sky-high price tag (between $60K and $100K when new), which damaged the Corvette's reputation of affordable performance and eventually led to the ZR-1 being discontinued a few years later.
2009: Smashing The 200 MPH Barrier
The 2009 Corvette ZR1'S breathtaking performance took the automotive world by storm, leaving Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and Porsches in the dust.
Performing at its best on any size and shape of track, including the Nurburgring, where it set a new lap record, the ZR1 was the first Corvette to break the 200 mph barrier, its top speed officially recorded as 205 mph. The 2009 ZR1 redefined the meaning of a (relatively) accessible high-performance car, its base price of around $100,000 far lower than that of similarly-performing supercars.
No wonder Jeremy Clarkson picked the ZR1 as his personal choice for “Car of the Year.”
2019: A Fitting Send-Off
2019 saw the last production year for the seventh-generation Corvette and, consequently, the last batch of front-engined Corvettes to roll off the production line.
The 2019 ZR1 proved to be a more than fitting way to end this chapter of Chevrolet's history, being the most powerful Corvette ever made at that point, thanks to its incredibly high performance on all fronts. From acceleration to a top speed of 212 mph, braking distance to lateral Gs, there is no metric in which it doesn't excel.
With 755 hp and, surprisingly, a manual transmission available, the 2019 ZR1 was without a doubt the best possible send-off we could wish for to celebrate the history of the Corvette while keeping one eye looking towards the future.
2020: The First Mid-Engine Corvette
The eighth-generation Corvette brought with it one of the greatest changes since the model's debut: the long-anticipated first mid-engine version. Chevrolet had been flirting with the idea of a mid-engine Corvette since the 1960s, but up until 2020, nothing had come of it aside from a few one-off prototype vehicles.
With its revamped layout and aggressive, performance-oriented design, the C8 brought a new wave of enthusiasm towards the Corvette amongst gearheads; its performance version, the Z06, contributed to this by beating Mercedes' record for the most powerful naturally aspirated V8 engine. The Z06's engine carries over many features from the engines found in racing Corvettes, such as a double overhead camshaft and a flat-plane crank.
In standard Stingray form, the Corvette's top speed is actually a little disappointing at only 194 mph, and the Z06 is only a little faster at 195 mph. But Chevrolet focused more on handling that top speed, and it paid off.
2025: The Best Is Yet To Come
It looks like Chevrolet fully intends to break its own records once more with the upcoming 2025 Corvette ZR1. Camouflaged test mules for the ZR1 and the Zora (another high-performance variant of the eight-generation Corvette) are rumored to have been spotted while testing in Colorado, featuring a unique split-window design that hasn't been seen on a Corvette since 1963.
Predicted to go from 0 to 60 in 2.5 seconds, the 2025 incarnation of the classic American sports car is going to be increasingly futuristic and high-tech, with a 655-hp hybrid version (the Corvette E-Ray) due to launch in 2024. The yet-to-be-released Zora is also going to be a hybrid, nearly touching 1000 hp and bringing the Corvette into hypercar territory.
Keyword: Fastest Chevrolet Corvettes: From Classic Speedsters To Modern Marvels