Buying a Corvette is an ambition for many, be it the person that has worked, saved, retired, and finally bought their dream car, or the person that decides they might as well enjoy their mid-life crisis. No matter what the reason, however, it is only fitting that one’s awesome new sports car needs an equally awesome, funny, or descriptive vanity license plate to complete the package. At the very least, it needs to be unique, such as the custom number plates from CarReg UK.
What we have collected here are just 12 of some of the best vanity license plates that we’ve seen all around the internet. Some are quite descriptive, many are funny, and one is just plain awesome, as you will see!
R3TIR3D
This is one of those vanity plates that are quite self-descriptive. This is the car that the owner worked for, saved for, planned for. Once they retired, they went down to the Chevy dealership and bought their dream car, a 2015 Corvette C7. And it’s a damned nice color too, the deep and gorgeous Laguna Blue. If ever a plate described a dream realized, it is this one!
SEE 58
Here we see a very rare 1958 Corvette C1 in mint condition. Most C1’s these days have had to have some restoration done due to the age and the steel used in their original construction, but the story behind this one is that the only real restoration done was redoing the leather on the seats, and redoing the clear coat on the paint. Which is definitely why the owner wants people to see his or hers 58 Vette!
It’s rare to see such a beautiful Corvette C1 in a museum display, but to see one in absolutely mint condition driving on the road? Just stunning. This picture is from the 2018 Michelin National Corvette Museum Bash, so if there was ever a time to bring out a classic muscle car, a bash at the museum it helped create seems fitting
WRP SPD
Image from MidEngineCorvetteForum
When you put your foot to the floor in a 2018 Corvette C7 Z06, the plate for this yellow beast is quite descriptive of what it feels like. You get slammed back into your seat, you feel the skin on your face pull back from the acceleration G’s, and the world seems to go by much faster. It really is like Captain Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, or Archer (we don’t know which generation the owner likes, so might as well cover all the bases!) sitting in the passenger seat, pointing out the front window, and saying “Warp speed, engage!”
ROCKIT
While the actual year of this gorgeous maroon Corvette C2 is not evident, the non-split rear window does speak to it being between 1964 and 1967. As well, you can tell that the owner really does love his road rockit (sic). Those that wrench on their own cars, work to keep them looking as good as possible, will immediately recognize the look of intense scrutiny on his face, the “I am going to polish this wheel until I can see myself and the future in it.”
This is why we Corvette lovers buy the cars. It may be for prestige, it may be for showing off, or it may be because we just want one, but every owner can’t help but feel the pride, the pedigree, and the pure joy of owning one of America’s greatest cars!
BROKENOW
Journeying over to the more humorous side of the vanity plate world, at the very least we can say the owner of this 2016 Corvette C7 is at least honest! Once you include the house payment, insurance, the car, maybe a kid or two, and the seventy million other bills the modern owner has to pay, it makes sense that there is nothing left over.
However, despite the financial burden, at least the owner still has a dry, wry sense of humor. Or it could be that they are not actually broke, but found the idea funny. No matter the actual reasoning, it is still a plate that if any of us saw on the road, we’d have a small chuckle over, and that is the perfect reason to have a vanity plate.
TRCK RAT
We wonder what the owner of this 2016 Corvette C7 Z07 likes to do with their car. It’s not one of those absolutely obvious things, is it? It’s just really hard to put our finger on what exactly the owner of this lovely red Corvette loves to do in his or her spare time…
Joking aside, this is one of those vanity plates that covers both humor and intent, as well as a bit of history, all in one plate. The rat part comes from the original Corvette C1 and C2 cars converted from their street version to a race car were affectionately known as “race rats.” The track part? Well, that part is obvious. So the plate lets those that see it know the owner loves to track their car, and appreciates Corvette Racing.
GR8PNKN
Firmly in the humorous part of vanity plates, the orange colors that the Corvette has been painted throughout the generations have been, to put it gently, bright. So why not embrace the pumpkin color of a Corvette C3? Depending on what’s under the hood, it might actually be a great pumpkin, or it could be a tongue planted firmly in cheek. Either way, it’s a great plate for a great car (with a great color).
CRUZMSL
The 2015 to 2019 Corvette C7 Z07 cars were known for being insanely powerful and able to reach 60 MPH in a scant few seconds. They also were firmly planted on the road, gripping well beyond what it felt like they should have. So, to label one as a cruise missile seems appropriate.
There’s also the double meaning of it either being insanely fast, which C7 Z07’s were, but also being a great car to go on a cruise in. Most sports cars have compromises, but the Z07 was able to balance that fine line between being extremely comfortable with its bucket seats, while at the same time being incredibly sporty in its suspension.
1CU LUKN
As we said in the introduction, some people buy their Corvette to enjoy their mid-life crisis, which usually means that they buy their car to show off a little. In that sense, an owner would definitely want people to look at and admire their car. The more astute owners will also notice those glances and longing looks, and quite tongue in cheek, this owner lets those admirers know he knows.
Then again, the car in question is what appears to be a very lovingly maintained Corvette C3 from the early 1980’s, as evidenced by the font of the car name being squared, instead of italicized, that first appeared in 1981. So why wouldn’t someone want to give it more than a cursory glance? A gorgeous car with a very shiny, nicely polished rear end!
RPO L88
This vanity plate is attached to a very, very special Corvette C2. To explain the significance of this plate to those not as knowledgeable about the earlier generations, the L88 engine was introduced in 1967 as a racing engine in special racing Corvettes sold to specific teams. The engines produced such great power, and made such a great sound, that they were then offered in customer cars as an expensive and limited engine option code.
The code? RPO L88. What the owner received was a Corvette C2 with a highly modified 427 cubic inch V-8, one of the first truly legendary Chevrolet small blocks. It was reported to have about 435 horsepower, but real figures generally agree that the engine, even without any bolt-on mods, was making well over 500. If it was tuned, modified, and treated to a race fuel level diet, it has been known to make up to 600 HP… in 1967…
ZORALVS
You never expect a vanity plate to make you feel slightly emotional, but we can’t help it with this Corvette C7 Z06 with the carbon wing kit. For those unaware of how the Corvette C1, and later the Corvette C8, came about, it was all the brainchild of an exceptional designer and engineer named Zora Arkus-Duntov.
Having sadly passed away in 1996, Arkus-Duntov is remembered as the man whose singular vision helped create one of the truly legendary American muscle cars that was able to also be a sporty handler and comfortable cruiser. So when the owner of this C7 states “Zora Lives,” we can’t help but agree, as Corvettes remain one of the best cars that have come out of America.
AWH-SUM
Well, we did say in the introduction that one of these vanity plates would be awesome. And attached to a 1999 Corvette C5 with an LS1 5.7 V-8 under the hood, you can’t blame the owner for getting their vanity plate. After the C4, the C5 was Corvette’s return to big power and fast cars, so much so that the C5 generation also marked the return of the Corvette Racing Team, who went to Le Mans with the excellent Corvette C5.R.
Awesome indeed!
In the UK it isn’t easy to create the unique private number plates you see in the US as there are a limited number of combinations available and the really good plates are mega expensive with some running into tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands £
Are you required to have a front plate in the UK? If not, you can purchase a fake “vanity” plate here in the states and have it customized the way you want it. Not exactly the same thing admittedly, but it could be a fun way to add a little extra character to your car…
https://www.amazon.com/Custom-Personalized-Metal-License-Plate/dp/B01JPUMF3K