There was a time when a Corvette was a car that a young man who could afford a new Camaro could aspire to own one day, because the Corvette only cost a few thousand dollars more than a new Camaro. For example, in 1978, a base Camaro listed for $4,414; if you had a little more – $5,603 – you could buy a Z28 Camaro, which was the high performance version of the car and offered power/performance close to that of a Corvette.
At $9,351 to start, the ’78 Corvette was not cheap. But it was also not as expensive as it has become. Base price for the 2026 iteration is $70,000. The last Camaro – which was discontinued after the end of the of the 2024 model year, stickered for $30,900 to start. That’s more than twice as expensive, in case you’re counting – whereas the ’78 Corvette was only about a third more expensive than a Z28 Camaro and neither was anywhere near as expensive as their current/recent iterations, which take four or five times as many dollars to buy. Not many of us are earning six or seven times as many dollars people did in 1978, either. That’s why “inflation” is actually diminishment. You have less buying power because what you are paid (in dollars) is not enough to equal the devalued buying power of the dollar.
Another silent bud deadly killer is the cost of insurance.
Can you guess what it costs to “cover” a new Corvette? And keep in mind, you have no choice about buying this “coverage,” which means the insurance mafia is in the delightful position of being able to tell you just exactly how much you’re going to pay for it.
How about $5,000 annually?
That is the number, according to Kelly Blue Book. It assumes the driver is not under 35 and does not have any “tickets” on his DMV record, which the DMV oh-so-helpfully has given the mafia anytime access to. A “ticket” being considered evidence that you are a “risky” driver and so deserving of even higher insurance costs. Note that this “risk” is just an assertion and entirely predicated upon associations rather than actualities; i.e., it does not matter that you have never wrecked or filed a claim or had a claim filed against you. This actual evidence of actually safe driving is irrelevant. The fact that you got radar-trapped doing the same 80 MPH just about everyone else is driving on a highway with a posted speed limit of 65 is enough to get adjusted to the tune of another 20 percent on top of that $5k annually.
But let’s go with $5k and think about what that means – and costs. Over six years – the duration of an average new car loan – the buyer of a new Corvette will have paid $30k to “cover” the car, a sum equivalent to nearly half the original purchase price. Put another way, the basic ownership cost of a new Corvette – not counting gas and maintenance – approaches $100k. (If you factor in depreciation, it’s well over that.)
No wonder the average age of a new Corvette buyer is close to Social Security-eligible age. The Corvette has become a kind of four-wheeled Harley-Davidson; i.e., a vehicle for the dwindling handful of older guys – it is almost exclusively guys – who can afford to indulge. In both cases, this is both an inversion of tradition as well as a near-guarantee that the end of the road is in sight.
The Corvette used to be America’s sports car and sports cars are almost definitionally for young guys, just as a Harley was once a young guy’s machine (here’s an article about that). The age demographic for both used to be at least 20 and even 30 years younger than it is today. Marlon Brando and Sonny Barger rode Harleys when they were young men. Today it is mostly retired men. It is the same – or nearly so – as far as new Corvette drivers and a metric of that fact is the fact that every new Corvette comes only with an automatic transmission, the transmission for men who have achy knees. Young men who like performance cars generally prefer manuals because they’re much more fun – which is a different thing than how quickly a car can get to 60, by the way.
The new Corvette is, on paper, the quickest and fastest and best-handling Corvette ever. But these are statistics and so mostly taking points. The majority of the older guys out cruising in their Corvettes are doing just that. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this; no doubt they are having a good time. But there is no future – for the Corvette – in this.
The new Corvette’s standard 490 horsepower 6.2 liter V8 makes more than twice the power of the ’78 Corvette’s optional 5.7 liter, L-82 V8 and completely outclasses its ancestor in every statistical way, other than what it costs and how few are sold.
In 2025, Chevy sold 17,718 Corvettes. In 1978, the figure was 46,766 – or more than twice as many, at a time when the population of the United States was about 100 million fewer than it is today. 
Chevy arguably made a big mistake when it decided to make the Corvette into an exotic car, with a mid-engined layout and a price that, while less than a Ferrari’s, is effectively the same since most young guys and not many middle-aged guys can afford either one.
America’s Sports Car is now an old man’s car – and there are inevitably fewer of them every year. In time, that presages fewer new Corvettes.
Until one day, there are no more because there’s no one left who wants or can afford one.
. . .
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Wow, many people actually think Demographics are the largest cause of the decline of Corvette sales, or that, The younger crowd just isn’t interested in sports or sporty cars so much. Why would they be?
Strapped in by a seatbelt and monitored by cameras at every intersection with cops hiding behind every bush looking to take your money, and liberty, is so much, Fun.
In the 70’s and 80’s, if we had the same b.s. costs and requirements as we have now, only 2 in 10 of the kids (or, their parents) I knew would be able to afford to drive,… and most wouldn’t want to.
Don’t even get me started on driving a motorcycle in the Summer humidity with a helmet on. Absurd.
The defenders of empire, and the Power and Control that comes with, are the reason why the Crapification of America marches on.
The love of freedom is Not So Much being bred out of the human race – as what’s presented as ‘freedom’ – is a Potemkin version of such.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potemkin_village
Perhaps, the young ‘uns see through the fog of the b.s.? Idk.
Yeesh, “Lets go have fun swimming while wearing a ball & chain”?
Some lucky kids live in Arizona.
“Drive your fast cars slow… or else we’ll steal them” says Tulsa.
https://www.fox23.com/news/tulsa-city-council-pass-emergency-street-racing-crackdown-and-vehicle-impoundment-ordinance/article_9d6a0635-2cb9-484a-97eb-8b7dd0eac74f.html
“Danger” “Dangerous” “Safely” Give us more Power and Control.
“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.”
― Helen Keller, The Open Door
The wife and I, when we were younger, used to laugh because every cool old car we saw had a gray-hair at the helm. Now we are them.
That’s weird, Philo Beddoe, when I was young and wasn’t grey, I saw Lots and Lots of young guys driving cool old cars. Nice ones, too. And, they weren’t owned by their parents.
Our town was very much like the video below:
I guess, it was different where you 2 were?
‘American Graffiti Official Trailer #1 – Richard Dreyfuss Movie (1973) HD’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ9Gp6Qc8LQ
Demographics are the largest cause of the decline of Corvette sales, just as with Harley-Davidsons, Levi’s jeans, and selected other items. The Corvettes are essentially for Boomers. The Boomers are aging.
The younger crowd just isn’t interested in sports or sporty cars so much, especially pricey ones. You would be surprised at how many people in the US under about age 35 don’t drive and have never held a driver’s license, compared with past generations. They aren’t interested in buying any vehicle, least of all a Corvette, because (1) Mom and Dad will still drive them or (2) they’ll just catch an Uber or Lyft. It has little or nothing to do with manual-transmission availability. The kids aren’t driving in the first place.
The kids also don’t attach the importance to certain things as the Boomers and older Generation X’ers do. They couldn’t care less about Corvettes, hot Mustangs, most motorcycles, etc.
All of these factors have affected the sports/sporty-car market across the spectrum. It explains why many two-seat and all-out performance cars have disappeared since about 2010. The process is pretty far along. I’m surprised the Corvette has survived in any form this long.
I would also think geography plays a big part too. We know some youth that live in cities and do not even have a drivers license. Suburbs most do, rural 100%.
Yes, the love of freedom is being bred out of the human race slowly over time through public education and culture manipulation. The result: a lot of people wish to remain perpetual children. It’s pathetic.
Even when they cost fewer dinero their whole existence was being an American sports car built from mostly the same bin of parts Chevy used in the Bel Air and Suburban. They were never meant to be hyper reliable or particularly well built. It didn’t carry the Cadillac name (when that meant something still).
Yup. The guys building the Vette aren’t wearing lab coats in a factory that could give an operating room a run for cleanliness. They do all the important stuff 99% as well for 9.9% the price. The pop and crackle of a eurotrash V12 is OK but the sound of a proper V8 will make your inner redneck smile. America! Fuck yeah!
I’m of a slightly different opinion than the author because despite the market realities the Corvette is still a cool car and good value. Yup, GM screwed the pooch and is part of the problem taking bailout money and bending over for EPA and FMVSS regulation.
GM sells so few I’m just glad the bean counters and nannies haven’t managed to kill the Vette off. It’s a small thumbing of the nose but it’s still got to be a thorn in side of all the people who want everyone in subscription beige transport blobs that you don’t have to be a billionaire to competitively race.
It didn’t carry the Cadillac name
Some of them did. However, it was inferior to the C6 in every possible way.
When I was a young man, I considered Corvettes useless. There were many others fast, fun to drive, and exponentially cheaper. Now that I’m old, I’ve been surfing for cars and started looking at Corvettes. For what I want to pay, they are late 70s, 80s. And at the end of the day are still a 40 year old clapped out chebbie.
I feel the same about Harley. There’s only one or two that I find interesting. What’s caught my eye lately is Royal Enfield 650s. They harken back to the day where motorcycles were simple, cheap, and fun.
That’s what I’m looking for in a car. If I were in the sports car market, I’d start looking at a miata.
I always had a soft spot for the Vette. But they were never that great, the Datsun 240/260/280Z cars were faster, better handling, cheaper. The early RX7 was a pocket rocket, and if you really want a visceral experience, a Cobra replica with a manual is a better way.
I have striven to minimize my stealable income, so I personally have always enjoyed rolling my own. Wind in hair, trans in correct gear for maximum control in a drift or a drag, bint even need a too. But that’s not for everyone and the creeping communism and standing armies of cops keep making everything enjoyable harder.
Same, Ernie –
I like older Corvettes; meaning those before the ’84 came out. The “shark” body that lasted through ’82 was great looking, in my opinion – and the Corvettes of that era were lots of fun to drive, including the low-powered ones of the mid-late ’70s. The new Corvette is – like pretty much al modern performance cars – so powerful and capable as to be kind of pointless on the street.
The best “classic” vette, ‘63 split window.
Then the 25th anniversary C3, with the fastback window. Girl clerk, worked with my aerospace group, she bought one new. So speaking of affordability then vs. now. Sheesh.
21 model accelerates so fast my perception cant keep up. When I was 30 this was an unobtanium rush, at nearly 70 its another whatever.
The same is sadly true on the Blue Oval side with the Mustang. In fact, the 1964 1/2 Mustang came with an I-6 and a 3 speed manual transmission as standard, and was one of the least expensive new cars in 1964–even with the “hi pi” 289 V8 and 4-speed option.
Now, if you want a 5.0, it’s $50K. And the Dark Horse, which is Ford’s closest competitor to the Corvette? Almost six figures.
So muscle cars and sports cars are for the rich alter kockers. Trouble is, what happens when there are no more rich alter kockers?
To Corvette drivers: Sorry about your dick.
IMO, the companies like GM and Harley got addicted to making more and more expensive products to survive. Almost like their boardrooms said “we can’t compete at the $6-10K bike level or $20-30K car level, so why even try?”. India, Korea, and China are eating their lunch money at those market levels. I don’t know if they can turn it around or not, but if they stick with their current plans, I don’t think they survive, at least in their current form.
Yeah, the executive faggots are getting their tens of millions, and the union thugs are getting their hundreds of thousands, so they cannot compete with a more level playing field.
According to the CPI 46,766 corvettes sold at $9,351 each is worth $2.214B in today’s fake money vs. 17,718 sold at $70,000 is worth $1.240B. If Mary can lower the price of a corvette to equivalent $48,662, she might pick up another cool $1B in revenue. But no, Mary hates men’s cars. Her future customers are AWFUL’s (affluent white female urban liberals).
Consistently amazing how those with no functional knowledge of the auto business are always spouting off here.
Correct him, Mr. Smartypants. Or you too are just spouting off.
It’s called greed on the car makers the Corvette one of the most useless ugly overrated cars ever made see older ones all over fairly cheap if you want a new fast car thats way cheaper buy a civic type R .
In the 1990s the economists began talking about the erosion of the middle class. After the factory jobs went away and everyone “learned to code” the idea was that the middle class was a one-time anomaly of the 20th century and so it was just a reversion to the mean. What this meant was old companies took a long term strategy to after the high end (which skews old). American manufacturing left the middle class behind, leaving us to buy Hyundai. Ford tended to buck the trend, but $80K for an F-150 isn’t exactly a budget line, is it?
Now we see that it wasn’t that the middle class was eliminated, it was just no longer a desirable customer. Las Vegas is going through this now. The days of the $5.99 prime rib and $20 buffet are gone. The big strip casinos are going after the whales and international jet set, leaving the hoi polloi for the regional casinos (which they also own, so for them it’s a win-win).
Indian casinos on recently-established “reservations” like Cowlitz tribe’s Ilani in SW WA State.
Or “riverboat” (barge) casinos on the Gulf Coast in Mississippi, courtesy of Trent Lott.
I stopped at one of those “boats” in St Louis. Literally dug out a perfect rectangle along the river and (I guess) floated the casino in the parking lot.
Call it “Lake Loophole”
Yet you paint your fence a color the HOA president doesn’t like and they put a lien on your house.
Even a C5 with a manual is almost impossible to find.