The new mid-engined Chevrolet Corvette Stingray has been a great leap forward for the iconic nameplate, scooping ups laurels and praise — such as being named the North American Car of the Year for 2020. But it was a radical departure from the Corvette’s past, and not just for its oddball interior. With the C8, Chevrolet dropped what had been a hallmark of the Corvette for half a century: the manual transmission. For some Corvette diehards, that will likely be a step too far.
Luckily, you can still buy a new 2019 Corvette with a manual transmission. Dealers have been steadily working their way through their C7 inventory, often sending out cars out the door with substantial discounts. According to Corvette Blogger, Chevrolet expects there will be fewer than 2,000 C7 Corvettes on dealer lots by March 1st.
Only a small percentage of those remaining C7 Corvettes are manuals. (Indeed, Chevy cited dwindling stick shift demand as a reason for not including one with the C8.) A quick nationwide search on Car Gurus found 1,991 new 2019 Corvettes for sale, but only 259 with a manual transmission. And just 18 of those stick-shift Corvettes were the high-performance Z06 model.
If you still want to row your own way through seven gears in a sexy new Corvette, you still can. But you should probably act fast.
