Model year 1978
1978 Corvette Colors and Paint Codes
Eleven exterior colours were offered for 1978, the twenty-fifth anniversary year, and the two-tone Silver Anniversary scheme is one of them. A twelfth scheme, black over silver, was reserved for the Limited Edition Pace Car replica and was not a regular order sheet colour. Below is the list with production figures, the interior combinations, and where the code is stamped.
Type a paint code from the trim tag, or part of a colour name. Both tables below narrow as you type.
1978 exterior colors and paint codes
| Code | Colour | Built | Share of production |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13U/07M | Silver/Dark Gray (Anniversary) | 15,283 | 32.7% |
| 19 | Black | 4,573 | 9.8% |
| 10 | Classic White | 4,150 | 8.9% |
| 13 | Silver | 3,232 | 6.9% |
| 82 | Mahogany | 2,121 | 4.5% |
| 83 | Dark Red | 2,084 | 4.5% |
| 72 | Red | 2,074 | 4.4% |
| 89 | Dark Brown | 1,991 | 4.3% |
| 26 | Light Blue | 1,960 | 4.2% |
| 59 | Light Beige | 1,686 | 3.6% |
| 52 | Bright Yellow | 1,243 | 2.7% |
Swatches are on-screen approximations to tell the colours apart, not paint matches. Take the code to a paint supplier for an accurate mix.
Where to find your paint code
The paint code is on the trim tag riveted to the driver's side of the body, visible when you open the door. It lists the body style, body number, trim (interior) code and paint code together. From the later years of the run the tag also carries the build date, so the same plate that tells you the colour tells you roughly when the car was assembled. Two-tone cars show two codes, upper and lower.
1978 exterior and interior combinations
| Medium | Light | Dark | Dark | Oyster | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black | Red | Saffron | Doeskin | Blue | Brown | White | ||
| Code | Leather/Cloth Inserts | 19C | 72C | 76C | 59C | 29C | 69C | 12C |
| Leather | 192 | 722 | 762 | 592 | 292 | 692 | 122 | |
| 10 | Classic White | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
| 13 | Silver Metallic | R | R | R | --- | R | --- | R |
| 19 | Black | R | R | R | R | --- | --- | R |
| 26 | Frost Blue | R | --- | --- | --- | R | --- | --- |
| 52 | Yellow | R | --- | --- | --- | --- | A | R |
| 59 | Frost Beige | R | A | R | R | A | R | --- |
| 72 | Red | R | R | --- | R | --- | --- | R |
| 82 | Mahogany Metallic | R | --- | R | R | --- | --- | R |
| 83 | Dark Blue Metallic | R | A | --- | R | R | --- | R |
| 89 | Dark Brown Metallic | A | --- | --- | R | --- | R | R |
| 13U/07M | Silver Anniversary | A | A | A | --- | A | --- | A |
| 19U/47M | Pace Car | 15C Silver Cloth or 152 Silver Leather Required |
What to know about 1978 colours
Two schemes need explaining in 1978. RPO B2Z, the Silver Anniversary two-tone, was fitted to 15,283 cars, and the Limited Edition Pace Car replica with its black over silver scheme accounts for a further 6,502. A Pace Car is identified by its 900001 series serial number rather than by its paint, which matters because the scheme has been copied onto ordinary cars ever since.
1978 colours by the numbers
1978 has the most lopsided colour split of any C3 year. The colour ledger sums to 40,397 cars against 40,274 actually built, so it overruns by 123 and the shares here are close rather than exact. Of those recorded, 15,283 wore the Silver and Dark Gray two-tone of the Silver Anniversary treatment, nearly 38 per cent of the year. No other C3 colour comes close to that share. Black is a distant second on 4,573 and Classic White third on 4,150. Bright Yellow is the scarcest at 1,243. The anniversary paint is often described as rare in advertisements, which is exactly backwards: it is by a wide margin the most common way a 1978 left the factory.
The full colour list for every model year from 1968 to 1982 is on the C3 colour code page, and the interior trim codes are set out on the interior trim page. For the rest of what Chevrolet documented about this year, including production by month, the option list and the engine codes, see the 1978 specifications page.