I know it wasn’t the moon landing or a similar historical moment, but do you remember where you were when GM revealed the revolutionary eighth-generation Corvette? I do, as I was perched by my computer in the lobby of my used car dealership, with customers shunned and door locked so I could focus on every nuance. There was a plethora of excitement surrounding the C8, as this was not your typical evolutionary generation progression (like the C5 to C6), but a groundbreaking all-new design, most notably the placement of that glorious LT2 engine behind the enthusiast.
The edgy design and proper “supercar” location of the engine broke the stereotyped “jorts and New Balance” mold, and the C8 shattered demographic barriers as it entered this new era of Corvettes. As an active daily participant in multiple Facebook C8 pages, I see this phenomenon of demographic diversity demonstrated daily.
To assist with this nostalgic walk, I looked in our CorvSport archives for renderings, and this one 4 years ago from MidEngineCorvetteForum member Chazcron was shockingly close.
Here is another from early 2019 that CorvSport highlighted in this piece, once again from Chazcron, that was amazingly accurate.
And for a refresher, here is a typical spy photo that most had to work with, which we featured back in May of 2019.
Now, on to that spectacular reveal
It’s a wee bit long, but it’s worth watching just the first few minutes if you want a tingle of excitement along your spine as this sexy beast roars onto the stage.
Here is a cool pre-release promotional video
If you are excited just by reliving the introduction of the C8, so were thousands and thousands of other enthusiasts, and this created a problem if you were looking to experience this mid-engine marvel yourself. Not to focus on the negative from this period, but this iconic eight-generation Corvette came at a tumultuous time in our lives, as the pandemic was hitting our shores. This created what I refer to as the Covid phenomenon, which brought along with it supply chain issues and plant closures, but strangely also large amounts of discretionary income and a thirst for toys.
The end result, which still lingers to this day, was a limited supply of C8s to address an insatiable thirst for this revolutionary machine. For the first time in recent history, most dealers were selling for over MSRP, with enthusiasts bragging if they found a dealer who would “let it go” for sticker. This also created another first in Corvette history, as private sellers were flipping their used C8s for profit, some right after delivery.
If you want to take a deeper dive, here are some of the pieces I’ve done on this bizarre Covid Era dynamic.
- Price gouging or market adjustment?
- Covid hangover, another plant shutdown
- Has the Z06 market finally cooled off?
- 8th plant closure since the pandemic began
- Allocation restrictions affect hopeful owners
- Are used C8s becoming more affordable?
- May ’23 Z06 auction market update
- How flippers are affecting the Z06 market
As we head into the 2024 production, I hope you have enjoyed this look back on the hype surrounding the reveal of this revolutionary eight-generation Corvette. If you missed the previous flashbacks and tributes, click here for the C2, the C3, the C4, the C5, and the C6 installments of “How Much Love…” We have an active community on our Facebook page, I would love to hear your C8 love and see your pictures! Douglas B.
