C1-C8: The Best Year for Each Corvette Generation

Trying to pick the best Corvettes from each generation was no easy task.

Some generations of the Corvette stayed in production for well over a decade (C3,C4), while others only stuck around for a few years (C2). Today, we’re going to break down the best Corvettes from each generation, with a brief explanation as to why we chose that particular year.

We hope we don’t offend anyone with our choices. We love all Corvettes, and this list was tough to put together for precisely that reason. Every Corvette is a good Corvette, but some stand above the others as the best of the best. Here are our choices.

C1: 1957

1957 was the second year of the facelifted styling that, to many, represents the iconic 1950s Corvette shape. Styling isn’t the only reason we picked 1957, though. The Corvette has always been at the forefront of technological progress — even back in the 1950s.

The 1957 Corvette was one of the first cars ever offered with fuel injection. Although primitive by today’s standards, the Rochester-developed fuel injection system meant that the Corvette’s 283 cubic inch V8 offered one horsepower per cubic inch — another automotive first.