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    This Is The Last Manual-Transmission Corvette Made Before The C8 Broke Our Hearts

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    At first glance, the eighth-generation Chevrolet Corvette doesn't seem to share much with the original beyond its name. Consider: Today's ZR1X, for instance, parks its mighty V8 behind the driver, where it works with a hybrid system to deliver 1,250 horsepower and 0-60 sprint times of 1.89 seconds. And its top speed is expected to match that of the non-hybrid ZR1, at 233 mph. Meanwhile, the 1953 Corvette has a 150-hp Blue Flame Six engine upfront, good for an 11.5-second jaunt to 60 mph and a top speed a few ticks north of 105 mph. But what the two 'Vettes do have in common is the fact they only offer automatic transmissions. The first Corvette with a manual gearbox was the 1955 edition, and the last — so far, anyway — was the 2019 Stingray on display at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Chevrolet points to a lack of customer interest as the reason for dumping the manual in the C8, noting that the take rate for the row-your-own gearbox slid from about 50% in 2014, the first year of the C7 Corvette, to approximately 20% in its final year, 2019. Now, there could be a number of factors driving that lowered demand, but it no doubt helps that the current crop of high-tech automatic transmissions runs through the gears quicker than a human can. Just keep in mind that driving a stick shift teaches you things you won't learn from autoboxes, no matter how fast they are. Chevrolet The Corvette Museum took delivery of that final manually equipped model on November 20, 2019, and what it got was a Stingray 2LT coupé with the optional Z51 suspension package and a traditional exterior finish. That means, like the original 1953 Corvettes, it featured a white exterior over a red cabin.  Beneath the hood, the 2019 Stingray had a 6.2-liter LT1 V8 making 460 hp and 465 pound-feet of torque with the Z51 upgrade onboard, and that mill was paired with a seven-speed manual transmission with active rev matching. Interestingly, and providing evidence of the rise of the automatic transmission in the 'Vette, the brochure only mentions a 0-60 time for the optional 8-speed paddle-shifted automatic — 3.7 seconds — and not for the manual. Next, let's move inside. Here, the driver-focused 2LT cockpit enhances the ownership experience with luxe cues like heated/vented leather front seats with power bolsters and lumbar adjustment to help keep you comfortable while pushing the Corvette to its limits — which, for the curious, include the ability to pull more than 1 g on the skid pad with its Z51 suspension. The infotainment package is fresh enough to come with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and an 8-inch touchscreen, although the Stingray's only ADAS features were standard and optional rear and front cameras. Perhaps even more notable was how little money went into making the C7 Corvette a success. GM spent basically nothing to develop the car, relying on a development budget of $270 million for the car. Sure, that's a lot of cash for you and me, but the General invested more than $500 million just to move Chevy Cruze production to the U.S. in 2008. Chevrolet As mentioned, a three-speed manual transmission first joined the Corvette option list in 1955, at about the same time the car welcomed its first V8. Displacing 265 cubic inches — roughly 4.3 liters — the engine enjoyed a 25% increase in horsepower to 195 ponies. Drivers got some added enjoyment as well, as the new three-speed/V8 power train lopped over two seconds off of its 0-60 runs and pumped up the top speed to 120 mph. Later in the C1's lifecycle, a short run of cars with a four-speed manual transmission was produced. It set the Corvette on the path to even more manually powered muscle, with the C2 Corvette a prime example. Premiering in 1963 with a 250-hp small-block Chevy V8, the car was available with both three- and four-speed manuals in this generation, along with the special Chevy Powerglide automatic transmission. The third-gen Corvette continued with two similar manual transmissions — and a new three-speed Powerglide automatic — and the latter marked the beginning of the end for manual Corvettes. The C3 Corvette was the first in which automatics outsold manuals (not counting C1 Corvettes unavailable with a manual), and the 1982 Collector's Edition didn't offer a DIY setup at all. No Corvette ever had a factory five-speed manual, but later C4s had a six-speed when they arrived in 1989, and in 2014 the C7 added a cog for a manual transmission with seven forward speeds. It's further worth noting you can get a six-speed manual for your C8 from Tremec — you just have to install it yourself.
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