Corvette Stingray Coupe

Make
Chevrolet
Segment
Coupe

The new mid-engined C8 Corvette marks a definite break with the history of the seven iterations that came before it. But wherever the latest generation places its engine, it's still a Corvette, and one couple have marked that lineage in a rather unusual and innovative way.

Californian couple Larry and Debi Smith ordered their new C8 to match their original 1953 Corvette roadster, speccing it not only in the same color scheme, but with matching Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) as well. And in the process, they elevated their prize possession into a matching set, spanning 67 years of American sports-car evolution.

The couple are only the third owners of their original 1953 Corvette roadster, and have had it since the 1980s. It's among the last of only 300 made in that, the Vette's first year of production. And like every other example to roll off the original assembly line in Flint, Michigan, that year, it came in white over red. So when the time came to order up their new C8, they chose that very same color combination.

That was the easy part. Getting a VIN to match was a bit more complicated, reportedly costing them an extra $5k and involving the assistance of both the manufacturer and the National Corvette Museum.

Now that they've taken delivery, they have a pair of Corvettes with VINs ending in 0285.

The juxtaposition of the first-gen Corvette against the latest goes to show that the C8 wasn't the first to break with tradition. While the six generations of Corvette that came between all had V8 engines up front, the original C1 (as it later became known) first came exclusively with a straight-six, and only came as a convertible. Nearly seven decades later, the new C8 has broken with tradition yet again by moving the engine behind the cockpit. And if history has taught us anything, that won't diminish the new Vette's standing one bit.