2003 saw the 50th anniversary of America’s favorite sports car!  There was much speculation as to what the car would be.  You would figure it would be a “gold” paint scheme as this was the “golden” annivesary and there were certainly gold colored paints used in the GM palette on previous years.  We got a “silver” color in 1978 to celebrate the 25th anniversary and a “ruby” red on the 40th so, it made sense to speculate on a “gold” themed 50th but no, we got another deep burgundy, “anniversary red”.  Of course the wheels had a gold tint to them and the interior was cetainly striking in the shale color (borrowed from Cadillac) the deep red is a beautiful paint that lends itself well to the lines of the C-5 body.  Another plus was the addition of the new magnetic ride control and the anniversary paint scheme was available on the coupe and convertible models but was excluded from the Z-06.  The cost for the option RPO:1SC= $5,000 regardless of coupe or convertible.  Was it a worthwhile investment?  Only time will tell but after all the conjecture and rumors I think Chevrolet hit it out of the park with the combination and I feel these are destined to be future collectibles.  You’ll have just over 11,000 to choose from, just another special Corvette in the long line of special Corvettes produced in over 50 years of production.

The 1997 Corvette brought in the C-5 series and it was a brief 7 model year run from 1997-2004 with some very nice high tech Corvettes in this series.  1997 were all coupes and production topped out at 9,752 with about 1/3rd sporting the 6 speed manual transmission (2809) so, the manual shifter ’97 is a rarity .  The ‘97 (or C-5) was supposed to debut in 1993 as the 40th anniverary edition.  The convertible returned in 1998  which includes the 1998 Corvette Indy pace car with a radical paint scheme or more correctly, graphics!  radar blue (almost purple) with bright yellow graphics and even wheels!!  This was the “only” special model and no 45th anniversary edition was produced.  We saw  the resurgence of the famed Z-06 nameplate after a brief attempt at offering a bare bone (poor man’s) fixed roof coupe.  In 2003 Chevrolet gave us a very nice 50th annivesary paint scheme with a gorgeous shale colored interior which looked stunning.  An interesting point here is the anniversary paint was only available on the coupe and convertible whereas in 1993, you could get an 40th anniversay ZR-1 but you could not get a 50th anniversary painted Z-06-very interesting!  And of course the series closed out in 2004 with the commemorative edition and THIS one was available in all three models offered including the Z-06, the coupe and convertible.  Commemorative editions had the shale interior but the Z-06 came in black interior with stripe graphics on the hood.  This was a very balanced corvette, with the transmission mounted at the rear and for a big V-8 powered car, extremely good fuel economy!  I have talked to quite a few C-5 owners and they report highway mpg in the low thirties (car was rated at 28) which is just unbelieveable for a car with such power to get this kind of economy!  All in all a high quality and great corvette in this series which is destined to become a future collectible.