1963 to 1967 C2 Corvette Sting Ray Colors: From Rarest To Most Popular

The 1963–1967 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray (C2) is a classic design whose styling holds up well today. One reason for that was the selection of attractive paint choices. Let’s take a look at an array of C2 Corvettes in the full range of factory color options.

1963 Corvette

1963 was the first year of the C2 Corvette, and the only year of this generation for which complete color production totals aren’t available. There were seven factory color choices, but production totals are only available for three of them, which when added together account for only 11,603 of the 21,513 Corvettes built that year.

Three of the initial batch of C2 colors were named for raceways: Riverside Red, Daytona Blue, and Sebring Silver (with the latter available only at extra cost). The others were Silver Blue, Tuxedo Black, and Ermine White. Here’s what they all looked like:

Riverside Red

James Schefter’s 1996 book on the development of the C5 Corvette proclaimed All Corvettes Are Red. That wasn’t true of the C2, although red was popular. There are no production totals for Riverside Red in 1963, but almost 24 percent of buyers ordered it in 1964, and I’d be startled if the 1963 figure was under 20 percent.

Silver Blue

These light blues really flatter the Sting Ray — they have more character than white, but they’re more forgiving of surface imperfections on the fiberglass body than a darker color, or black. It’s not known how many 1963 buyers felt the same way; no production total is available for Silver Blue.

Daytona Blue

Speaking of dark colors: Daytona Blue looked very good on the C2, at least from 20 feet … but even on a factory-fresh example, it might have shown off uneven finish more than one would like, and I fear it would look dirty almost as fast as black. Still, 3,475 buyers ordered Daytona Blue in 1963, 16.2 percent of production.

Sebring Silver

Silver is so common on modern cars and trucks that it barely registers today, but it wasn’t that common on American cars of the ’60s. Ordering Sebring Silver on a 1963 Corvette cost an extra $80.70, but it really brings out the curves and creases of the Sting Ray design, making it look like something special. A total of 3,516 buyers felt similarly, 16.3 percent of 1963 production.

I think this one also benefits from the eye-popping red interior, which adds a dramatic contrast with the silver exterior.

Saddle Tan

I’m not so wild about this one: It’s different, and if you wanted a Corvette that didn’t look like every other Corvette, it had its pluses, but for my money, Saddle Tan looked better on the inside than the outside. No 1963 production figures are available for this exterior color, but it returned for 1964, so it can’t have been a complete sales rout.

Tuxedo Black

Uncontroversial, classy, but unforgiving, Tuxedo Black looked very handsome on a Sting Ray … if it was clean, and if the quality of the finish was in good nick, which, sadly, wasn’t always the case even for newly delivered cars. I also have mixed feelings about the detachable hardtop, a $236.75 option ordered by 5,739 of the 10,919 people who bought Sting Ray convertibles in 1963: The notchback profile it creates is an interesting change of pace from the fastback split-window coupe, but from some angles, it does make the Corvette look like it has a crew cut. There are no 1963 production totals for Tuxedo Black, but I’d guess something between 1,800 and 2,000 cars.

Ermine White

White was becoming a very popular choice on bigger American cars (by 1965, it would be the most common Impala color). On sedans, it could seem rather milquetoast, and even now, ordering a truck or van in white tends to make you look like a delivery driver. Somehow, Ermine White managed to seem racier on a C2 Corvette — you wouldn’t be surprised to see numbers painted on the doors. Alas, no 1963 production figures are available for it.

1964 Corvette

For 1964, all of the 1963 colors carried over except Sebring Silver, which was replaced by a different shade called Satin Silver, no longer an extra-cost option.

Satin Silver

Satin Silver was more blue, which didn’t “pop” the way Sebring Silver did, and I find it a bit less appealing than Silver Blue on these cars. Incidentally, while the 1964 Corvette deleted the controversial split window, many buyers shunned the coupe in favor of the convertible, which outsold coupes by 13,925 cars to 8,304 in 1964.

Of those 22,229 buyers, 2,785 ordered Satin Silver, 12.5 percent of 1964 production.

Here’s how the other color choices fared in 1964:

• Riverside Red: 5,274 cars (23.7 percent)
• Silver Blue: 3,121 cars (14.0 percent)
• Daytona Blue: 3,454 cars (15.5 percent)
• Saddle Tan: 1,765 cars (7.9 percent)
• Tuxedo Black: 1,897 cars (8.5 percent)
• Ermine White: 3,909 cars (17.6 percent)
• Other (non-standard special orders): 24 cars

1965 Corvette

The 1965 model year brought four-wheel disc brakes, the optional Turbo Jet 396 big block engine, and a shake-up of color choices. All of the previous paint options were dropped except Tuxedo Black and Ermine White, and yellow and green joined the lineup.

Rally Red

I’d have to see a Rally Red ’65 parked next to a Riverside Red ’64 to decide how to characterize the difference, which I can’t really discern either from memory or from photos. (Given corporate management’s determination to crack down on under-the-table racing support, I can’t help but wonder if somebody at Chevrolet decided naming paint colors after racetracks was a little too provocative, so maybe the change was mostly the name?) Buyers weren’t as enthusiastic about red this year: 3,688 customers (15.6 percent of 1965 production) ordered Rally Red.

Goldfire Yellow

Yellow tends to be a divisive color for cars and trucks, and it looks better on some models than others. Goldwood Yellow was a well-considered shade: There was a lot of white undertone, which I think made it look classier than some brighter, louder yellows. However, 1965 ‘Vette buyers were not persuaded — only 1,275 ordered Goldwood Yellow, 5.4 percent of production.

Glen Green

By contrast, Glen Green was the second-most-popular color choice in 1965. It was ordered by 3,782 buyers (16.1 percent of production), making it slightly more popular than Rally Red. That’s surprising to me, because it seems less common today than a lot of other C2 colors. Personally, I think it was the right color on the wrong car — it would have been a knockout on a ’65 Riviera or even a Malibu Super Sport, but maybe not on a Sting Ray.

Nassau Blue

Nassau Blue, on the other hand, looked just right on the C2 Corvette: bright but not loud, attractive in many different lighting conditions. Buyers felt so too: This was the most popular 1965 Corvette color, ordered by 6,022 customers (25.6 percent of production).

Milano Maroon

Milano Maroon, ordered by 2,831 buyers (12.0 percent of 1965 production), strikes me as a not-altogether-successful experiment, looking good in some lighting and from some angles, but not so great from others. The dilemma it posed on the Corvette was that the sharp creases and dramatic curves of the Sting Ray body made it harder to get a good angle with this color — I think it would look better on a more rounded shape, like the 1968–1972 GM A-body coupes.

Silver Pearl

Silver Pearl replaced Satin Silver for 1965, but this more grayish hue wasn’t as popular: Only 2,552 buyers ordered it, 10.8 percent of production.

Here’s how the other choices fared for 1965:

• Tuxedo Black: 1,191 cars (5.1 percent)
• Ermine White: 2,216 cars (9.4 percent)
• Other (non-standard special orders): 5 cars

1966 Corvette

For 1966, Nassau Blue, Rally Red, Milano Maroon, Silver Pearl, Tuxedo Black, and Ermine White all returned, but there were four new color choices:

Sunfire Yellow

The brighter, yellower Sunfire Yellow replaced Goldwood Yellow for 1966, and outsold the previous shade by almost 2 to 1: 2,339 Corvette buyers ordered it in 1966, 8.4 percent of production. Unlike Glen Green, Sunfire Yellow seems to be quite common on modern survivors. I’m not very fond of it: In bright light, like the photos above and below, it tends to accentuate the shapes of the C2 body in ways that aren’t necessarily flattering. A good color can make a blah-looking car appealing; a bad color can make even a Sting Ray look awkward.

Mosport Green

Here’s a conundrum: Glen Green sold so well in 1965 that I’m surprised Chevrolet discontinued it after a single year, but its replacement, called Mosport Green, was one of the classiest colors ever seen on a Corvette, with a pleasingly icy sheen. Contemporary buyers weren’t as enthusiastic about it as I am — 2,311 ordered their Corvettes in this color, 8.3 percent of 1966 production.

Laguna Blue

An attractive dark blue, though not as dark as the discontinued Daytona Blue, Laguna Blue wasn’t as flattering on the Sting Ray as the brighter Nassau Blue, and it didn’t sell as well: 2,054 buyers ordered it, 7.4 percent of 1966 production.

Trophy Blue

The lighter Trophy Blue looked better on the C2 than Laguna Blue did, but it was perhaps a little too similar to the brighter Nassau Blue to stand out, so it was rare. Only 1,463 buyers ordered it (6.8 percent of production), and Trophy Blue was dropped after this one year.

Here’s how the other choices fared for 1966. Nassau Blue was once again the most popular Corvette color by a comfortable margin.

• Rally Red: 3,366 cars (12.1 percent)
• Nassau Blue: 6,100 cars (22.0 percent)
• Milano Maroon: 3,799 cars (13.7 percent)
• Silver Pearl: 2,967 cars (10.7 percent)
• Tuxedo Black: 1,190 cars (4.3 percent)
• Ermine White: 2,120 cars (7.6 percent)
• Other (non-standard special orders): 11 cars

1967 Corvette

There were five new Corvette colors for 1967, the last year of the C2 generation, but the existing Rally Red, Sunfire Yellow, Silver Peal, Tuxedo Black, and Ermine White options carried over. Here are the new colors:

Goodwood Green

While I would have mourned the loss of Mosport Green for 1967, Corvette fans loved the new, darker Goodwood Green, which was the most popular 1967 color choice: 4,293 buyers ordered it, 18.7 percent of production.

Elkhart Blue

Except for its odd name, Elkhart Blue might have been the best-looking of the light metallic blues offered on the C2: cooler than Trophy Blue, a bit richer than Silver Blue. In 1967, however, it sold about as well as ice pops during a blizzard. Only 1,096 buyers ordered it (4.8 percent of production), making it the second least popular color choice in 1967.

Lynndale Blue

Another less-than-mellifluous name for a shade of metallic blue that to my eyes just didn’t look right on the Sting Ray, Lynndale Blue was somewhat more popular than Elkhart Blue, but not by much. Only 1,381 buyers (6.0 percent of production) ordered it in 1967.

Marina Blue

My hands-down favorite of 1967 color choices, Marina Blue was also the second favorite of Corvette customers, who seemed to regard it as a satisfactory substitute for the popular but discontinued Nassau Blue: 3,840 buyers specified Marina Blue in 1967, 16.7 percent of production.

Marlboro Maroon

Marlboro Maroon, which replaced the somewhat lighter, redder Milano Maroon for 1967, looked a bit better on the Sting Ray, and was surprisingly popular; 3,464 buyers ordered it. Although it went on fewer cars than Milano Maroon had in 1966, it accounted for a bigger percentage of ’67 production: 15.1 percent, making it the third most popular choice.

Here are the figures for the other 1967 color choices:

• Rally Red: 2,341 cars (10.2 percent)
• Sunfire Yellow: 2,325 cars (10.1 percent)
• Silver Pearl: 1,952 cars (8.5 percent)
• Tuxedo Black: 815 cars (3.6 percent)
• Ermine White: 1,423 cars (6.2 percent)
• Other (non-standard special orders): 10 cars

Take Your Pick

Color preferences are perhaps the most subjective area of automotive styling: One person’s must-have favorite color may have someone else reaching for the airsickness bag, and people with red-green color blindness or other forms of color vision deficiency may (literally) not see what all the fuss is about. Nonetheless, the C2 Corvette offered a nice array of choices, and while some were preferable to others, there were few real duds. Given the extroverted high-performance character of the Sting Ray, most of its color choices were surprisingly restrained and quite tasteful — nothing like the loud, gaudy Chrysler “High Impact” colors of a few years later, although those have their own charm.

Which would you choose if you could order a C2 Corvette however you wanted?

Related Reading

Automotive History: 1963 Corvette Sting Ray – A Ravishing New Lust Object Appears Out Of The Depths Of The Ocean (by Paul N)

1963 Corvette Sting Ray Split-Window Fastback: And Where Exactly Did That Come From? (by Paul N)

Vintage M/T Review: Fuel-Injected 1964 Corvette Sting Ray – Serious Performance For Weekend Warriors (by me)

Curbside Classic: 1964 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible – Float like A Butterfly, Sting Like A Ray (by Tatra87)

Vintage M/T Review: 1965 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray Convertible – A Walk On The Mild(er) Side (by me)

Vintage Ads: 1965 and 1966 Corvette – When Copywriters Were Real Writers (by Paul N)

Curbside Classic Driving Impressions: 1967 Corvette L79 327/350 Convertible – A 50 Year-Old Dream Fulfilled (by Paul N)