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All Corvettes are NOT Red (1/26)
3/27/20 9:31am

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It has been said many times by many people, especially those that own a red Corvette that "All Corvettes are Red." Well, I'm sorry to inform you it turns out All Corvettes are NOT Red, they're All White!"

Ok, so, obviously not ALL Corvettes are any one color, but there are certainly those that are more popular than others. If you would have guessed the most popular color ordered between 1968 and 1982, you'd likely have gone with Red.

I recently decided to take the production counts, that are available, for all model years from 1968-1982 and determine if Red was in fact the most popular color. I was not only surprised to find out that it didn't come in first place, but it came in fourth place!

Corvette paint color names where usually not as simple as "Red" or "Blue." They had fancy names like "Mulsanne Blue" and "Ontario Orange." So, in order to make the numbers a little easier to work with, I took all the various color names and put them into categories. 14 Single Color Categories (White, Silver, Blue, Red, Black, Tan, Yellow, Green, Orange, Maroon, Brown, Gray, Bronze and Gold) and 5 Two-Tone Color Categories (Black/Silver, Blue/Silver, Maroon/Silver, Gray/Silver & White/Silver). So, colors like "Mulsanne Blue," "Bridgehampton Blue," "Light Blue" and "Dark Blue" were grouped together as "Blue." Colors such as "Medium Saddle," "Buckskin," and "Corvette Light Beige" were grouped together as 'Tan."

Here's how the numbers look on a chart:

And here is the raw data:

Color Category	Production Count
White	64516
Silver	60003
Blue	55653
Red	48819
Black	36135
Tan	31924
Yellow	27102
Green	20120
Orange	18275
Maroon	14472
Brown	12791
Gray	9128
Black/Silver	6502
Bronze	3806
Blue/Silver	1667
Maroon/Silver	1301
Gray/Silver	1239
White/Silver	664
Gold	648
Grand Total	414333

So, do the results surprise you?

What would you have guessed was the most popular color?

UPDATE: Please see my followup blog:

https://www.c3vr.com/vrforums/all-corvettes-are-not-red-or-white_message431521.html

|UPDATED|3/27/2020 6:31:01 AM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

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Re: All Corvettes are NOT Red (2/26)
8/8/12 12:04pm

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Dorr, MI - USA

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OK Boss. If you would have continued on the study you would have learned that after 48,819 they ran out of RED paint and the colors they used in its place were mistakes.

Hence the saying, "Corvettes are suppose to be RED". "The rest are mistakes"...................

Now I gotta put all those worms back in the can????? Approve

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Re: All Corvettes are NOT Red (3/26)
8/8/12 12:24pm

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If you really document reality ...... I'm sure the top color that is on C3's right now is Red. So many were repainted Red for what ever reasons.

Everyone wanted a little red corvette, the beach boys, even the artist formally known as Prince knew that the red corvette ruled.

Thats why I have both... a Red and a White.........just saying Wink

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Re: All Corvettes are NOT Red (4/26)
8/8/12 12:39pm

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Slow day at werk, eh Adam? LOL

LOL

Only thing that proves is that there are a lot more mistakes out there than anyone realized....I hope you're happy.... LOL

LOL

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Re: All Corvettes are NOT Red (5/26)
8/8/12 12:56pm

manchestershark

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Confused

I have a RED '75 that is spose to be BLUE. The other mistake is a RED headed stepchild. So, am I in the minority or majority? Big smile

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Re: All Corvettes are NOT Red (6/26)
8/8/12 1:10pm

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I think if Black had been available for all year models, it would have been either first or second on the list there. There's just something about this body style and black....they look so kewl.

but...RED is still the correct color..... LOL

LOL

oh...and technically, "Maroon" is RED.

LOL

LOL

LOL

|UPDATED|8/8/2012 10:10:31 AM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

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Re: All Corvettes are NOT Red (7/26)
8/8/12 1:18pm

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Dorr, MI - USA

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Well as you can see by my sig pic that when I bought my 71 it was painted black by mistake, which went over Warbonnet Yellow, also a mistake. So it took 3 paintings to get it right.

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Re: All Corvettes are NOT Red (8/26)
8/8/12 2:53pm

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my7t1 said: Well as you can see by my sig pic that when I bought my 71 it was painted black by mistake, which went over Warbonnet Yellow, also a mistake. So it took 3 paintings to get it right.

Not.... somebody musta been eatin paint chips when they made that decision to change from the current mot popular color according to GM....

Tux... Thumbs Up

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Re: All Corvettes are NOT Red (9/26)
8/8/12 2:53pm

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Re: All Corvettes are NOT Red (10/26)
8/8/12 7:28pm

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Where did you put the 82 CE's?

By the way I believe your total is off

Most popular colors for cars

23% White

18% Black

16% Silver

13% Gray

10% Red

9% Blue

5% Brown/Beige

3% Yellow/Gold

2% Green

I'm thinking Silver and Gray are close so those should be 29% which would make Silver/Gray the most popular.

the top four colors makeup 70% of the cars on the road. You know with 10% of the people making the same mistake in not a big deal. But wait those are not sports car people:

Sports cars

20% Silver

17% Gray

16% Blue

14% Black

10% White

9% Red

6% Green

5% Light Brown

3% Yellow/Gold

Mmmm Red still did not make it into the top 70%

And yes it is a slow day at the office.

Actually you get maroon by mixing it with 9% to 16% Blue and a little brown Beer

Beer

|UPDATED|8/8/2012 4:28:57 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

Re: All Corvettes are NOT Red (11/26)
8/8/12 8:40pm

ceastham1
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I like white ....

nothing against red .... just got no room for one ...

now if I had the EBO toy box !!!

Re: All Corvettes are NOT Red (12/26)
8/8/12 9:48pm

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ceastham1 said: I like white ....

nothing against red .... just got no room for one ...

now if I had the EBO toy box !!!

Heh my good bud.....I'll store a few for you! Wink

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4 poster is on the xmas list!

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Re: All Corvettes are NOT Red (13/26)
8/8/12 9:53pm

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Adam,
Are you saying we shouldnt believe Joel any more with any of his facts. He just sent me an Email with some great facts yesterday and included was his statement that Corvettes are Red and all others are mistakes, So I went to sleep last night considering giving both mine away because I didnt want to own a mistake. (made plenty of them on my own) So now I find out that I own the most popular color out there. Hey Joel, now what do you think!
LOL great stats. I will always refer back to it from now on.
Rodney

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Re: All Corvettes are NOT Red (14/26)
8/8/12 9:58pm

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LOL

I have a blue that looks white. Does that mean I have the first AND third most popular color?

Barry

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Re: All Corvettes are NOT Red (15/26)
8/8/12 10:04pm

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How sweet it is!

Re: All Corvettes are NOT Red (16/26)
8/8/12 10:53pm

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Barry, No! That means that you cant make up your mind which way to go. As we all know now White is the color!

Rodney

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Re: All Corvettes are NOT Red (17/26)
8/9/12 2:28am

kwoody
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I think there is a little bit of RED in every Corvette!

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Re: All Corvettes are NOT Red (18/26)
8/9/12 7:34am

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Still nit-pickin.... "Warbonnet Yellow" is actually a GOLD color, so the numbers for both Gold and Yellow are skewed.
Overall, it is neat to see a general idea of what was popular in the era. Thumbs Up

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Re: All Corvettes are NOT Red (19/26)
8/9/12 7:36am

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Adam,

I'm curious where you got the info. I didn't know specific color counts were available by year. Or maybe was it that there aren't counts on how many cars had a specific color, interior color, body style (vert vs coupe), engine, etc...

Cool info. Thanks. Very surprised to see Silver that high up the list, and agree with Joel on the issue of Black.

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Re: All Corvettes are NOT Red (20/26)
8/9/12 8:40am

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manget1 said: Adam,

I'm curious where you got the info. I didn't know specific color counts were available by year. Or maybe was it that there aren't counts on how many cars had a specific color, interior color, body style (vert vs coupe), engine, etc...

Cool info. Thanks. Very surprised to see Silver that high up the list, and agree with Joel on the issue of Black.

I got it from here:

https://www.c3vr.com/VetteStats/default.asp

It's all the numbers that are available for C3s. Not all years are available, and some years had a few numbers missing.

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Re: All Corvettes are NOT Red (21/26)
8/9/12 10:39am

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UPDATE: Please see my follow-up blog:

https://www.c3vr.com/vrforums/all-corvettes-are-not-red-or-white_message431521.html

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Re: All Corvettes are NOT Red (22/26)
8/9/12 12:06pm

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I hedged my bets and went with Red and Silver! LOL

LOL

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Re: All Corvettes are NOT Red (23/26)
8/9/12 7:35pm

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My car was orignally beige...didnt even make the list unless its grouped with tan.....Either way Im red now and will be forever red......

However Mrs The Rook informs me that she wants a white C5 convertible for herself.

...who am I to argue??? Thumbs Up

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Re: All Corvettes are NOT Red (24/26)
8/9/12 7:55pm

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The Rook said: My car was orignally beige...didnt even make the list unless its grouped with tan.....Either way Im red now and will be forever red......

However Mrs The Rook informs me that she wants a white C5 convertible for herself.

...who am I to argue??? Thumbs Up

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It was grouped with Tan.

See this post:

https://www.c3vr.com/vrforums/all-corvettes-are-not-red-or-white_message431521.html

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Re: All Corvettes are NOT Red (25/26)
3/27/20 7:22pm

BillHanna
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kwoody said:

I think there is a little bit of RED in every Corvette!

Yes, there is a little bit of red in mine. . . I guess mine makes most all of the list then!

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Re: All Corvettes are NOT Red (26/26)
3/28/20 4:34pm

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BillHanna said:

Yes, there is a little bit of red in mine. . . I guess mine makes most all of the list then!

True! Yous sort of reminds me of those multi-color Popsicles.

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