CORVETTE COLORS
Bright Red Corvette: Every Year, Code and How Many Were Built
Bright Red on the Chevrolet Corvette, 1984–1992: what the color is, the GM paint code in every year, how many were built and what share of the year that was, the interiors it came with, a picture gallery for each year, the chart of its run and the colors that came before and after it.
Quick Nav: The Story · By Generation · Chart · C4 · Related · Paint Codes · More Red · Wallpapers · FAQs
The Basics
The Color: Solid bright red, the C4 red of 1984–1992
GM Codes: 72, 81
Years Offered: 1984–1992 (9 model years)
Generations: C4 (1984–96)
Built: 70,860 with GM counts
Best Year: 1984, 12,942 cars (25.1% of the year)
Color Family: Red (every red Corvette color)
Also Called: Code 72 (1984), 81 (1985–92); replaced by Torch Red
Paint Codes: 1984: WA8551 / PPG 3681 / DuPont B8478; 1985–1992: WA8774 / PPG 3794 / DuPont C8508
Pictures: 9 picture posts on the site, one per model year
By Generation: C4
The Overview
Bright Red was offered on the Corvette in 1984–1992: 9 model years across the C4 generation. GM’s color counts put 70,860 Bright Red Corvettes on the road, 12,942 of them in 1984 alone.
Solid bright red, the C4 red of 1984–1992. Its share of a year’s production ran from 22 to 29 percent, and it was the best-selling color of the year 9 times. It was a no-cost color. The interiors most often paired with it were Black, Carmine, Graphite. The chart below shows the run year by year; the generation sections carry every year’s code, count, share, interiors and picture.
This page has every year Bright Red was offered with its GM code, how many were built, its share of the year and the interiors it came with, the site’s picture gallery for each year, a chart of the run, the related colors, and the FAQs. It is one of 77 color pages on CorvSport; the Red Corvettes page lists every red the factory ever sprayed, and Corvette Colors by Year has the full chart for each model year.
The Story of Bright Red
Bright Red was the color of the C4 launch: 12,942 of the 51,547 1984 cars, a quarter of them, the biggest single-year count of any Corvette color in the 1980s. It stayed the best-selling C4 color every year through 1992 and is the most popular C4 color overall — the site’s count is 60,922 and the year tables add to more than 70,000.
It was the red of the 1986 convertible’s return, of the Callaway Twin Turbos and the first ZR-1s, and of the 1990 ZR-1 press cars. Torch Red replaced it for 1993, a slightly brighter, oranger red that has carried the job ever since.
The Bright Red Cars to Know
1984 Bright Red (12,942, a quarter of the year); 1990–92 ZR-1s in Bright Red; Callaway B2K Twin Turbos.
MORE: THE MOST POPULAR COLORS BY GENERATION / 70 YEARS OF LEAST & MOST POPULAR COLORS / ALL RED CORVETTES
Bright Red by Generation
Bright Red across the 1 generation it was offered on: the years, the GM paint code each generation used, how many were built with GM’s counts, the biggest year and the interiors most often paired with it. Each generation has its own section below with every year.
MORE: THE C4 HUB
| GENERATION | YEARS | CODE(S) | BUILT | BEST YEAR | INTERIORS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C4 Corvette | 1984–1992 | 72, 81 | 70,860 | 1984 (12,942) | Black, Carmine, Graphite |
Bright Red by Year: How Many Were Built
GM’s production counts for Bright Red in every year it was offered. The peak was 1984 at 12,942 cars; the full table for each year, with codes, shares and interiors, is in the generation sections below.
Bright Red on the C4 Corvette (1984–96)
Bright Red on the C4 (1984–96): offered 1984–1992 as code 72, 81. 70,860 cars by GM’s count, the best year 1984 with 12,942. Every year links to its research page (the full color chart, options and prices for that year) and to the site’s picture post for the color.
MORE: THE C4 HUB / THE 1984 RESEARCH PAGE / ALL C4 COLOR POSTS / ALL C4 COLORS
| YEAR | CODE | BUILT | SHARE | INTERIORS | PICTURES | NOTES |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | 72 | 12,942 | 25.1%, #1 of 11 | Graphite, Saddle | Pictures | — |
| 1985 | 81 | 10,424 | 26.2%, #1 of 10 | Carmine, Graphite, Saddle, Medium Gray | Pictures | — |
| 1986 | 81 | 9,466 | 27.0%, #1 of 13 | Graphite, Red, Saddle | Pictures | — |
| 1987 | 81 | 8,285 | 27.0%, #1 of 12 | Graphite, Red, Saddle | Pictures | — |
| 1988 | 81 | 5,340 | 23.4%, #1 of 12 | Black, Gray, Red, Saddle | Pictures | — |
| 1989 | 81 | 7,663 | 29.0%, #1 of 10 | Black, Gray, Red, Saddle | Pictures | — |
| 1990 | 81 | 6,956 | 29.4%, #1 of 10 | Black, Gray, Red, Saddle | Pictures | — |
| 1991 | 81 | 5,318 | 25.8%, #1 of 10 | Black, Gray, Red, Saddle | Pictures | — |
| 1992 | 81 | 4,466 | 21.8%, #1 of 9 | Black, Light Beige, Light Gray, Red, White | Pictures | — |
Colors Related to Bright Red
The colors that came before and after Bright Red, the ones it is confused with and the ones that shared its slot on the chart. Each has its own page or a line on its family page.
MORE: EVERY RED CORVETTE COLOR / ALL CORVETTE COLORS / COLORS BY YEAR
| COLOR | YEARS | BUILT | FAMILY | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Torch Red | 1993–2005, 2010–2027 | 138,514 | Red | See the Torch Red page |
| Dark Red | 1975, 1977, 1979, 1986–1995 | 31,728 | Red | See the Dark Red page |
| Victory Red | 2005–2009 | 26,038 | Red | See the Victory Red page |
Bright Red Paint Codes: GM, WA, PPG and DuPont
The codes a body shop or a judge needs for Bright Red: the GM order code on the trim tag or service parts label, GM’s WA formula number and the PPG / Ditzler and DuPont mixing codes where they are documented. Where a code is blank the sources did not list one; the notes say where a source disagreed.
MORE: THE RPO CODES LIBRARY / THE VIN DECODER
| YEARS | GM CODE | WA | PPG / DITZLER | DUPONT | NOTES |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | 33 | WA8551 | 3681 | B8478 | Solid bright red (Spectra Red formula). |
| 1985–1992 | 81U | WA8774 | 3794 | C8508 | Solid non-metallic bright red; most popular C4 colour. |
Red Corvette Wallpapers
Desktop and phone wallpapers of red Corvettes from the site’s wallpaper collections.
Red Corvette Wallpapers — the color collection
All Corvette Wallpapers — by generation and by color
FAQs
What years was the Corvette offered in Bright Red?
1984–1992: 9 model years on the C4. Bright Red was the color of the C4 launch: 12,942 of the 51,547 1984 cars, a quarter of them, the biggest single-year count of any Corvette color in the 1980s.
What is the GM paint code for Bright Red?
GM used 72, 81 across the years; the code changed when GM changed its coding system, not the paint. The paint-shop codes are 1984: WA8551 / PPG 3681 / DuPont B8478; 1985–1992: WA8774 / PPG 3794 / DuPont C8508.
How many Bright Red Corvettes were built?
70,860 by GM’s counts (12,942 in 1984, the biggest year).
Which Corvette models and editions came in Bright Red?
1984 Bright Red (12,942, a quarter of the year); 1990–92 ZR-1s in Bright Red; Callaway B2K Twin Turbos. In its years it was available on every body style and model unless the year’s note says otherwise; the year tables above say which.
Is Bright Red a metallic, a tintcoat or a solid color?
Solid bright red, the C4 red of 1984–1992. It was a no-cost color in every year it was offered.
What was the most popular year for Bright Red?
1984, with 12,942 cars, 25.1% of that year’s production.
What colors are similar to Bright Red?
Torch Red, Dark Red, Victory Red. The Red Corvettes page has every red the factory offered, with the years and counts side by side.
Where can I see pictures of Bright Red Corvettes?
The site has a picture post for each year Bright Red was offered — real cars photographed in the real color — linked from the year tables above and in the picture grids on this page; the Red Corvettes page and the wallpaper collection have more.
How does the Bright Red page fit with the rest of the Corvette colors research?
Every model year has a research page with the full color chart (codes, counts, interiors and soft tops), the Colors by Year page indexes them, every color with three or more years has a page like this one, and the twelve family pages (Red, Blue, Black, White, Silver, Yellow, Gray, Green, Orange, Purple, Gold, Brown) list every shade ever offered.
