Corvette RPO Codes & Order Guides: Every Model Year

The Overview

Chevrolet sells the Corvette as a base car and a list of options, and the list is where the history is: the Z06 of 1963 was a $1,818.45 option package, the L88 a $947.90 engine, the ZR-1 of 1990 a $27,016 package on a coupe, and the Z51 of today a $6,345 line on the order form. Each option has a code, numbered through 1969 and three characters since 1970, and GM’s records say what every code cost and how many cars took it, which is what makes the rare Corvettes rare. This page is the index: the codes explained, the famous ones listed, and a link for every model year to that year’s RPO page, where the whole list sits with prices and counts.

The order guide is the other half. Every year Chevrolet gave its dealers an order guide or order form listing the models, the codes, the prices and which could be combined with which, and those guides are the best record of what a car could have been built with. The year pages reproduce them where we have them, from the 1953 one-page sheet to the 2027 configurator, and the dealer playbooks from 2017 on are the sales version of the same document.

Reading the codes is a skill with a short learning curve. The letter tells you the family: L for engines, M for transmissions, G for axles, F for suspensions, J for brakes, N for exhausts and steering, Z for packages, C for roofs and air conditioning, A for glass and interior, U for electrical. The year pages decode each year’s list; the explainer below gives the method and the codes everyone asks about.

How Corvette RPO Codes Work

RPO stands for Regular Production Option, GM’s term for anything a buyer could specify on the order form beyond the base car. The code is how the plant, the dealer and the parts system talk about it, and it is how a Corvette’s build is recorded, which is why the codes matter more to a buyer than the names.

1953 to 1969: numbered options

Early Corvettes used numbered option codes, three digits in the 1950s and three digits with a letter suffix into the 1960s: RPO 579 was fuel injection in 1957, 684 the heavy-duty brakes and suspension, 687 the racing brake package of 1960–62, and the famous Z06 of 1963 was RPO Z06 in the new alphanumeric scheme that GM was already moving to. The 1963–69 lists mix both: L75, L76 and L84 for the 327s, L78 for the 396, L71, L88 and L89 for the 427s, M20 and M21 for the four-speeds, N14 for the side exhaust, J56 for the heavy-duty brakes, C07 for the hardtop and so on. The year pages give each year’s full list with what it cost and how many cars took it.

1970 on: three characters

From 1970 every option is a letter and two digits, and the letter is the family. L is engines (LT1, L82, L98, LT5, LS1, LS7, LT6), M transmissions (M20, M22 Rock Crusher, MM6, MN6, MX0), G axles and ratios (G80 Positraction, G92 performance axle), F suspensions (F41, FE7, FX3 Selective Ride, F55 Magnetic Ride), J brakes (J56, J55, J57 carbon-ceramic), N exhausts and steering (N14 side pipes, NPP dual-mode exhaust), Z packages (Z06, ZR1, ZR2, Z51, Z52, Z07, Z16, Z15, Z25, ZTK, ZER), C roofs and air (C60 air, C07 hardtop, CC3 glass roof, CFZ carbon), A glass, seats and interior, U electrical and radios (U58 stereo, UQA Bose), B stripes and moldings (B2K Callaway Twin Turbo was ordered through the same system). The same families run through the C8’s order guide.

Packages and the codes that became cars

A Z-code is a package of other codes, and the big ones became models. Z06 in 1963 bundled the 360-horsepower L84, the M20, the J56 brakes, the F40 suspension and, on 63 cars, the 36-gallon tank; in 2001 it became a model line and has been one since. ZR1 in 1970–72 bundled the LT-1, the M22, the J56 and the F41 and could not be ordered with air conditioning or a radio; in 1990 it was the LT5 car, in 2009, 2019 and 2025 the flagship. Z51 has been the performance handling package since 1984 and is on three cars in four today; Z07 has been the track package since 2011; Z16 was the 1996 and 2010–13 Grand Sport, Z15 the 1996 Collector Edition and the 2004 Commemorative coupe, Z25 the 1993 40th Anniversary and the 2017 Collector Edition, Z4Z the pace-car replicas of 1986, 1995, 2007 and 2008, Z01 the 1988 35th Anniversary, Z33 the 2007 Ron Fellows, Z44 the 2008 427 Limited, ZHZ the Hertz cars, and on the C8 ZER is the E-Ray performance package and ZTK the ZR1 track package. Each code’s guide is on its generation hub.

Finding a car’s codes

On a 1984-on car the SPID label in the console or glovebox lists every RPO the car was built with, which is the first thing to read before the seller’s description. On 1967–82 cars the tank sticker, a copy of the build sheet glued to the top of the fuel tank, does the same if it survived; on 1960s cars the Protect-O-Plate, the dealer invoice and the NCRS shipping-data report are the sources, and the trim tag gives the paint and interior codes. The window sticker, where it exists, lists the codes with their prices. The year page for the car gives the list to check them against, and the pricing pages give what each one cost.

Prices and take rates

Two numbers go with every code: the price and the installation count, both from GM’s records. The price tells you what the option was worth to Chevrolet; the count tells you what it is worth to you. The 1967 L88 was $947.90 and went into 20 cars; the 1990 ZR-1 package was $27,016 on 3,049 cars; the 2015 Z07 was $7,995 on 3,378 Z06s; the 2025 ZTK was $1,500 plus $8,495 of required carbon aero on 83 of 180 ZR1s. The year pages carry both numbers for every option, and the special-model guides on the hubs put them in context.

MORE: THE SPECIAL EDITIONS / THE ENGINES