The Corvette, when launched, was one of those cars that were destined to become an instant classic. A car with a shape that defined a decade, with performance that helped kickstart the muscle car craze of the ’60s and ’70s. The thing is, everyone has their own favorites. Some like the simpler classic lines of the C1. Others like the aggressive shape of the C3, while the angular C8 has become the favorite of many, especially with the new Z06 planting it even more firmly into the “supercar” category.
Part of being a Corvette enthusiast is not only admiring our favorite American sports car, but also showing our enthusiasm in a lot of ways. The easiest way, unless you are strong enough to pick up a car and carry it on your chest all day, is to simply wear a t-shirt with your favorite generation on it. The challenge there, however, is that there are so many shirts, jackets, sweaters, and tank tops that it may seem like there is no way to choose just one (or two… or five…).
For that reason, we’ve curated a list of what we think are the best Corvette shirts out there for you. Keep in mind, every opinion is different, so if none of these are to your liking, there are about 10,990 other shirts out there to pick from!
Note: we have posted links to the products we call out here. Some of these products are available on 100MPH or Amazon, where we have an affiliate relationship. If you purchase a kit via these links, we may receive a small commission (at no additional cost to you). This is how we fund our site.
The Corvette Emblems
- Price: $24.00
- Where to Buy: Corvette Store (NCM)
Much like how most other cars have their brand badge on the hood, Corvettes have the distinction of having their own emblems, one for every generation. This shirt, which is from the National Corvette Museum’s Corvette Store, collects all 8 current logos, from the very first C1 emblem all the way up to the aggressive V-shaped C8 logo.
No one car inspired this shirt, but it’s fair to say every Corvette since production launched did. The classic logos, through the mid-80s, then into the modern generations, it’s easy to see with a shirt like this how each logo inspired the next. A fun fact that many enthusiasts already know as well is that the Chevrolet logo appears nowhere else on any Corvette except in the red flag in the logo!
C8 Corvette Convertible Rear View
- Price: $29.95
- Where to Buy: 100MPH
Let’s face it, unless you’re in the driver’s seat of a Corvette C8, this is the most likely view you’ll have of one. It is a mid-engined supercar, the first generation to be considered more than a sports car, and with the newly released Z06 coupe and convertible models, it has firmly planted its flag against European competitors, and even some homegrown cars as well.
The C8 generation did divide the community somewhat, as there are those that consider the Corvette as “front engine, rear drive only,” while others see the new generation as the realization of Zora Arkus-Duntov’s original designs for the C2 generation. No matter what, the C8 is fast, furious, and aggressive, and even from behind, it’s awesome.
Corvette Evolutions
- Price: $29.95
- Where to Buy: 100MPH
If there is one thing, apart from all the other one things, that makes the Corvette instantly recognizable is its profile. Even from a distance, there is no mistaking the shape and look of a ‘Vette, long before you hear the howling roar from its exhausts. Looking closely, even the modern C8 has done its best to keep the long hood, long and low cabin, and fastback drop-off at the rear, in what the Italians would instantly call a “Berlinetta” shape.
Not much else needs to be said about this shirt, except that it makes not only for a great shirt overall, but a great conversation starter if you ever meet someone that asks “Hey, what’s that car?” If only they knew the rabbit hole they were opening with that questions…
You Can’t Buy Happiness…
- Price: $29.95
- Where to Buy: 100MPH
We would argue that you can buy happiness, in the form of a nice cold beer while watching the C8.R dominate at the 1,000 Miles of Sebring, or, if your pockets are a little deeper, in the form of a Corvette. Either way, both are related to Corvettes, America, and having a good time… which is the modern American dream, no?
Of course, the shirt references what many call the best generation, the C2’s between 1963 and 1967. A radical departure from the previous C1 generation, the C2 firmly placed the Corvette not only as a proper sports car, but was the first generation to offer “Race cars” for the road, if you knew which options to pick on the order form, such as that little box beside the code L88…
1968 Corvette L88
- Price: $29.95
- Where to Buy: 100MPH
While the car on the shirt may be of the C3 generation, there is no denying that the L88, an option that was only available for three years, created legends. Its creation, in and of itself, was a story of intentional deception and some flat out white lies, with sheer determination pushing things through at the end.
Of course, the car was only officially putting out 435 HP from its 427, although it was in reality much closer to 550. Not that anyone really paid attention to it, apart from the exact customers that knew what a factory race car in a really nice white suit (as the car came in white primer only) looked like. It is fair to say that the L88, in either the C2 or C3 generation, is one of the, if not the, most legendary Corvette models to ever come out of Kentucky.
1953 Corvette C1 Vintage
- Price: $29.95
- Where to Buy: 100MPH
Of course, as we prattle on about all the other generations of Corvette, there wouldn’t be any other generations if not for the need for a true American sports car in a post-WW2 world. American soldiers that had been stationed in England had driven the small MG sports cars over there and wanted something back home that was equivalent. General Motors took up that torch, and the rest, as they say, is history.
It may have been bigger, heavier, and have an engine almost three times the size of an MG roadster, but the Corvette C1 revolutionized American roads when it was released in 1953. In the midst of a generation of land yachts and cars that looked like they came off the pages of a comic book (We’re looking at you, tail-fin Cadillac models!), the Chevy Corvette was a low and loud little convertible that could embarrass almost any other “sports car” that was being made in the USA at the time.
The Corvette C7 Stingray Z06
- Price: $29.95
- Where to Buy: 100MPH
For many Corvette enthusiasts, the C7 generation was both the best of times and the worst of times. It was the best, as it was the most advanced front engined Corvette of all time, especially with the introduction of the Z06 model in 2015. It was the worst of times as well, because for those that love the front engined Corvette, it was announced that the next car would have it’s engine in the middle.
No matter what, however, no one can deny the 650/650 numbers of the car. 650 HP, 650 lbs-ft of torque, both enough to potentially reverse the rotation of the Earth. It was a monster of a car, dressed in a tuxedo. It could drive calmly down to the grocery store for some milk, and on the weekend set a lap record at the local track day. It is what the Z06 literally means, “Zora – factory option 06,” which was a set of options that prepped a car for racing, offered originally in 1963.
Corvette C6: American Made
- Price: $29.95
- Where to Buy: 100MPH
Apple pie. Blue jeans. Baseball. Corvette. Four things that are unmistakably American, despite apple pie actually being an old Dutch recipe, but we digress. It’s something to be proud of that in good ol’ Kentucky, in a little place called Bowling Green, some of the finest bits of American iron are welded, bolted together, and have a special logo placed on them. 100% American made, the Corvette is.
While it has always been an American sports car, it really was the C6 generation that finally broke through to places other than in North America. The C6 became popular in Europe, there were some orders for it coming from Japan and Taiwan, and quite a few from V8 crazy Australia. For the longest time, it had been an import-centered car culture in the USA, so when the Corvette C6 started to travel on the export route, we all knew that our favorite car had finally left its footprint on all four corners of the Earth.
America’s Hearbeat: LS1
- Price: $29.95
- Where to Buy: 100MPH
We said earlier that the Corvette C1 revolutionized American sports cars. It is equally fair to say that the LS1 V8 from the C5 generation revolutionized Corvettes. It was a callback to the “Chevy small block” years, but was one of the most advanced V8s in the world when the first Corvette C5 rolled off the production line. Originally producing 345 HP and 350 lbs-ft of torque, the engine was one that was easily modified and evolved.
In the C5 Z06, it became the LS6 and produced 405 HP and 400 lbs-ft of torque. When it was modified for racing, it became the LS1.R, with 610 HP and 570 lbs-ft of torque. It could handle both supercharging and turbocharging, making it the engine of choice as a crate option for small “shed-based” manufacturers like Hennessey with the Venom GT. The LS1 set the standard of small, powerful, and easily modded, with every Corvette engine since sharing those three things.
1990 Corvette C4 ZR1
- Price: $29.95
- Where to Buy: 100MPH
In 1990, after a slump of sales through the 1980s, Chevrolet decided that the Corvette brand needed to be known for power and speed again. It therefore looked through its old model codes from generations past, and brought together Z, for “motorsports special options,” R for “reinforced race body style,” and 1 giving it the biggest V8 available at the time, the L75 327 with about 380 HP.
Put together, those letters made Z-R-1, and once you get rid of the hyphens, you have the Corvette ZR1. It was definitely powerful and fast, but there was one small problem with it: It was nearly $100,000 when it was released. It still sold, and the anniversary edition in 1993 definitely sold out, but it was an expensive car without question.
It did hit all the right notes, however, and come the C6 generation, that famous code, this time keeping a hyphen, reappeared as the supercharged ZR-1.
